Aspiration of Samantabhadra

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Johnny Dangerous
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Aspiration of Samantabhadra

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

I know this is a traditional prayer we recite for departed folks in Sakya, i've lost a couple people recently and have been reciting it. I was wondering if anyone had anything to say about the significance of it. I know it comes from the Avatamsaka etc..but i'm wondering what people think about the significance of it, teachings they may have received on it, etc. I find it really inspiring.
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Re: Aspiration of Samantabhadra

Post by sherabpa »

I once received a fairly detailed commentary on it written by a Sakya Lama which I keep meaning to study, but I forget the details. I can dig it out if you are interested

I agree that it is extremely inspiring and I personally recite it once per week as an additional practice to end the week.

Obviously the seven branch prayer is an extremely important Mahayana device quite generally, and this prayer as you know has an especially beautiful version.

But for me the most important and inspiring part of the prayer is that is connects us with the bodhichitta of the bodhisattvas Samanthabhadra and Manjushri. I know my own mind is small and petty, and when I recite the bodhisattva vow at the start of practice each day, it feels like a bit of a joke, but there is a goodness in the 'oldest child of the Buddha' (Samanthabhadra) that is so pure and open that we are able to be influenced by him even though our own minds may be small and selfish. Basically we are able to join in with Samathabhadra's own genuine pure aspirations by reciting the prayer, even if we are completely encumbered by defilements, and gain huge merit, and create causes for actually benefitting beings in the future. Without Samanthabhadra and Manjushri's help, there is a sense in which bodhichitta is extremely difficult to develop.

So yes reciting for the dead must be very efficacious. Also, as you know, there are quite a few lines about Dewachen which are especially good for this purposes.
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Re: Aspiration of Samantabhadra

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What I get from it mostly (at this point, i'm sure it'll expand the more I study it) is that the Mahayana aspiration is completely boundless, both temporally and spatially.

The version i'm using has a line about their being multiple Samantabhadras..almost an inconceivable number, emanating inconceivable activities. I know this sort of imagery is common in some Mahayana sutra (can think of Vairocana Sambodhi Sutra and lots of others with similar things), but I find this part of the prayer particularly meaningful, and as a wish for folks who just passed, it contextualizes their lives in a different way for me.
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Re: Aspiration of Samantabhadra

Post by sherabpa »

I am glad you share my high esteem for this prayer.

Note the multiple emanations are of Buddhas, whereas in this prayer Samanthabhadra is the bodhisattva with whom we join in aspiration of become a Buddha. That is to say, it is not to be thought of as the primordial buddha Samanthabhadra of the tantras, since it is sutrayana. That said, the Avatamsaka sutras have obvious vajrayana affinities.
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Re: Aspiration of Samantabhadra

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

sherabpa wrote:I am glad you share my high esteem for this prayer.

Note the multiple emanations are of Buddhas, whereas in this prayer Samanthabhadra is the bodhisattva with whom we join in aspiration of become a Buddha. That is to say, it is not to be thought of as the primordial buddha Samanthabhadra of the tantras, since it is sutrayana. That said, the Avatamsaka sutras have obvious vajrayana affinities.

Right yeah, I know it's not the same the primordial Buddha known as Samantabhadra, I was referring to the bit in the version I have where Sudhana sees what sounds like multiple-dimensions worth of Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas and their activities, if i'm reading it right..that part might be from the commentary in the sadhana I have, or some other part of Avatamsaka rather than the text itself..looking at it, it's not entirely clear to me.
Meditate upon Bodhicitta when afflicted by disease

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Re: Aspiration of Samantabhadra

Post by pemachophel »

In my experience, Zang Chod Monlam is one of the easiest and most effective practices you can do. Reciting it with faith and devotion gathers inconceivable amounts of merit. Where I live, very few Tibetan Buddhists know or recite this prayer. However, when I lived with my Teachers, we recited it at least once every day. Many times we said it over and over and over again. I hope at some point in my life I get to spend some time in retreat just saying this prayer. When I was in Golok two summers ago, we sometimes said Zang Chod Monlam while sitting by H.H. Kusum Lingpa's recreation of Bodhinath stupa. Every Tibetan who heard us immediately started saying the prayer from memory. I also got the chance to say this prayer numerous times sitting in the stupa garden at Tashiding in Sikkim in January. I wish everyone knew and practiced this prayer. It is truly miraculous.
Pema Chophel པདྨ་ཆོས་འཕེལ
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