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Prayer to the Future Buddha Maitreya 
by Lama Je Tsongkhapa
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\          May the fire of great loving kindness 
\          Burn away the fuel of anger and hatred; 
\          May the radiance of the transcendental wisdom 
\          Illuminate the darkness of ignorance; 
\          May the holders of the Dharma enact the deeds 
\          Of protecting transmigratory sentient beings. 
\          I prostrate to you who is residing 
\          In the blissful realm heaven of Tushita. 
\          Even though you are moistened forever 
\          With the affection of loving kindness, 
\          However you burn away all black relationships 
\          Even though you have cut through all bondage 
\          Which is so difficult to sever. 
\          However you bind us tight in your compassion 
\          Even though you are endowed forever 
\          With an equanimity of peace, however you cherish 
\          Cherishing others amid renouncing yourself. 
\          I humbly bow at the Holy Feet of Manjugosha and 
\          Offer admiring praise to the Invincible Protector 
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\          You are esteemed in the speech of the four faced Brahma 
\          And gazed at by Indra's thousand eyes of devotion 
\          Lord of Love - Kama, possessor of the beautiful Rati 
\          Bows to you without any pride and I humbly bow 
\          In respect, at the feet of the Conqueror's Regent. 
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\          Like a hundred petal lotus in a clear lake 
\          Opened by the radiance of the rising sun, 
\          Like a garden of kundali - lily flowers blooming 
\          In the clear sky is the Lord of the constellation of stars, 
\          So also is the sight of your Holy Body 
\          Wreathed with signs and exemplifications 
\          Capturing the hearts of all migrators, the moment it is seen. 
\          May I be born at Your Lotus Feet, Oh Protector Maitreya 
\          And in all my lives may you adorn the crown of my head 
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\          Destroyer of evil, you are free from the surroundings of all states of fear, 
\          Supreme Teacher, You are an 
\          incomparable Hero of the three realms 
\          Please watch us continuously, for we are migrators 
\          Who have fallen into the dangers. 
\          I prostrate at Your Lotus Feet O Compassionate Leader. 
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\          You access without obstruction 
\          All the limitless objects of knowledge. 
\          You conquer with your powerful omniscience the evil army horror 
\          Whose thunder bolt weapons fall before you like fresh flowers and 
\          You defeat them with the radiant glory of your ten powers 
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\          You scorch the haughty brains of your opponents 
\          Who have the pride of an elephant. 
\          You spread the great sound of your excellent sayings 
\          Amidst them and in their retinue. 
\          You put an end to the foxes 
\          With the speech of their false philosophy. 
\          Endowed with the four states of fearlessness, 
\          You are a lion amongst men 
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\          The supreme wheel of Dharma which cannot be expressed by anyone, 
\          Unturnable even by the proud World-Creator, lord of passions, 
\          And not even by priests, ascetics, those training in virtue and so forth, 
\          But You as a Guardian with loving kindness, 
\          Turn the wheel of Dharma for migrators. 
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\          Not even the name of "error" affects Your Holy Body and Speech. 
\          You abide in equipoise forever, with a memory which never declines. 
\          Your equanimity, without conceptual thoughts is free of discrimination. 
\          Because of Your isolation Your activities are completely pure. 
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\          Your aspiration, perseverance and Your memory, 
\          Concentration and wisdom are completely liberated. 
\          You have long gone beyond all occasions for failure 
\          Therefore your realizations are unsurpassable. 
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\          You know all three times without obstruction and attachment. 
\          Your holy body, speech and mind's activities are completely pure. 
\          You fulfill benefits for migrators until the end of cyclic existence. 
\          You engage with joy in the responsibilities of your deeds. 
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\          You have fully perfected the aggregates of extensive qualities. 
\          You have destroyed any chance of incurring the slightest fault. 
\          Please consider for a moment the lamentable plight of me 
\          Who has become the object of you loving kindness. 
\          Although I have a basis of life complete with freedom and richness, 
\          Like a ship capable of liberating from the great ocean of suffering, 
\          I am saturated with the faults of carelessness and laziness, 
\          The stupor of frivolous gossip and the desire for gain and fame. 
\          In directing this birth of great value in pursuing what is meaningless, 
\          I waste away this good body which can accomplish ultimate happiness. 
\          Thus I inhabit this human flesh with an attitude of a beast. 
\          Please look upon me with Your great compassion. 
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\          Although I have found freedom and richness, 
\          Which is difficult to find and great in meaning, 
\          When the powerful Lord of Death sends his messenger, 
\          There is no power to reverse it nor can I ever escape from it. 
\          Although I can see myself caught in sickness and death, 
\          I am still uncertain when I will die, even at the time of death 
\          While knowing that I have to go leaving everything behind, 
\          I still spend meaninglessly all the years, months and days. 
\          Please bestow upon me, who is so deluded, your timely compassion. 
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\          What need is there to mention the state of definite liberation 
\          When I do not have the confidence to attain even a high rebirth 
\          Which is praised by the Capable Ones as the basis of the path? 
\          Will You not bestow upon me your equanimity? 
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\          Although I have a body endowed in the glory of a higher rebirth 
\          With the wisdom that precisely investigates the entire teachings, 
\          If I am unable to find the unmistaken path of fortune 
\          Once again I fall into the causal ocean of cyclic existence 
\          And in that great killer darkness of ignorance 
\          For a long time I am obscured from the points of practice 
\          and completely confused as to how to do so. 
\          Please bestow upon me your illuminating light of wisdom. 
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\          Faces covered with hair and with thirsty mouths 
\          Running to drink wherever seeing a flow of water 
\          But are stopped by beings wielding swords and spears 
\          And before their eyes even the water changes to blood and puss. 
\          Mouth like the eye of a needle and a goiter choking the neck, 
\          Unable to partake or enjoy even when food or drink is found. 
\          Whenever eating or drinking a blazing fire burns within me. 
\          Thus in order to survive I even cut and eat my own flesh. 
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\          Enveloped by a great darkness of ignorance 
\          Without the capacity to discriminate right from wrong 
\          Killing each other, controlled by goals and hungry beings 
\          Showered by the sufferings of being beaten and burdened. 
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\          All peace of mind is destroyed by a burning fire 
\          Of a consuming jealousy, disturbed by the glory of the gods. 
\          The body is slashed and lost from the fighting 
\          Deceived by trickery, with no fortune to see the truth. 
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\          Not to mention the experience, merely hearing about these realms 
\          Produces terror in my heart and shudders of fear 
\          Of the complete fall into these great abysses 
\          Of the hell, hungry ghost, animal and demi-god realms. 
\          Having accumulated since beginningless time and still accumulating 
\          Those unbearable evil actions condemned by the holy beings, 
\          I am trembling in the face of this great abyss. 
\          Please save me in time, from this fate of bad migration. 
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\          Even in the human realm, with the riches of power and possession, 
\          There is the fear of losing these very high estates. 
\          When ruined by parting from the excellent fortune of higher rebirth, 
\          I am physically exhausted searching for the happiness of my desire. 
\          When I do fulfill the means to the wishes for happiness, 
\          Much worse than attaining the happiness, is instead 
\          The physical pain and the mental anguish 
\          Which is experienced in all the various aspects. 
\          With beautiful bodies adorned bejeweled ornaments 
\          In celestial palaces, surrounded by gardens of pleasure, 
\          Enjoying for long the pleasures of the desire. 
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\          Even as the deva-gods, sporting the glory of higher rebirth, 
\          When I am gripped by the signs of unwanted death, 
\          I lose my mind and my heart just stops. 
\          When I see that very soon I unwillingly will have to separate 
\          From the beautiful goddesses capturing my heart 
\          And the delightful gardens for pleasure 
\          From food of nectar, finest clothing and ornaments of beauty 
\          And from the other youthful sons of the gods 
\          More than the happiness of being born in this realm 
\          Is the extraordinary great suffering of the mind 
\          I am burnt by the fiery tongues of the sorrow generated. 
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\          By exhausting the joy of fruits accumulated with much effort 
\          Through my actions of goodness, undertaken over many lifetimes 
\          Overpowered by carelessness, I accomplish causes for lower migration 
\          And thus once again I fall into the hellish realms. 
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\          Without notions longing for desire and the thoughts of malice, 
\          Having abandoned all deeds of sleep and mental anguish, 
\          By being free of the sufferings from physical and mental harm, 
\          Abiding for long in bliss, through the power of concentration, 
\          Even though I attain the form and formless realms of the gods, 
\          One to not being free from bondage and the compounded suffering 
\          When I exhaust the benefits of my past concentration 
\          Again I fall low down and continue with the circulation. 
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\          Thus, even the Lords of life's migration, the gods and the humans 
\          Are also caught in birth, death, sickness, aging and so forth 
\          And carried by the waves of suffering in the ocean of existence. 
\          What need is there to mention that it is improper 
\          To be attached to the pleasures of cyclic existence? 
\          But my eye of awareness is still obscured to life 
\          Having the wrong wisdom, grasping at suffering as happiness. 
\          I, who am so obscured by such perverse concepts, 
\          Please free me from the great current of existence. 
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\          Sunk in the quagmire of desire, 
\          I have strayed from the path of liberation. 
\          Possesses by the darkness of ignorance, 
\          I am separated from the eye of wisdom. 
\          Caught in the trap of fabrications, 
\          I am chained to the prison of samsara. 
\          Tormented by my karmic actions, 
\          I am the object in need of your compassion. 
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\          In order to stop at the fearful cliff of cyclic existence, 
\          I must rely upon stainless forms of extensive listening. 
\          Through the power of pure reason of correct analysis 
\          Of definitive and interpretive methods of the boundless teachings, 
\          By discerning rightly and by depending on no other 
\          When I definitely need to find the state of impeccable learning, 
\          What need is there to mention the subtle intentions of the 
\          Victorious Ones? 
\          When even the most gross points of involvement and cessation 
\          Are not clear and open to the vision of my intellect 
\          Still, the enemy of gross delusion obscures my heart. 
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\          And for a long while I have no chance of liberation 
\          Considering this situation, please clear the darkness 
\          from my heart. 
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\          In the presence of the sciences taught by the Conquerors and their Sons, 
\          I will extend an ocean of learning over many different lifetimes 
\          And then excellently awaken the imprints of practices again and again. 
\          You are the sole eye revealing the fortunate path for transmigrators. 
\          Abandoned by all the pure beings of the past, 
\          I am at a loss of being separated from a protector 
\          In becoming like a guest arriving from a distant region. 
\          It is time that you cared for me with your great kindness. 
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\          You are the refuge I humbly turn to again and again. 
\          You are Love-Maitreya, with Your great love for all transmigrators, 
\          In coming quickly and more quickly, please become mine. 
\          My Mahayana-virtuous friend in lifetime after lifetime. 
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\          Before the presence of your look without interruption 
\          At all embodied going, with your great love forever; 
\          Whoever recalls with a mind of faith your excellent qualities 
\          Daily, you will come to them. 
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\          In a place far away, in order to experience all 
\          The taste of solitude in the place of a fortunate field, 
\          Even though I wish to engage, I am physically unable to do so; 
\          Thus You are the holiest field of merit. 
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\          To please You with extraordinary pure thoughts, 
\          With jewels, gold nuggets and celestial silks, 
\          With the tree robes, monk's staff and ascetic's bowl, 
\          Practiced by the Capable One for all those training in virtue, 
\          Also emanated through prayers and concentration, 
\          An excellent array of exquisite offerings pervading space 
\          Thus completely filled in offered to the Chief Lord of Humans, 
\          With a mind detached and free of expectations.
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[End]