The King of Spiritual Intentions
I pay homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Through the wonderful workings of compassion
Of myriad buddhas throughout time and space
May each and every one of these wishes
Be fulfilled in keeping with my prayers.
From this moment on, in every possible way,
May I please my teachers with immeasurable devotion,
Give them without limit the purest in body, speech, and comfort,
And not take even a moment’s break in making their work blossom.
In every life, whenever I study, teach, meditate, or practice,
May I not encounter bad professors, bad teachers,
Bad companions, or bad patrons.
May I study with the finest gurus and find awakening through them.
In all my births, may I have good parentage and good health,
A pleasing voice, a fine body, charisma, and power,
And, naturally endowed with longevity, followers, wealth, and spiritual qualities,
Be respected by all.
In every life wherever I am born
May I create no strife but be gracious to all—
Every being whenever they see, hear, touch, or think of me,
Never tiring of my charming and genial mien.
For beings as numerous as the sky is vast,
May I not only be a protector, a source of hope, and a champion,
But fulfill their every hope and desire
Exactly as they themselves wish.
May those friends who wish to help me
And practice the same aspirations in thought, word, and deed
From now on always be close to me
And flourish in the joy of pure experience.
However I take birth, may I be a wishing gem
And bring happiness to all beings
By fulfilling their wants and needs as soon as they think of them
And showering them with infinite riches.
May all beings in every place I live
Be free from illness, madness, strife, and hardship,
Live long, be well, and have comfort and spiritual qualities,
Flourishing in goodness and good fortune.
In this life, in all my lives,
Through my mastering the wealth of the Treasury of Heaven,
And sending the four kinds of gifts in every direction,
May all beings, through the ten perfections, ripen and be free.
Through the highest and fullest knowing, free from reaction and restriction,
Of every possible experience in samsara and nirvana
May every possible sphere of understanding throughout time
Become clear in a single instant.
Through my wearing the three disciplines with grace and without flaw
And being unrivalled in honor and praise from heaven and earth,
May all beings take up the highest of ethics
And perfect every possible good quality.
Content in a mountain retreat, with food and clothes,
With not a moment’s disturbance from inside or out,
May my complete understanding and endless efforts
Ripen and free each and every being.
May powerful gods and demons, the arrogant ones, all of them,
Without even a moment’s conjuring or command on my part
Offer their lives and hearts, obey me as servants,
And with their powerful magic protect the teachings.
Through my genuine love and compassion,
May all beings throughout the three realms
Allay the harmful hostility they harbor for others
And rest like a child in a mother’s love.
When the time comes for me to die,
May I not be in agony. As what is true becomes clear
And what takes form arises naturally to help others,
May my remains and relics inspire beings.
In every possible buddha realm
May I present offerings for oceans of eons
To oceans of buddhas as numerous as atoms in the universe
With the sky-like vastness of Ever-present Good’s cloud of offerings.
As oceans of buddha realms become utterly clear,
Through pure action and limitless understanding,
May I see whole oceans of experience
And know directly oceans of timeless awareness.
As the melodious speech of oceans of buddhas becomes utterly clear,
May I give voice in Brahma’s cadence to the reaches of space,
Teach the Dharma to beings in their own languages,
And lead every being to buddhahood.
Just as in the magical accounts of Ever-present Good,
May the magic of absorption without limit become utterly clear,
And every possible buddha and buddha realm
Instantly appear on a single atom.
Like the depth and breadth of the realms of beings and the oceans,
The end of the sky and the infinity of the totality of experience,
May my wishes, absorptions, and actions
Be impossible to measure— truly limitless in their depth and scope.
May I take form as countless universal monarchs,
Fulfill the hopes of beings and protect spiritual countries,
Govern buddha realms extending through the vastness of space,
And bring peace to every being.
In the future, when the age of plagues and wars
Brings struggle and ruin to beings,
May I become a monarch of medicine
And instantly calm their struggles and pain.
When the age of famine brings hunger and thirst,
May food and drink, silk, silver, gold, and wealth,
All that is wonderful, gather in clouds filling the sky
And shower sensory pleasures everywhere.
Until the oceans of samsara have been emptied,
May great waves of awakening action
Teach to every being whose numbers fill all space,
Exactly what will help each of them.
All beings who have taken a wrong way, the powerful, the arrogant,
Those who could not be taught by buddhas throughout all space and time,
May I teach each and every one of them
And lead them in an instant to buddhahood.
As long as any sentient being remains in samsara,
May spontaneous effortless actions
That ripen and free beings without exception,
Arise naturally and continuously for the welfare of beings.
Oceans of buddhas throughout time and space
When they were ordinary beings or bodhisattvas
For countless eons gave rise to awakening mind, prayed,
Completed goodness and awareness, and became buddhas.
Endowed with such excellence and with oceans of talent
They worked to ripen and free countless beings.
When all their wishes and efforts are combined together,
May my wish and my effort be even greater.
Because the welfare of others arises naturally and without limit,
For all who give rise to faith and delight in supreme awakening
And make these wishes themselves, may these my wishes,
All of them, every one of them, come to complete fruition.
May all the wonderful richness of good fortune and well-being
Throughout all time and space, in samsara and nirvana,
Flow continuously like a great river
And infuse everyone, myself and others, everywhere.
The King of Spiritual Intentions ends here.
In response to the heartfelt requests of Ann Craig and Claudia Hansson, I, Ken McLeod,
building on the careful work of Sarah Harding, translated this prayer in Windsor, California, in
July, 2021. May it ignite the fire of awakening in all who take it to heart.