The Dedication “Fulfilling All Aspirations”

This text, The Dedication “Fulfilling All Aspirations” (Tib. བསམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོངས་སུ་རྫོགས་པའི་ཡོངས་སུ་བསྔོ་བ།, Wyl. bsam pa thams cad yongs su rdzogs pa’i yongs su bsngo ba), is a prayer of dedication, and is meant to be recited. Its structure partly reflects the liturgy of “seven branches”, a set of practices that serves as the basic structure of many Mahayana Buddhist prayers and rituals. In this instance, however, the text consists of two sections: the first is a detailed prayer of confession, and the second a prayer of rejoicing, requesting that the wheel of the Dharma be turned, beseeching the buddhas not to pass into nirvana, and extensively dedicating the merit.

This short text and The Dedication “Protecting Beings” (Toh 286) seem to constitute a pair, and both are lacking a Sanskrit title. Furthermore, the fact that the two are consistently placed together in most Kangyurs suggests at least the possibility that the colophon to the text (Toh 286) refers also to this one, which otherwise lacks a colophon of its own. Since the two texts are dedications, it is perhaps not surprising that they are neither called sutras, nor show features typical of sutras, such as the opening “Thus did I hear” or an introductory passage describing the setting and audience of the discourse. What is somewhat surprising is that both are nonetheless included in the sutra section of the Kangyur, indicating that they are to be considered discourses of the Buddha.

Text

The Tibetan translation of this text can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Kangyur, Toh 285

• English translation: The Dedication “Fulfilling All Aspirations”