Texts for Recitation
Discover our curated collection of Buddhist texts designed for recitation. These sacred chants and prayers are meant to deepen your practice, strengthen your mindfulness, and connect you more profoundly with the teachings of the Buddha.
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21
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Kangyur
Discourses
Perfection of Wisdom
The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Blessed Mother
Bhagavatīprajñāpāramitāhṛdaya
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བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་མ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོ།
In this famous scripture, known popularly as The Heart Sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni inspires his senior monk Śāriputra to request instructions from the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara on the way to practice the perfection of wisdom. Avalokiteśvara then describes how an aspiring practitioner of the perfection of wisdom must first understand how all phenomena lack an intrinsic nature, which amounts to the realization of emptiness.
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Toh
193
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739
10
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Prophecy of Śrī Mahādevī
Śrīmahādevīvyākaraṇa
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ལྷ་མོ་ཆེན་མོ་དཔལ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ།
This sūtra recounts an event that took place in the buddha realm of Sukhāvatī. The discourse commences with the Buddha Śākyamuni relating to the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara the benefits of reciting the various names of Śrī Mahādevī. The Buddha describes how Śrī Mahādevī acquired virtue and other spiritual accomplishments through the practice of venerating numerous tathāgatas and gives an account of the prophecy in which her future enlightenment was foretold by all the buddhas she venerated.
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Toh
267
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9
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
Calling Witness with a Hundred Prostrations
[no Sanskrit title]
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དཔང་སྐོང་ཕྱག་བརྒྱ་པ།
Calling Witness with a Hundred Prostrations is widely known as the first sūtra to arrive in Tibet, long before Tibet became a Buddhist nation, during the reign of the Tibetan king Lha Thothori Nyentsen. Written to be recited for personal practice, it opens with one hundred and eight prostrations and praises to the many buddhas of the ten directions and three times, to the twelve categories of scripture contained in the Tripiṭaka, to the bodhisattvas of the ten directions, and to the arhat disciples of the Buddha. After making offerings to them, confessing and purifying nonvirtue, and making the aspiration to perform virtuous actions in every life, the text includes recitations of the vows of refuge in the Three Jewels, and of generating the thought of enlightenment. The text concludes with a passage rejoicing in the virtues of the holy ones, a request for the buddhas to bestow a prophecy to achieve enlightenment, and the aspiration to pass from this life in a state of pure Dharma.
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270
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512 / 852
9
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Seven Buddhas
Sūryagarbhaprajñāpāramitā
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སངས་རྒྱས་བདུན་པ།
The Seven Buddhas opens with the Buddha Śākyamuni residing in an alpine forest on Mount Kailāsa with a saṅgha of monks and bodhisattvas. The Buddha notices that a monk in the forest has been possessed by a spirit, which prompts the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha to request that the Buddha teach a spell to cure diseases and exorcise demonic spirits. The Buddha then emanates as the set of “seven successive buddhas,” each of whom transmits a dhāraṇī to Ākāśagarbha. Each of the seven buddhas then provides ritual instructions for using the dhāraṇī.
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Toh
285
Chapter
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6
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Dedication “Fulfilling All Aspirations”
Mañjuśrībuddhakṣetraguṇavyūha
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བསམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོངས་སུ་རྫོགས་པའི་ཡོངས་སུ་བསྔོ་བ།
This recitable prayer of dedication reflects the "seven branches" liturgy common in Mahāyāna Buddhism. It comprises two sections: a detailed confession and a prayer of rejoicing, requesting the turning of the Dharma wheel, beseeching buddhas to remain, and dedicating merit extensively.
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Toh
286
Chapter
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5
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Dedication “Protecting All Beings”
Āyuṣmannandagarbhāvakrāntinirdeśa
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འགྲོ་བ་ཡོངས་སུ་སྐྱོབ་པར་བྱེད་པའི་ཡོངས་སུ་བསྔོ་བ།
This prayer of dedication echoes later Tibetan mind training literature. It includes the traditional dedication of merit to all beings and highlights the faults and afflictions burdening sentient beings. The prayer concludes with the wish that the reciter takes on these negatives, liberating and purifying all beings.
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Toh
312
Chapter
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628 / 1093
9
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Mahāsūtra “On Entering the City of Vaiśālī”
Aṣṭādaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
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ཡངས་པའི་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་དུ་འཇུག་པའི་མདོ་ཆེན་པོ།
Invited to visit the city of Vaiśālī, which has been ravaged by a terrible epidemic, the Buddha instructs Ānanda to stand at the city’s gate and recite a proclamation, a long mantra, and some verses that powerfully evoke spiritual well-being. Ānanda does so, and the epidemic comes to an end.
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Toh
438
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3
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Kangyur
Tantra
Unexcelled Yoga Tantras
Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage
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སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་གཅིག་གིས་བསྟོད་པ།
Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage is a liturgy that consists of twenty-seven verses of praise and reverence dedicated to the deity Tārā. The first twenty-one verses are at once a series of homages to the twenty-one forms of Tārā and a poetic description of her physical features, postures, and qualities. The remaining six verses describe how and when the praise should be recited and the benefits of its recitation.
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Toh
504
Chapter
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20
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha
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བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་སྨན་གྱི་བླ་བཻ་ཌུརྱའི་འོད་གྱི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་རྒྱས་པ།
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha centers on the figure commonly known as the Medicine Buddha. The text opens in Vaiśālī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with a large retinue of human and divine beings.
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Toh
513
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856
4
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Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas
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སངས་རྒྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་དང་ལྡན་པའི་གཟུངས།
The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas details a brief exchange between the Buddha and the four guardian kings of the world, that is, the four divine beings who rule over the cardinal directions in the Indian Buddhist tradition. Pursuant to a description of the fears that plague mankind, the Buddha declares that he will provide remedies for them. Invoking the presence of numberless buddhas in the limitless world systems described in Buddhist cosmology, the Buddha and the four kings provide several mantras of varying lengths meant for daily recitation, with the stated benefits not only of averting all manner of calamities—untimely death, illness, and injury chief among them—but of attracting the attention and blessings of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and ensuring good health and benefit for the practitioner and all beings.
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Toh
514
Chapter
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854
5
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Discourse of the Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
Brahmajālasūtra
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སངས་རྒྱས་སྙིང་པོའི་གཟུངས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
The Discourse of the Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is a short work in which the Buddha Śākyamuni, addressing an immense gathering of bodhisattvas, teaches two dhāraṇīs to be recited as a complement to the practice of recollecting the Buddha, and then explains the beneficial results of reciting them. The significance of the teaching is marked by miraculous signs, and by the gods offering flowers and ornaments. The text also provides a set of correspondences between the eight ornaments offered by the gods and eight qualities that ornament bodhisattvas.
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Toh
522
Chapter
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848
4
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Dhāraṇī of the Tathāgata Jñānolka
Amoghapāśahṛdayasūtra
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ཡེ་ཤེས་ཏ་ལ་ལའི་གཟུངས།
The Dhāraṇī of the Tathāgata Jñānolka opens with a description of a group of four tathāgatas and four bodhisattvas, who are seated in the celestial palace of the Sun and the Moon. The deities of the Sun and Moon return to their celestial palace from elsewhere and, seeing these tathāgatas and bodhisattvas, both wonder whether they might obtain a dhāraṇī that would allow them to dispel the darkness and shine a light upon all beings. The tathāgatas, perceiving the thoughts of the Sun and Moon, provide them with the first dhāraṇī in the text. The bodhisattva Samantabhadra then provides a second dhāraṇī and instructs the deities of the Sun and Moon to use it to free beings who are bound for rebirth in the lower realms—even those who have been born in the darkest depths of the Avīci hell.
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Toh
674
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10
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra (1)
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ཚེ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་མདོ།
The Buddha, while at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvastī, tells Mañjuśrī of a buddha realm far above the world, in which lives the Buddha Aparimitāyurjñāna. He states that those who recite, write, hear, and so on, the praise of this buddha, or make offerings to this text, will have numerous benefits, including a long life and a good rebirth. As vast numbers of buddhas recite it, the mantra, or dhāraṇī, of this buddha is repeated numerous times. This is the best known of the two versions of this sūtra in the Kangyur.
Published
Toh
675
Chapter
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10
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra (2)
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ཚེ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་མདོ།
The Buddha, while at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvastī, tells Mañjuśrī of a buddha realm far above the world, in which lives the Buddha Aparimitāyurjñāna. He states that those who recite, write, hear, and so on, the praise of this buddha, or make offerings to this text, will have numerous benefits, including a long life and a good rebirth. As vast numbers of buddhas recite it, the mantra, or dhāraṇī, of this buddha is repeated numerous times. This is the lesser known of the two versions of this sūtra in the Kangyur, but possibly represents the earlier translation.
Published
Toh
676
Chapter
Ref
5
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Dhāraṇī “Essence of Immeasurable Longevity and Wisdom”
Caturyoginīsampuṭatantra
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ཚེ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་གཟུངས།
The Dhāraṇī “Essence of Immeasurable Longevity and Wisdom” opens at a pool by the Ganges, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with five hundred monks and a great saṅgha of bodhisattvas. The Buddha begins with a short set of verses on the Buddha Aparimitāyus, who dwells in the realm of Sukhāvatī, telling the gathering that anyone who recites Aparimitāyus’ name will be reborn in that buddha’s realm.
Published
Toh
679
Chapter
Ref
1
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Dhāraṇī Praising the Qualities of the Immeasurable One
[no Sanskrit title]
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ཡོན་ཏན་བསྔགས་པ་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་གཟུངས།
The Dhāraṇī that Praises the Qualities of the Immeasurable One contains a short dhāraṇī mantra praising the tathāgata Amitābha and brief instructions on the benefits that result from its recitation.
Published
Toh
725
Chapter
Ref
4
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of Avalokiteśvara”
[no Sanskrit title]
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སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ཡུམ་གི་གཟུངས།
In this short sūtra, the bodhisattva Samantabhadra asks the Buddha to reveal The Mother of Avalokiteśvara, a powerful dhāraṇī that helps practitioners progress on the path to awakening. The Buddha grants his request and relates how he had himself received the dhāraṇī. Samantabhadra then speaks the dhāraṇī, after which the Buddha states its benefits.
Published
Toh
729
Chapter
Ref
1
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Dhāraṇī of Tārā
Jñānāśayatantra
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སྒྲོལ་མའི་གཟུངས།
The Dhāraṇī of Tārā is a short dhāraṇī that invokes the goddess Tārā, seeking her intervention in the face of obstacles and negative forces.
Published
Toh
730
Chapter
Ref
2
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Dhāraṇī “Tārā’s Own Promise”
[no Sanskrit title]
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སྒྲོལ་མ་རང་གིས་དམ་བཅས་པའི་གཟུངས།
The Dhāraṇī “Tārā’s Own Promise” is a short dhāraṇī invoking the goddess Tārā.
Published
Toh
731
Chapter
Ref
5
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
Tārā Who Protects from the Eight Dangers
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སྒྲོལ་མ་འཇིགས་པ་བརྒྱད་ལས་སྐྱོབ་པ།
In this sūtra, the goddess Tārā warns the gods of the desire realm about the miseries of saṃsāra and offers a pithy Dharma teaching to free them from harm. Tārā begins by vividly portraying the various kinds of suffering endured by beings in each of the six realms of saṃsāra and then points out the futility of reciting mantras without maintaining pure conduct. She goes on to encourage the listeners to engage in virtue, which puts an end to saṃsāra, and she bestows on them a dhāraṇī that will help them to achieve this goal, a praise of her qualities, and a request for her divine protection that they should recite.
Published
Toh
736
Chapter
Ref
2
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī
[no Sanskrit title]
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རི་ཁྲོད་ལོ་མ་གྱོན་མའི་གཟུངས།
The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī is a short dhāraṇī dedicated to the piśācī Parṇaśavarī, who is renowned in Buddhist lore for her power to cure disease, avert epidemics, pacify strife, and otherwise protect those who recite her dhāraṇī from any obstacles they may face.
Published
Toh
813
Chapter
Ref
3
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Dedication-Aspiration
The Aspiration Prayer from “Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm”
Kusumasañcaya
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སྟོང་ཆེན་མོ་རབ་ཏུ་འཇོམས་པའི་སྨོན་ལམ།
This short text contains a set of verses spoken by the Buddha as he put an end to the epidemic of Vaiśālī, extracted from one of the two main accounts of that episode. The verses call for well-being, especially by invoking the qualities of the Three Jewels and a range of realized beings and eminent gods.
Published
Toh
846
Chapter
Ref
5
Pages
Kangyur
Dhāraṇī
Compendium of Dhāraṇīs
The Threefold Invocation Ritual
[no Sanskrit title]
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སྤྱན་འདྲེན་རྒྱུད་གསུམ་པ།
The Threefold Invocation Ritual invokes all the deities of the threefold world that have “entered the path of compassion” and are “held by the hook of the vidyāmantra” to gather, pay heed to the person reciting this text (or the person for whom it is recited), and bear witness to the proclamation of that person’s commitment to the Buddhist teachings. A profound aspiration to practice ten aspects of a bodhisattva’s activity is then followed by a dedication and a prayer for the teachings.
Published
Other Popular Themes
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