Daily Verses & Gathas

Customary Refrain

All Buddhas throughout space and time
All Bodhisattva Mahasattvas
Maha Prajna Paramita

The Four Great Vows

Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless, I vow to master them.
The Buddha Way is unattainable, I vow to attain it.

Verse of the Kesa

Vast is the robe of liberation.
A formless field of benefaction.
I wear the Tathagata teaching,
Saving all sentient beings.

Gatha on Opening the Sutra

The Dharma, incomparably profound and infinitely subtle,
Is rarely encountered, even in millions of ages.
Now we see it, hear it, receive and maintain it.
May we completely realize the Tathagata’s true meaning.

Verse of Atonement

All evil karma ever committed by me since of old,
On account of my beginningless greed, anger and ignorance,
Born of my body, mouth and thought,
Now I atone for it all.

Verse of the Kesa – Japanese

DAI SAI GEDAP-PUKU
MUSO FUKU DEN E
HI BU NYORAI KYO
KO DO SHOSHU JO

The Four Great Vows – Japanese

(SHI-KU SEI-GAN MON)

SHU-JO MU-HEN SEI-GAN DO
BON-NO MU-JIN SEDI-GAN DAN
HO-MON MU-RYO SEI-GAN GAKU
BUTSU-DO MU-JO SEI-GAN JO