Aspiration

The Prayer for Good Conduct is among the most popular and widely recited aspiration prayers (Skt. praṇidhāna, Tib. smon lam) in all Mahāyāna Buddhist traditions. It evokes, in the first person, the aspiration to worship all buddhas who pervade every atom of the multiverse, and to pursue enlightenment and the benefit of all beings. The prayer‍—and particularly its first twelve verses that cover the seven aspects of homage, offering, confession, rejoicing, entreaty, supplication, and dedication‍—is regularly recited as part of many practices in Tibetan Buddhism. There are numerous translations of the prayer in many modern languages made from Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese.

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. The text comprises two passages from the parent work, and of these the first and longest corresponds closely to a well-known Pali text, the Ratana-sutta, widely recited for protection and blessings.