Monday
Prime
*Please note: certain passages, acclamations and refrains are repeated throughout the Little Office of Our Lady of the Void. For example, the opening introits, hymn to Our Lady, and first psalm, The Trisagion, Supplication and Benedictus remain the same for Prime; the introits, hymn to Our Lady and the Unborn Magnificat remain the same for Vespers.
Blessed One, come to my assistance
O’ Lord, make haste to help me
Glory be to the Blessed Buddha and to the Divine Dharma and to the Hallowed Sangha, both now and forever and ever. Swaha.
Hail, Holy Wisdom; hail, Blessed Dark-Womb of the Unborn, our Translucent Light, our Sweetness, and our Strength. To you do we make supplication, subdued children under Mara’s dominion. To you do we send up our lamentations and afflictions in this valley of dukkha. Turn then, most gracious Tara, your eyes of mercy towards us; and after this, our most lingering exile in samsara, show unto us the Immaculate Seed of your Most Beloved Bodhichild. O Temperate One, Most Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mother.
Om Tare, Tuttare, Ture Swaha.
Lauding the Infinite One: (Buddhist Psalms, by S. Yamabe and L. Adams Beck, [1921])
1. Since He who is Infinite attained unto the Wisdom Supreme, the long, long ages of ten Kalpas have rolled away.
The Light of His Dharma-Kaya is in this world eyes to the blind.
2. Seek refuge in the True Illumination! For the light of His Wisdom is infinite.
In all the worlds there is nothing upon which His light shines not.
3. Take refuge in the Light universal.
As the Light of His deliverance is boundless, he who is within it is freed from the lie of affirmation or denial.
4. Seek refuge in That which is beyond understanding,
For His glory is all-embracing as the air. It shineth and pierceth all things, and there is nothing hid from the light thereof.
5. Take refuge in the ultimate Strength, for His pure radiance is above all things. He who perceiveth this Light is set free from the fetters of Karma.
6. Seek refuge in the World-Honoured.
Since His glorious radiance is above all He is called the Buddha of Divine Light. And by Him is the darkness of the three worlds Enlightened.
7. Excellent is the Light of His Wisdom. Therefore is he called the Buddha of Clear Shining.
He who is within the Light, being washed from the soil of Karma, shall attain unto the final deliverance.
8. Take refuge in the Mighty Consoler. Wheresoever His mercy shineth throughout all the worlds, men rejoice in its gladdening light.
9. The darkness of ignorance perisheth before His light. Therefore is He hailed as the Buddha of Radiant Wisdom. All the Buddhas and the threefold choir of sages praise Him.
10. His glory shineth for ever and ever. Therefore is He called the Buddha of Everlasting Light.
Most excellent is the virtue of this light, for he who perceiveth it is born into Paradise without dissolution of being.
11. The glory of the Infinite is boundless, therefore is He known as the Buddha of Light Past Comprehension.
All the Buddhas glorify the majesty of His holiness that leadeth all the earth into His Kingdom.
12. His clear shining transcendeth all revelation, nor can human speech utter it. Therefore is He named the Buddha of Light Unspeakable.
All the Buddhas glorify the glory of the Infinite One who is Buddha through His promise of Light immeasurable. Swaha.
The Trisagion
Blessed Buddha, Mighty Lord, Unborn and Undying…Have mercy on us
Blessed Buddha, Mighty Lord, Unborn and Undying…Have mercy on us
Blessed Buddha, Mighty Lord, Unborn and Undying…Have mercy on us
Supplication
Mother Tara, Noble Queen of the Unborn,
In you we take refuge…
Immaculate Heart of Tara, Out of Your Infinite Compassion,
We consecrate ourselves to you…
Tara-Consoler of the afflicted, Dispense your Healing Mantle,
For we have recourse to you.
Glory be to the Blessed Buddha and to the Divine Dharma and to the Hallowed Sangha, both now and forever and ever. Swaha.
The Heart Sutra
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva
when practicing deeply the Prajna Paramita
perceived that all five skandhas are empty
and is saved from all suffering and distress.
Shariputra,
form does not differ from emptiness,
emptiness does not differ from form.
That which is form is emptiness,
that which is emptiness form.
The same is true of feelings,
perceptions, impulses, consciousness.
Shariputra,
all dharmas are marked with emptiness;
they do not appear or disappear,
are not tainted or pure,
do not increase or decrease.
Therefore, in emptiness no form, no feelings,
perceptions, impulses, consciousness.
No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind;
no color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch,
no object of mind;
no realm of eyes
and so forth until no realm of mind consciousness.
No ignorance and also no extinction of it,
and so forth until no old age and death
and also no extinction of them.
No suffering, no origination,
no stopping, no path, no cognition,
also no attainment with nothing to attain.
The Bodhisattva depends on Prajna Paramita
and the mind is no hindrance;
without any hindrance no fears exist.
Far apart from every perverted view one dwells in Nirvana.
In the three worlds
all Buddhas depend on Prajna Paramita
and attain Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi.
Therefore know that Prajna Paramita
is the great transcendent mantra,
is the great bright mantra,
is the utmost mantra,
is the supreme mantra
which is able to relieve all suffering
and is true, not false.
So proclaim the Prajna Paramita mantra,
proclaim the mantra which says:
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.
Mother Tara, how pure you are, you are untouched by Mara’s dominion; yours was the privilege to carry the Blessed Bodhi-seed within you.
From Huang Po:
The Master said to me: All the Buddhas and all sentient Beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. This Mind, which is without beginning, is unborn and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearance. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist, nor can it be thought of in terms of new or old. It is neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all limits, measures, names, traces and comparisons. It is that which you see before you–begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error. It is like the boundless void which cannot be fathomed or measured. The One Mind alone is the Buddha, and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient things, but that sentient beings are attached to forms and so seek externally for Buddhahood. By their very seeking they lose it, for that is using the Buddha to seek for the Buddha and using mind to grasp Mind.
Even though they do their utmost for a full aeon, they will not be able to attain to it. They do not know that, if they put a stop to conceptual thought and forget their anxiety, the Buddha will appear before them, for this Mind is the Buddha and the Buddha is all living beings. It is not the less for being manifested in ordinary beings, nor is it greater for being manifested in the Buddhas.
From the Songs of Milarepa:
The way of the world is illusion:
I strive after true reality.
To be moved by earthly possessions is illusion :
I endeavour to rise above duality.
To be the world’s servant is illusion:
I wander in the mountains alone.
Wealth and possessions are illusion:
I renounce for the sake of the faith any I may have.
External things are illusion:
I contemplate the mind.
Distinctive thought is illusion:
I follow after sapience.
Conditional truth is illusion:
I dispose the absolute truth.
The printed book is illusion:
I meditate upon the counsels of the ear-whispered tradition.
Philosophical argument is illusion:
I study at length that which is unfeigned.
Both birth and death are illusion:
I contemplate the deathless truth.
Ordinary knowledge is illusion:
I exercise myself in wisdom.
The delight of mental thought is illusion:
I dwell in the state of reality.
The Tao of Mind (From the Hsin Hsin Ming series)
In the Void the two are indivisible,
Formerly both contained all the ten-thousand things.
When there is finally no sense of any discrimination left,
There is no longer any need of being for or against.
The Way of the Unborn is boundless,
Wherein No-thing exists that is slight or burdensome.
Yet invite the slightest anxiety,
Heaviness of mind will swiftly return.
Benedictus
Blessed be the Hallowed Lord of the Unborn;
because He has Revealed His Inmost-Self within his devotees:
And has raised-up a Salvific-Light unto us,
in the face of our enemies:
Once this Noble Self-Realization is reached,
nothing more need be done,
nor is there anything lost by doing nothing less than
basking in the divine Freedom of the Unborn.
Free to partake in His-Self without fear,
Thus filled with Right Devotion,
we unceasingly celebrate His Abiding Presence.
And You MY Child shall be called the Dharma-womb of the Most High:
for you shall go before the Unborn Lord to prepare His Way:
To bestow Buddha-gnosis upon those who live
in the darkness of ignorance.
In the tender compassion of our Dharma-Lord,
The dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To enlighten those who are in the bondage of Mara’s death,
And to guide all of us homeward bound in the Unborn.
Glory be to the Blessed Buddha and to the Divine Dharma and to the Hallowed Sangha, both now and forever and ever. Swaha.
May all the Buddhas and Dharma-Guardians bless us, protect us from all harm, and awaken us to the Light of Truth in the Unborn. Swaha.
