Mural of Lord Buddha, Tharlam Monastery, Bodha, Kathmandu, Nepal

Mural of Lord Buddha, Tharlam Monastery, Bodha, Kathmandu, Nepal, a photo by Wonderlane on Flickr.

For as long as it takes for me to reach enlightenment

I am moving into the shelter
Of the Buddha, Dharma, and finest community.
May performing these oblations help me succeed
In becoming a Buddha
So that I can help living beings.

When we say this we must set our minds on what it means.

Second, the act of worshiping the precious ones at large:

We must first bow to our Guru, then our Yidam, then the Buddha; then we must
bow to the Bodhisattvas. Then we present our offerings.

To offer the first maṇḍala we perform the Seven Branches either in detail or in
brief, whichever works. We pray fervently for whatever we want to happen.

WORKS OF THE SAKYA MASTERS
Translation by Chris Wilkinson