CHANT LITURGY

• Maha Prajña Paramita Heart Sutra
• Metta Sutta
• Evening Chant
• Brahma Vihara/ Maitreya
• Invocation
• Śanṭi Path of the Yajur Veda
• Closing Chant


• The Yoga-Sūtra
• Sādhana: An Outline of the Yogic Path

MAHA PRAJÑA PARAMITA HEART SUTRA

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, doing deep Prajña Paramita,
Clearly saw emptiness of all the five conditions
Thus completely relieving misfortune and pain.
Oh Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness,
Emptiness no other than form;
Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form.
Sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness are likewise like this.
Oh Shariputra, all Dharmas are forms of emptiness:
Not born, not destroyed; not stained, not pure, without loss, without gain.
So in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness.
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no color, sound, smell, taste, touch, phenomena.
No realm of sight, no realm of consciousness; no ignorance and no end to ignorance,
No old age and death, no end to old age and death,
No suffering , no cause of suffering, no extinguishing,
no path, no wisdom and no gain.
No gain and thus the Bodhisattva lives Prajña Paramita,
With no hindrance in the mind.
No hindrance, therefore no fear.
Far beyond deluded thoughts, this is Nirvana.
All past, present, and future Buddhas live Prajña Paramita.
And therefore attain Añutara-Samyak-Sambodhi.
Therefore know Prajña Paramita is the great mantra,
The vivid mantra, the best mantra, the unsurpassable mantra.
It completely clears all pain.
This is the truth not a lie.
So set forth the Prajña Paramita mantra,
Set forth this mantra and say:
Gate Gate Paragate! Parasamgate! Bodhi Svaha! Prajna Heart Sutra!

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METTA SUTTA
trans. Michael Stone

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from acting out hatred and ill-will.

Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from clinging to sense desires,
Is not born again into habit cycles.

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EVENING CHANT

Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time passes swiftly and opportunity is lost.
Let us awaken.
Awaken!
(Do not squander your life.)

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BRAHMA VIHARA/ MAITREYA

May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings be safe and free from suffering.
May all beings be free of their ancient & twisted karma
(born of greed, hatred and confusion).
May all being be free from every form of dukkha.

Namaste

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INVOCATION

vande gurūṇāṁ caraṇāravinde
sandarśita svātma sukhāva bodhe
niḥśreyase jāṅgalikāyamāne
saṁsāra hālāhala moha śāntyai

I bow to the two lotus feet of the (plurality of) Gurus, which awaken insight
into the happiness of pure Being,
which are the complete absorption into joy,
the jungle physician, eliminating the delusion
caused by the poison of Saṁsāra (conditioned existence).

ābāhu puruṣākāraṁ
śankha cakrāsi dhāriṇam
sahasra śirasaṁ śvetaṁ
praṇamāmi patañjalim

oṁ

I prostrate before the sage Patanjali who has thousands of radiant,
white heads (as the divine serpent, Ananta) and who has, as far
as his arms, assumed a human form, holding a conch shell (divine sound),
a wheel (a discus of light or time) and a sword (discrimination).

Oṁ

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ŚANṬI PATH OF THE YAJUR VEDA

saha nāvavatu
saha nau bhunaktu
saha vīryam karavāvahai
tejasvi nāvadhītamastu
mā vidviṣāvahai
oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

May both of us together be protected.
May both of us together be nourished.
May we work together with great energy.
May our study together be brilliant and effective.
May we not hate or dispute with each other.
Oṁ, Peace, Peace, Peace.

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CLOSING CHANT

svasti prajābhyaḥ paripālayantāṁ
nyāyena mārgeṇa mahīṁ mahīśāḥ
gobrāhmaṇebhyaḥ śubhamastu nityaṁ
lokāsmastā sukhino bhavantu
kāle varṣatu parjanyaḥ pṛthivī sasyaśālinī
deśoyaṁ kṣobharahito brāhmaṇā santu nirbhayāḥ

May all of humankind be happy and well.
May the great noble lords protect the earth in every way by
the path of just virtue.
May there be perpetual joy for those who know the real nature of things.
May all the worlds be happy.
May the rains fall on time, and may the earth yield
its produce in abundance.
May this country be free from disturbances, and may the
knowers of the truth be free from fear.

THE YOGA-SŪTRA

samādhi-pādaḥ I Integration

I.1 atha yogānuśāsanam

Now, the teachings of yoga.

I.2 yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ

Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness.

I.3 tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe ʻvasthānam

Then, pure awareness can abide in its very nature.

IV.34 puruṣārtha-śūnyānāṃ guṇānām pratiprasavaḥ kāivalyaṃ
svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā vā citi-śakter iti

Freedom is at hand when the fundamental qualities of nature, each of their transformations witnessed at the moment of its inception, are recognized as irrelevant to pure awareness; it stands alone, grounded in its very nature, the power of pure seeing. That is all.

SĀDHANA: AN OUTLINE OF THE YOGIC PATH

AṢTAṄGA -YOGA (II.29FF)

1. yamas (external disciplines):

2. niyamas (internal disciplines):

3. āsana (sitting posture):

4. prāṇāyāma (breath energy regulation):

5. pratyāhāra (withdrawal of the senses):

6. dhāraṇā (concentration):

7. dhyāna (absorption):

8. samādhi (integration):

FACTORS THAT COMPOSE THE PATH TO REALIZATION (I.20)

POLARITIES OF YOGIC WILL (I.12FF)

ELEMENTS OF YOGIC ACTION (KRIYĀ-YOGA, II.1FF)

Fundamental qualities of nature (guṇas)

PATTERNS OF CONSCIOUSNESS (CITTA-VṚTTI, I.5FF)

right perception
misperception
conceptualization
deep sleep
remembering

CAUSES OF SUFFERING (KLEŚAS, II.3FF)