Bodhicitta prayers
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The following prayers are recited at the beginning of a teaching or practice in order to generate Bodhicitta to benefit countless sentient beings.
Text 1: Four Immeasurables
May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness
May they be free from suffering and the causes of suffering
May they never be separated from the supreme happiness, devoid of suffering
May they forever dwell in the great equanimity, free from attachment and aversion
Text 2: The Bodhicitta prayer
To Bodhicitta, the precious and excellent mind,
Where it is not, may it arise,
Where it is, may it never decline,
Consistently growing, rising higher and higher
An alternative, longer version also exists:
May the supreme jewel Bodhichitta
That has not arisen, arise and grow,
And may that which has arisen not diminish,
But increase more and more
I recite
To Bodhichitta, the precious and excellent mind,
Where it is not, may it arise,
Where it is, may it never decline,
Forever growing higher and higher