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The Verses Of The Eight Noble Auspicious Ones
At one time, Shakyamuni Buddha (Sangyé Shakya Thubpa) is staying at Amrapali’s mango grove in Vaisali, a Licchavi youth named Suvikranta (tsel rap), which means ‘excellent skill’, requests teaching from Lord Buddha on how to protect himself from the fear and threat he might encounter in his life. Shakyamuni Buddha reveals the names of eight tathagatas if contemplated regularly will eliminate the aforementioned obstacles in all his undertaking. This discourse is preserved in the Noble Mahayana Sutra Of The Eight Auspicious Ones.
The names of the eight tathagatas are listed in a prayer known as The Verses of Prayer to the Eight Noble Auspicious Ones (phakpha tashi gyepai tsiksu chepa), which was composed in 1896 by Jamgön Mipham Gyatso Rinpoche.
Mipham Rinpoche described that whoever recites the names of these tathagatas is to experience the pristine purity of bliss, fearlessness, attentiveness and serenity of the tathagatas which bring harmony to all strifes and turmoils. Simply hearing their names will generate greater benefit than spending aeons in making offerings to the many buddhas of the three times. Immeasurable amount of benefits can be cultivated by contemplating, reciting and copying the names of these tathagatas.
The mandalas (kyilkhor) of the eight tathagatas, the eight male bodhisattvas, the eight female bodhisattvas, and the eight worldly protectors - are all included in the stanzas of Tashi Gyepa - The Verses of Prayer to the Eight Noble Auspicious Ones.
To recite these verses daily is to pay homage to the Three Jewels and to invoke the blessings of these deities. To chant these verses with firm faith and single-pointed focus will pacify all misdeeds and obscurations, herald the advent of auspicious conditions that will transform all obstacles into beneficial support in one’s pursuit to attain the ultimate goal of liberation.
- Extract from a teaching by Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche. The full text is available to read under the feature of Gateway to Tibetan Buddhism. Click here to see the full list of articles available.