Ananda's Vow Gatha

Original text: 妙湛总持不动尊。首楞严王世稀有。销我亿劫颠倒想。不历僧祇获法身。愿今得果成宝王。还度如是恒沙众。将此深心奉尘刹。是则名为报佛恩。伏请世尊为证明。五浊恶世誓先入。如一众生未成佛。终不于此取泥洹。大雄大力大慈悲。希更审除微细惑。令我早登无上觉。于十方界坐道场。舜若多性可消亡。烁迦罗心无动转。

Explanation: The supremely wondrous, tranquil tathāgatagarbha is the general guideline and essential principle of the Buddhadharma. Within the worldly dharmas of the three realms, it is always suchness immovable (tathatā-acalita), not merging with the myriad dharmas; therefore it is supremely noble and venerable. This treasure, hard as the Śūraṅgama, is rare and difficult to see in worldly dharmas, because He is a transcendent dharma, not belonging to the dharmas of the three realms; therefore He is not within the world of the three realms.

When I heard the World-Honored One expound the tathāgatagarbha, I understood that the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are not the true self, but illusory appearances conjured forth by one's own tathāgatagarbha. Thus the inverted thinking, held since beginningless kalpas, of taking the five aggregates as the real self, was thoroughly extinguished. At the moment I awakened to the tathāgatagarbha, this true dharma, I instantly realized my own pure Dharmakāya (dharma-kāya), attaining sudden enlightenment without having to pass through the length of asaṃkhyeya kalpas.

Now I make the vow to attain buddhahood soon and become a Dharma King, and then deliver sentient beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. I offer this deep vow-mind to the jeweled buddha-lands as numerous as dust-motes and sands, to deliver the measureless, boundless sentient beings within those jeweled lands; only thus can I repay the grace of the buddhas who delivered and transformed me. I respectfully request the World-Honored One to bear witness: I vow to enter first this evil world of the five turbidities to universally deliver sentient beings. If even one sentient being has not accomplished the buddha-way, I shall never attain the supreme buddha fruit — the great nirvāṇa, that is, the nirvāṇa of non-abiding (apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa) of the buddha-stage.

O Buddha, World-Honored One, heroic and fearless, sovereign in the ten powers, of great loving-kindness and great compassion, I hope You can further help me to carefully eliminate the countless, measureless latent afflictions (anuśaya) and dust-and-sand ignorance within my mind, so that I may break through all subtle ignorance completely, ascend the supreme throne of the Dharma King, sit at the place of practice in the worlds of the ten directions, subdue the demon armies of the ten directions, and deliver the sentient beings of the ten directions. My empty, illusory, floating mind may arise and cease, may vanish in an instant; but my solid and immovable vajra mind (vajra-citta) absolutely never has a moment of movement or turning.