Lighting a stick of Heart-Incense, we at Sùng Nghiêm Zen Monastery vow to realize the True and Authentic Meaning of the Tathāgata's Teaching.
With deepest gratitude and reverence, we offer this to the Buddhas and Patriarchs, to the Bodhisattvas, and to the Noble Sangha...
We offer heartfelt thanks and homage to our honored teachers:
Zen Master Philip Kapleau
Zen Master Bodhin Kjolhede
Zen Master Thích Duy Lực And to all virtuous spiritual friends, monks, and nuns from time immemorial until now.
We offer gratitude and reverence to our grandparents, parents, and the Nine Generations of Ancestral Lineage from beginningless time until now.
We offer gratitude and reverence to all beloved beings-spouses, partners, dear ones, children and grandchildren, servants and helpers, and all who have supported us in every circumstance and every environment from beginningless time until now.
We offer gratitude and reverence to both paternal and maternal lineages-siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins-from beginningless time until now.
We offer our deepest gratitude and reverence to all benefactors and adversaries, to all spiritual and worldly friends from beginningless time until now.
We offer our gratitude and reverence to all beings and all things-sentient and insentient, visible and invisible-throughout the entire world and vast cosmos from beginningless time until now.
We offer our gratitude and reverence to all heroes and martyrs, noble women and fallen warriors-named and unnamed-to all wandering souls and forgotten departed ones, regardless of religion, race, or lineage, from beginningless time until now.
We offer our gratitude and reverence to all Dharma and worldly protectors, past and present, who have contributed boundless effort-from coarse to subtle, material to spiritual-toward the complete and radiant flourishing of this Zen Monastery.
We also gratefully and reverently acknowledge all visible and invisible beings, sentient and insentient, who have come to listen, to visit, or to study and practice.
May all beings diligently cultivate the path, transcend afflictions and the cycle of birth and death, and manifest the Pure Land within our very body, mind, and daily life.
