After paying homage to the buddhas, the practitioner must kneel formally on one knee, place palms together, and say:

“The buddhas, the World-honored Ones, possess the ten capabilities, dauntlessness, the eighteen unique merits, great mercy, great compassion, and three kinds of constancy of mind. They are always present in the world, and among forms and embodiments theirs is supreme. What impurities do I have that prevent me from seeing them?”

The ten powers mean perfect comprehension in the ten fields of knowledge that belong only to the Buddha. A brief explanation of these powers will be given here because it is very important for believers in the Lotus Sutra to understand them. The ten powers attributed to the Buddha are: (1) the power to know right and wrong states, (2) the power to know the consequences of karma, (3) the power to know all meditations and contemplations, (4) the power to know the various higher and lower capabilities of living beings, (5) the power to know what living beings understand, (6) the power to know the basic nature and actions of living beings, (7) the power to know the causes and effects of living beings in all worlds, (8) the power to know the results of karmas in past lives, (9) the power to know by supernatural insight, and (10) the power of being free from all error, or infallibility in knowledge.

The eighteen unique characteristics are the eighteen merits that belong only to the Buddha. These special characteristics are: (1) faultlessness in body, (2) faultlessness in speech, (3) faultlessness in mind and thought, (4) no unsteadiness of mind, (5) impartiality, (6) perfect resignation, (7) imperishable aspiration to save all living beings, (8) unfailing zeal, (9) unfailing memory of all teachings of all buddhas past, present, and future, (10) unfailing contemplation, (11) unfailing wisdom, (12) unfailing freedom from all hindrances, (13) all bodily deeds being in accord with wisdom, (14) all deeds of speech being in accord with wisdom, (15) all deeds of thought being in accord with wisdom, (16) unhindered knowledge of the past, (17) unhindered knowledge of the future, and (18) unhindered knowledge of the present.