The Great Chronicle of The Buddhas
by Tipitakadhara Mingun Sayadaw
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-sambuddhassa1
I. SALUTATION & INTENTION2
With most respectful adoration I pay obeisance to the Buddha who, like his predecessors, has made a very rare appearance; who, like them, has no peers among Brahmas, Devas and human beings in the three worlds; who, like them, forms a refuge for all these beings who bow in homage; and who is like them in all aspects of glory, virtues and attributes (except in eight individual features3 such as life-span, height, lineage, duration of strenuous exertion, rays emitted from body, conveyance used on renouncing the world, Bodhi-tree and size of dais as seat).
1. This Pali sentence is the formula of great honour paid to the Buddha which may be translated "Honour to Him the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Self-Enlightened One." A Buddhist literary work usually begins with it to show the author's exclamation of obeisance.2. The original word in Pali is patinna which literally means "promise" or "vow."3. These are called atthavemattani, which Malalasekera translates "eight particulars in which the Buddha differ from each other." His rendering of these eight are: "length of life in the epoch in which each is born, the height of his body, his social rank, (some are born as khattiyas, others as brahmins), the length of his austerities, the aura of his body (thus in the case of Mangala, his aura spread throughout the ten thousand world systems, while that of Gotama extended only one fathom), the Conveyance in which he makes his renunciation, the tree under which he attains Enlightenment, and the size of the seat (pallanka) under the Bodhi tree." Dictionary of Pali Proper Names under Buddha.
With most respectful adoration I pay obeisance to the Dhamma, which, through his Omniscience and out of profound compassion for all beings, has been well taught1 by that Buddha, and which has been held in high esteem by himself.
With most respectful adoration I pay obeisance to the Sangha, the Order of Noble Ones, who have become true sons of the Master by their proper and upright practice2 of the Dhamma.
Having paid obeisance to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, I shall now write in a language neither too brief nor too elaborate, neither too simple nor too difficult, and relying mainly on the canonical texts of the Buddhavamsa3 and its commentary and also taking relevant materials from other texts and commentaries, the Maha Buddhavamsa, the Great Chronicle of the Buddhas - a book on the lives of twenty-five Enlightened Ones from out of innumerable Buddhas past, whose number is far greater than that of the grains of sand of the Ganges,4 beginning with the account of the Exalted Dipankara, from whom the Future Gotama as the Hermit Sumedha received the definite prophecy5 that he would become a Perfectly Self-Enlightened One.
1. This is the first attribute of the Dhamma.2. These are the first and second of the attributes of the Sangha.3. The fourteenth book of the Khuddaka-Nikaya of. the Sutta-Pitaka.4. Cp. "Few are the sands of the Ganges.
Innumerable are the Conquerors,
Who have entered Nirvana,..."
This is from U Pe Maung Tin's translation of the popular Pali gatha beginning with the word "Sambuddhe." The relevant Pali composition in two lines are;."Appaka valuka gangaananta nibbuta jina,.5. Receiving of the definite prophecy (Niyata—vyakarana) is an important feature in the spiritual evolution of a Bodhisatta. We shall see more about it when we come to the story of Sumedha.
May those virtuous people, who are desirous of seeking merit and knowledge; who, with abiding faith, have established a firm foundation of refuge in the Buddha1 , the Dhamma and the Sangha; and who are properly and up rightly cultivating the threefold practice of morality (sila), concentration (samadhi) and insight (panna) - may they easily attain the Path, Fruition and Nibbana.
1. Here the author adds an adjectival clause reading "whose supremacy in the three worlds is like the ruby-studded pinnacle of a palace." The three worlds here are the three realms of sensuality (kama). materiality (rupa) and immateriality (arupa. The first corresponds to the realm of five senses, comprising the four woeful states (apaya), the human world and the six celestial worlds. The material and immaterial worlds belong to the Brahmas.
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