Saturday, December 7, 2024

The Jewel Sutra (Ratana Sutta)


.
All beings gathered here
from earth and aether
may we all be happy at heart
to listen carefully to what is said.

All beings, heed:
Love human beings,
who day and night make offerings
and please protect them diligently.

There is no wealth here or beyond,
no sublime jewel found in heaven,
that equals the Enlightened One.
This sublime jewel is the Buddha:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

Cessation, dispassion, deathless, sublime
attained by the Scythian Sage in samādhi --
without equal is that Dharma.
This sublime jewel is the Dharma:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

The purification praised by the Buddha Supreme
is said to be the “absorption with immediate fruit.”
No equal to that absorption is found.
This sublime jewel is the Dharma:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

The eight individuals praised by the wise
are the four pairs of the Awakened One’s disciples,
worthy of offerings and all other courtesies.
For what is given to them is abundantly fruitful.
This sublime jewel is the Noble Saṅgha:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

.
Dedicated to the Buddha’s dispensation,
strong-minded, free of craving for sense,
they have attained the aim, plunged into deathless freedom
and enjoy a cooling they have thus gained.
This sublime jewel is the Noble Saṅgha:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

As a boundary-post set firmly in the ground
is unshaken by winds of the four directions,
I say a supreme person is just this way,
who knows-and-sees the enlightening truths.
This sublime jewel is the Noble Saṅgha:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

Those who fathom the enlightening truths [sacca]
taught by the one of deepest wisdom
do not undergo more than seven rebirths
even if they are extremely negligent.
This sublime jewel is the Noble Saṅgha:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

When they attain the eye of wisdom,
they give up three things:

They are freed from four miserable planes
and cannot do six heinous (karmic) actions.
This sublime jewel is the Noble Saṅgha:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

Even if they do some unskillful deed
through body, speech, or mind,
they are unable to conceal it,
which is said of those who have seen the Truth.
This sublime jewel is the Noble Saṅgha:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

As a tall forest tree springing flowers
in the first month of summer
he taught the supreme Dharma
leading to cessation, to ultimate freedom.
This sublime jewel is the Buddha:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

The knower, giver, and bringer of the sublime
taught the most sublime Dharma.
This sublime jewel is the Buddha:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

The past is ended, nothing anew is produced:
Their minds hanker after no future rebirth.
Spent seeds desire no growth,
The ever-mindful become as still as this lamp.
This sublime jewel is the Noble Saṅgha:
By this truth, may all beings be well!

All beings gathered here
of earth and aether,
the Enlightened One is honored by devas and humans!
We honor the Buddha! May all be safe!

All beings gathered here
of earth and aether,
the Enlightened One is honored by devas and humans!
We honor the Dharma! May all be safe!

All beings gathered here
of earth and aether,
the Enlightened One is honored by devas and humans!
We honor the Noble Saṅgha! May all be safe!
  • Dhr. Seven (trans.), Kalyani (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

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