The Buddhist Book of Protection (chants)

Ven. Piyadassi Thera (BPS.lk); Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

PREFACE

The Book of Protection, which is an anthology of selected discourses of the Buddha compiled by the teachers of old, was originally meant as a handbook for the newly ordained novice monastic.

The idea was that those novices who are not capable of studying large portions of the Discourse Collection (Sutta Pitaka) should at least be conversant with The Book of Protection. Even today it is so.

The twenty-four discourses are selected from the five nikáyas or the original collections in the Pali language containing the Buddha’s discourses. The fact that the book was meant for the novice is clear from the prefatory paragraphs that precede the discourses.

The precepts are ten, not the five basic principles of the lay follower. The novice is expected to observe the Ten Precepts. This is followed by the "Questions to be Answered by a Novice" and the "Thirty-Two Parts of the Body," which is really a type of meditation on the constituent parts of the human body.

Then comes the "Fourfold Reflection of a Monastic," and finally the "Ten Essentials (Dhammas)" to be reflected upon by one who has gone forth to live the high life [of a monastic].

The discourses come next. If one patiently and painstakingly studies these discourses or sutras, one could gather knowledge of the essential and fundamental teachings of the Buddha. The Mahá-samaya Sutta (No. 18) and the Átánátiya Sutta ending the book (No. 24) may appear to some as pointless, but a careful reader will no doubt appreciate their relevance.

In the essay "The Book of Protection and the Value of Paritta" an attempt is made to show what paritta means to a Buddhist.

I have endeavored to keep as close as possible to the original wording of the Pali text without making it too liberal a translation, on the one hand, or a word for word translation, on the other, and have avoided translating the Pali stanzas into verse (except the stanzas of Discourses Nos. 5, 11, 19) in order to give a very faithful, easy and readable rendering.

I have preserved the synonymous words and repetitions found in the sutras since they are [presumed to be] the very words of the historical Buddha handed down to us through oral tradition.

In all the sutras the word Bhagavá, the "Blessed One," an epithet of the Buddha [which itself is another epithet meaning the "Awakened One" for Siddhartha Gautama], is frequently used.

To avoid using the same word too often in the translation, I have, at times, used "the Buddha" for Bhagavá or a personal pronoun to denote him.

The Angulimála Paritta is a short discourse that does not appear in the Book of Protection (Paritta text), but as it is a paritta made use of by expectant mothers in Buddhist lands, I have included it in the Appendix.

English renderings of other Pali stanzas used by Buddhists when reciting the parittas are also included in the Appendix.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE to 2nd Edition

This second, retypeset edition of The Book of Protection contains the Pali text, which is derived from the digital text of the Catu-bhánavára as prepared by Bhikkhu Ánandajoti and available on the Metta.lk website.

1. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

The Book of Protection is a collection of paritta or "protective" discourses — in Sinhalese Pirit Potha — that is the most widely known Pali language book in Sri Lanka.

It can be called a "Buddhist Bible" [for its devotional uses]. It is given an important place in the Buddhist home and is even treated with veneration.

In most houses where there is a small shrine this book is kept there so that the people may refer to it during their devotional hour. Some have committed to memory the three well-known discourses — Mangala, Ratana, and Karanìya-Mettá Suttas. (See Suttas 2, 3, 4).

Even children are familiar with these discourses, for they learn them from their parents and elders or from the "Dhamma school." The habit of listening to the recital of protective chants or sutras among Westerners is growing slowly and steadily.

The present writer, while on missions in America and European countries, has at the request of several residents there, recorded the recital of chants for their benefit and has mailed cassettes containing the recitals to those who sent him such cassettes.

Now, what does this book contain? It is a collection of 24 sutras or discourses almost all delivered by the Buddha and found scattered in the five original collections (nikáyas) in the Pali language, which form the Sutta Pitaka, the "Canonical Discourses."

These discourses are preceded by an enunciation of the Threefold Guidance, the Ten Precepts, and questions asked of a novice.

This collection of discourses has a less known title, Catu-bhánavára (Sinhalese Satara-banavara). A 13th century commentary to the collection -- written in Pali by a pupil of Ven. Rájaguru Vanaratana of Sri Lanka -- is available under the title Catu-bhánavára-atthakathá or Sárattha-samuccaya.

What is a bhánavára? It is a collection of sermons or discourses. Four such collections are called Catubhánavára.

As the teachers of old have said, a three-word line (pada) is made up of eight syllables (attha-akkhara), four such padas make a stanza or a gáthá. Thus stanzas consist of 32 syllables. Two hundred such stanzas are called a bhánavára, which consists of 8,000 syllables.

The Catubhánavára was compiled by the Great Elders (Mahá Theras), the teachers of yore (poránakácariyá) in Sri Lanka. That is what is known today among the Buddhists of Sri Lanka as the Pirit Potha or The Book of Protection.

It is customary for Buddhist monks, when they are invited to homes of lay Buddhists on occasions of domestic importance, such as birthdays, housewarmings, illnesses, and similar events to recite the three popular discourses mentioned above.

In the domestic and social life of the people of Sri Lanka a pirit ceremony is of great significance. No festival or function, religious or social, is complete without the recital of a protective chant.

On special occasions monks are invited to recite paritta suttas not for short periods but through the night or for three or seven days, and at times, for weeks.

On such occasions a pavilion (pirit manðapaya) is constructed for the purpose of accommodating the monks at the recital.

Before the commencement of the recital, Buddhists present at the ceremony make a formal invitation to the monks by reciting in Pali three stanzas that explain the purpose of the recital. (See Invitation below).

Then generally about 12 or 14 monks who have been invited will recite the three popular sutras. Thereafter a pair of monks will commence reciting the remaining sutras for two hours. Then they retire and are followed by another pair for another two hours.

Two monks must constantly be officiating. In this manner the recital lasts till dawn. While the recital continues, there will be found a pot of water placed on a table before the monks.

On this table there is also the sacred thread (pirit nula). For an all-night pirit ceremony, the casket containing a relic of the Buddha, and the Pirit Potha or The Book of Protection written on ola (talipot palm) leaves are also brought into the pavilion.

The relic represents the Buddha, the Pirit Potha represents the Dharma or the Teachings of the Buddha, and the reciting Monastic-Community represents the Noble (Enlightened/Ariyan) Sangha, the attained disciples of the Buddha from stream winners to arahants.

The thread is drawn around the interior of the pavilion, and its end twisted around the casket, the neck of the pot of water, and tied to the cord of the ola-leaf book.

While the special discourses are being recited, the monks hold the thread. The purpose is to maintain an unbroken communication from the water to the relic, to the Pirit Potha and to the officiating monks, (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, the "Three Jewels" or Ti-ratana).

A ball of thread connected to the Three Jewels and the water is released and passed on to the listeners (seated on mats on the ground), who hold the thread while the recital goes on.

When the recital in Pali of the entire book is completed around dawn, the thread made sacred by the recital is cut into segments and distributed among the devotees, tied around their wrists or necks [like friendship bracelets].

At the same time the sanctified water is sprinkled on all. They may drink a little of it then sprinkled on their heads. These are to be regarded as symbols of the protective power of the paritta that was recited.

It is a spiritual service producing blessings, but it has psychological [and physcial] effects.

Dr. Bernard Grad of McGill University in Montreal painstakingly proved that if a psychic healer held water in a sealed flask and this water was later poured on barley seeds, the plants significantly outgrew untreated seeds.

But — and this is the intriguing part — if depressed psychiatric patients held the flasks of water, the growth of the seeds was retarded.

“Dr. Grad suggests that there appeared to be some ‘X factor’ or energy that flows from the human body to affect growth of plants and animals. A person’s mood affected this energy. This previously unacknowledged ‘energy’ has the widest implications for medical science, from healing to lab tests, Grad says” [1].

As experimentally discovered by Dr. Grad, mind can influence matter. If that is so, not much thinking is necessary to draw the logical inference that mind can also influence mind. Further, if the human mind can influence lower animals, then by a parity of reasoning the human mind can influence the minds of beings higher than animals [such as other humans and devas or "shining ones" of various orders]. More

CONTENTS

• Preface v
• Introductory Essay 1
• The Book of Protection 1
• The Value of Paritta 3

Introductory Chants

• I. Árádhana (Invitation) 10–11
• II. Deváradhana (Invitation to Deities) 10–11
• III. Saranagamana (Going for Guidance) 10–11
• IV. Dasasikkhápadáni (The Ten Training Precepts) 10–11
• V. Samanerapañhá (Questions to be Answered by a Novice) 12–13
• VI. Dvattiísákára (The Thirty-Two Parts of the Body) 12–13
• VII. Paccavekkhaná (The Four-fold Reflection of a Monastic) 12–13

Discourses (Sutras)

• 1. Dasadhammasutta (Discourse on the Ten Dhammas) 14–15
• 2. Mahámangalasutta (Discourse on Blessings) 16–17
• 3. Ratanasutta (The Jewel Discourse) 18–19
• 4. Karanìyamettasutta (Discourse on Loving-Kindness) 24–25
• 5. Khandhaparitta (Protection of the Aggregates) 24–25
• 6. Mettánisaísasutta (Discourse on Advantages of Loving-Kindness) 26–27
• 7. Mittánisaísa (The Advantages of Friendship) 28–29
• 8. Moraparitta (The Peacock’s Prayer for Protection) 30–31
• 9. Candaparitta (The Moon Deity’s Prayer for Protection) 32–33
• 10. Suriyaparitta (The Sun Deity’s Prayer for Protection) 32–33
• 11. Dhajaggaparitta (Banner Protection) 34–35
• 12. Mahákassapattherabojjhaòga (Factors of Enlightenment) 38–39
• 13. Mahámoggallánattherabojjhaòga (Factors of Enlightenment) 40–41
• 14. Mahácundattherabojjhaòga (Factors of Enlightenment) 44–45
• 15. Girimánandasutta (Discourse to Girimánanda Thera) 46–47
• 16. Isigilisutta (The Discourse at Isigili) 54–55
• 17. Dhammacakkappavattanasutta (Discourse on the Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Truth) 58–59
• 18. Mahásamayasutta (The Great Assembly) 64–65
• 19. Álavakasutta (Discourse to Álavaka) 76–77
• 20. Kasìbháradvájasutta (Discourse to Bháradvája, the Farmer) 80–81
• 21. Parábhavasutta (Discourse on Downfall) 84–85
• 22. Vasalasutta (Discourse on Outcasts) 88–89
• 23. Saccavibhangasutta (Discourse on the Analysis of the Truths) 94–95
• 24. Átánátiyasutta (Discourse on Átánátiyá) 104–105

APPENDIX

• I. Angulimála-Paritta (Protective Discourse to Angulimála) 118–119
• II. Blessings 118–119
• III. Abhayaparitta (The Fearless Protection) 118–119
• IV. Bojjhanga Paritta (Factors of Enlightenment Protection) 120–121
• Notes 122
• BOOK: bps.lk/olib/bp/bp216s_Piyadassi_Book-of-Protection.pdf

Buddhist TRAGEDY: poor, sad Patty!

Hellmuth Hecker, Sr. Khema (German trans.), Buddhist Women at the Time of the Buddha (Wheel 292, BPS, accesstoinsight.org); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Dedicated to the good Western nun Ven. Aloka who inspired this translation.

.

Preserver of the Discipline

I'm young, so I want to make out and elope!

Patacara was the beautiful daughter of a very wealthy merchant in Savatthi.

When she was 16 year old, her parents locked her up on the top floor of a seven-story high tower surrounded by guards to prevent her from keeping company with any young man.

In spite of this extreme precaution [or maybe because of it], she became involved in a sexual affair with a servant in her parents' house.

 

When her parents arranged a suitable marriage for her with a young man of equal social standing and means, she decided to elope with her lower class lover instead.

She escaped from the tower by disguising herself, and the young couple went to live in a village far away from Savatthi.

The new husband farmed, and the young wife had to do all of the menial chores that formerly had been performed by her parents' servants. So she reaped the results of her karma.

 

When she became pregnant, she begged her husband to take her to her parents' house to give birth [in accordance with ancient Indian custom], saying to him that father and mother always have a soft spot in their hearts for their child, no matter what she has done.
 

I'm marrying for love. Take that, parents!

However, her husband refused on the grounds that her parents would surely subject him to torture and/or imprisonment.

When she realized that he would not give in to her pleas, she decided to make her way to her parents' by herself. When the husband found her gone and was told by the neighbors of her decision, he followed her and tried to persuade her to return. However, she would not listen to him.

 

Before they could reach Savatthi, birth pains started, and soon a baby son was born. As there was no more reason to go to her parents' house, they turned back and resumed their family life in the village.

 

Sometime later she became pregnant again. And again she requested her husband to take her home to her parents. Again he refused and she took matters in her own hands and started off, carrying the older child. When her husband followed her and pleaded with her to return with him, she would not listen, but continued on her way.

A fearful storm arose out of season with thunder and lightning and incessant rain. Just then her birth pains started, and she asked her husband to find her some shelter.

The husband went searching for material for a shelter and set about to chop down some saplings.

 

No one need die from a venomous bite. Metta prevents it. Khandha Paritta is the antidote.

• How to SURVIVE or prevent venomous snake bites

Dead, rigid from lack of cultivating metta

A venomous snake bit him just then, and he fell dead instantly. 

Patacara waited for him in vain. And after having suffered birth pains, a second son was born to her. Both children screamed at the top of their lungs because of the buffeting of the storm. So the mother protected them with her own body all night long.

In the morning she placed the newborn baby on her hip, gave a finger to the older child to suck on, and set out upon the path her husband had taken saying: "Come, dear child, your father has abandoned us." After a few steps she found her husband lying dead, his body rigid. She wailed and lamented and blamed herself for his death.

 

She continued on her journey to her parents' house, but when she came to the river Aciravati, it was swollen waist-deep on account of the rain. She was too weak to wade across with both children, so she left the older child on the near bank and carried the baby across to the other side.

What sort of tasty flesh is on the shore?

Then she returned to take the firstborn across. When she was midstream, an eagle saw the helpless newborn and flew in for its meat. It came swooping down, and in spite of Patacara's cries and screams, flew off with the baby in its talons.

 

The older boy saw his mother stop in the middle of the river and heard her loud yells. He thought she was calling him to come and started out after her. He was immediately swept off by the strong current.

 

Wailing and lamenting, Patacara went on her way, half crazed by the triple tragedy that had befallen her, losing husband and both sons in one day.

As she came nearer to Savatthi, she met a traveler who was just coming from the city. She inquired about her family from him, but at first he refused to answer her. When she insisted, he finally had to tell her that her parent's house had collapsed in the storm, killing both of them as well as her brother, and their cremation was just taking place.

 

When she heard that, her reason left her. Her grief was too much to bear. She tore off her clothes, wandered around weeping and wailing, not knowing what she was doing or where she was going. People pelted the naked woman with stones and rubbish and chased her out of the way.

 

Central Asian beauty, a Scythian, NE India

At that time the Buddha was staying at the Jeta Grove in Anathapindika's monastery. He saw Patacara approaching from afar and recognized that in a past life she had made an earnest resolve to become a nun well versed in the Dharma.

Therefore, he instructed his disciples not to obstruct her, but to let her enter and come near him. As soon as she was close to the Buddha, through his supernatural powers, she regained her right mind. Then she also became aware of being naked, and in her shame she crouched upon the ground.

 

One of the lay followers threw her a cloak, and after she had wrapped herself in it, she prostrated at the feet of the Buddha. Then she recounted to him the tragedy that had befallen her.

 

The Teacher listened to her with compassion then made it clear to her that these painful experiences she had gone through were only tiny drops in the ocean (samsara) of impermanence in which all beings drown if they are attached to that which rises and ceases.

He told her that all through many existences, she had wept more tears over the loss of dear ones than could be contained in the waters of the four oceans. He said:

But little water do the oceans four contain
compared with all the tears that humans have shed
by sorrow smitten and by suffering distraught.
Woman, why heedless do you yet remain?

This exposition of the Awakened One penetrated her mind/heart so deeply that at that moment she could completely grasp the impermanence of all conditioned things (dependently arisen phenomena, things that depend on constituents/factors for their existence).

When the Enlightened One had finished his teaching, she had attained the certainty of future liberation by becoming a stream-winner (the first stage of enlightenment). She practiced diligently and soon realized final deliverance through full enlightenment. She said:

With plows the fields are plowed;
With seed the earth is sown;
Thus wives and children feed;
So young men win their wealth.
Then why do I, of virtue pure,
doing the Master's Teaching,
neither lazy nor proud,
nirvana not attain?
Having washed my feet
I watched that water,
noticing the foot-water
flowing from high to low.
With that the heard/mind was calmed
just as a noble, thoroughbred horse.
Having taken my lamp,
I went into my hut,
inspected the sleeping place
then sat upon the couch.
Having taken a pin
I pushed the wick right down, and
just as the lamp went out,
so all delusion of the heart went, too.

— Therigatha 112-116

It had been enough for her to see the water trickle down the slope to recognize the whole of existence, each life a longer or shorter trickle in the flood of craving.

There were those who lived a short time like her children, those who lived a little longer like her husband, and those who lived even longer like her parents. But all passed by a constant change, in a never-ending rising and falling. This thought-process gave her so much detachment that she attained to total emancipation of the heart the following night.

 

The Buddha said about Patacara that she was the foremost "Keeper of the Disciplinary Code" (bhikkhuni vinaya) among the nuns.

Patacara was thereby the female counterpart of the Buddhist monk Upali, formerly Prince Siddhartha's lowly royal barber.

That she had chosen the "Rules of Monastic Conduct" as her central discipline is easy to understand, because the results of her former indulgences had become bitterly obvious to her.

 

She learned in the Sangha that an intensive study of the monastic rules was necessary and purifying for monastics. It brought with it the security and safety of self-discipline. She learned not to become complacent or lazy when comfortable or anxious and confused when suffering.

Because of her own experiences she had gained a deep understanding of the human predicament and could be of great assistance to her fellow nuns.

 

She was a great comfort to those who came to her with difficulties. The nun Canda said that Patacara showed her the right path out of compassion and helped her to achieve liberation (Thag. 125).

Another nun, Uttara II, reported how Patacara spoke to the group of nuns about conduct and discipline:

Having established mind
One-pointed, well-developed
Investigate formations
As other, not as self.

— Thig 177

Uttara took Patacara's words to heart and said:

When I heard these words —
Patacara's advice,
After washing my feet —
I sat down alone.

— Thig 178

Thereby this nun, too, was able to attain to the three "True Knowledges" (vijja) and final liberation. In the "Verses of the Elder Nuns" we have a record of Patacara's instructions to the nuns and their resultant gains:

Having taken flails
Young men thresh the corn.
Thus wives and children feed.
So young men win their wealth.
So likewise as to the Buddha's Teachings,
From doing which there is no remorse.
Quickly cleanse your feet
And sit you down withdrawn.
Devote yourselves to calm of mind/heart
And thus practice the Buddha's Teachings.
When they heard these words —
Patacara's instructions,
Having washed their feet,
They sat down, each one secluded,
Devoted themselves to calm of heart/mind
And thus followed the Buddha's Teachings.
In the night's first watch*
Past births were remembered;
In the middle watch of the night,
The divine eye was purified.
In the night's last watch,
They tore asunder the mass of gloom.
Having risen, they bowed at her feet,
Her instructions having done.
We shall live revering you
Like the thirty-three devas do Indra,
Undefeated in [celestial] war.
We are with triple knowledge true
And gone are all the taints.

— Therigatha 117-121

• [*Night in the Buddha's time was divided into three "watches," the first from 6:00-10:00 pm, middle from 10:00 pm-2:00 am, last watch from 2:00-6:00 am.]

Patacara was able to effect the change from a frivolous young girl to a theri (revered female "elder") in the Sangha quickly because from previous births she had already possessed this faculty.

During the time of the previous buddha, Kassapa Buddha of 28 mentioned by Gautama Buddha, it is said that Patacara had been a nun and had lived the monastic life for many, many years. The insights gained thereby had been hidden through her actions in subsequent lives.

But when the next buddha appeared in the world, she quickly found her way to him, the reason unknown to her, spurred on by her suffering. Relentlessly attracted to the Awakened One and his Dharma, she entered into the left-home life and soon attained to complete freedom. More

Sources: A1,24; Thig 112-121,125,175,178; Ap. 11 No.20; J 547

Surviving snake [and bear] attack (sutra)

Ven. Piyadassi Thera (translator), Ahi Sutra, "A Snake" (AN 4.67) edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; ABC News, Los Angeles

The Buddha took metta, or "loving kindness," to wondrous heights and encouraged others.

Black bears attack Los Angeles hiker above the small foothill town of Sierra Madre; authorities to track and execute bears in retaliation.

.

Draconians, yes.

Thus have I heard: On one occasion the Blessed One was living near Savatthi at Jetavana at [the Buddhist billionaire] Anathapindika's [donated] monastery. At that time in Savatthi a certain monk had died after being bitten by a snake.

 

Some "snakes" are hybrid reptilians (nagas).

Thereupon many monastics approached the Buddha, saluted him, and sat respectfully beside him. So seated they spoke thus to the Blessed One:

 

"Venerable sir (Bhante), a certain monk in Savatthi has died after being bitten by a snake."
 

Many beings also shape-shift.

"Assuredly, meditators," the Buddha said, "that monk has not suffused with thoughts of loving-kindness (metta) the four royal tribes of snakes. Had he done so, that monk would not have died of snakebite.

"What are the 'four royal tribes of snakes'? The royal tribe of snakes called:

1. Virupakkha
2. Erapatha
3. Chabyaputta
4. Kanhagotamaka.

In China dragons are regarded as good.

"Meditators, that monk did not suffuse with thoughts of loving-kindness these four royal tribes of snakes.

"Had he done so, he would not have died of snakebite. Meditators, I enjoin all of you to suffuse with loving-kindness these four royal tribes of snakes for your safety, for your preservation, and for your protection."

So said the Blessed One. Having spoken, the "Enlightened One" (the Buddha), the "Welcome One" (Sugata), further said the following [suggesting how this might be expressed]:
 
Verses

Reptilian stone monuments on Earth: Maya/Aztec Mesoamerica (utaot.com)

  

Reptilian-human hybrids and Krishna

"May I have metta toward Virupakkhas
Toward Erapathas may I have metta
 

May my metta be toward Chabyaputtas
Toward Kanha-gotamakas also metta may I have.
 

May I have metta toward the footless

And toward bipeds, too, my metta may I have
 

May I have metta toward the quadrupeds

And toward the many-footed also, metta may I have.
 

Let the footless do me no harm

Nor those that have two feet
 

Let no quadrupeds do me harm

Nor those endowed with many feet.
 

All living beings, all creatures,

May good fortune befall all of us
 

May not the least harm befall us. 

Boundless (in virtue) is the Buddha,

Boundless is the Dharma,
Boundless is the [Noble] Sangha.

Finite are creeping creatures -- snakes, scorpions,
centipedes, spiders, lizards, and rats.

I have guarded myself,
I have made my protection.

So depart from me, such beings.
I bow to honor the Blessed One and the Seven Supreme Buddhas.*"

• The "Seven Supreme Buddhas" are: Vipassi, Sikhi, Vessabhu, Kakusanda, Konagama, Kassapa, Gautama.

• Reptilians, malevolent reptoid-humanoids, are often featured in conspiracy theories, fiction, and alien abduction accounts.
• List of reptilian humanoids in fiction and mythology generally
  

Who lives in the World's Largest Cave? (video)

Pat Macpherson, Nguyen, Seth Auberon. Wisdom Quarterly; UFO Mania via Helena Matias (HelenasTales.weebly.com); National Geographic (natgeo.com) via Cindy Hong; MSNBC

(NatGeo) Hang Son Doong "Mountain River" Cave: The world's biggest cave in Vietnam
  

Vietnam's Mountain River Cave (Hang Sơn Đoòng) is a massive cave that belongs to the Phong Nha-Ke Bang grotto system in central Quang Binh Province, Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam. It is the biggest in the world.

Son Dong was discovered by a local man 18 years ago. It is more than 200 meters wide [1 meter = 3 feet], 150 meters high, and at least 6.5 kilometers [km = 1,000 meters] long.

(MissionCreep7) Reptilian sighted in Mountain River Cave, Vietnam

What was that flash in my cave?

Originally, explorers said they were unable to explore it fully. British explorers have recently discovered that Son Dong is much larger than the world's biggest known cave.

The biggest section of Son Dong is five kilometers in length, 200 meters high, and 150 meters wide, said Howard Limbirt of the British Cave Research Association team searching the area April 10-14, 2009.

Son Dong is much larger than Deer Cave in Malaysia, currently considered the world's largest, an explorer said. (Deer is only 90 meters wide, 100 meters high, and 2 kilometers long). The Son Dong cave has displaced it as the world's largest cave.

(818Encino) What or who lives in neighboring China's Flute Reed Caves?

(GL) David Icke's book explains why Princess Diana was killed by royals

• Lisa Haven exposes the Nephilim
• Encounters with Reptilian aliens
• Christians say it's the Nephilim
• Search "GWX" to get rid of forced Windows 10 change

Magic Buddhist spells (video)

A.G.S. Kariyawasam, Buddhist Ceremonies and Rituals of Sri Lanka (BPS.lk, Wheel 402, Access to Insight); Bhante, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

Golden Buddha atop Dambulla Temple, Sri Lanka (the.redhead.and.the.wolf/flickr.com).

(Kliment L) Westerners yearn for ritual, psychedelic trance mix 2015, Neural Overcharge ૐ.

In "Breathe (Reprise)" Pink Floyd sing, "Home, home again/I like to be here when I can...Far away across the field/the tolling of the island bell/calls the faithful to their knees/to hear the softly spoken magic spells." What "spells"?

Sri Lanka hangs off So. India.

There is a magical Buddhist island in the Indian ocean, a citadel of the Dharma set forth in the Buddha's time, holding to the ancient traditions of Jambudvipa ("the Rose Apple Land," which is where the Buddha lived long before there was an "India"). It is shaped like a teardrop off the southern tip of the subcontinent and home to an ancient monastic tradition called Theravada, "the Teaching of the [Enlightened] Elders," the first disciples of the historical Buddha.

Sadly, it was the site of the longest civil war in Asia waged between Hindu Tamil extremists and the abusive Sinhalese majority. There where an ancient form of Buddhism survives -- just as in Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and to a lesser extent Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Malaysia -- there are magical incantations chanted, ward spells (pirit) to preserve the people from dangers in the seen and unseen worlds.

(Priyantha De Silva) Seth Pirith, 23 of the most potent pirit chants by a sangha of Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monks: 1. Dasa Disa Pirith, 2. Atawisi Pirith, 3. Jinapanjnara Pirith, 4. Anawum Pirith, 5. Angulimala Piritha, 6. Nawagraha Shantiya, 7. Rathnamali Gatha, 8. Bojjangha Pirith, 9. Ruwanmali Sa Wandhanawa, 10. Dalada Wandana Gatha, 11. Sooriya Pirith, 12. Dhajagga Sutra, 13. Jaya Pirith, 14. Khandha Pirith, 15. Mora Pirith, 16. Sathbudu Wandanawa, 17. Maha Mangala Suthra, 18. Karaniya Metta Sutra, 19. Narasiha Gatha, 20. Wattaka Piritha, 21. Ratana Sutra, 22. Randenee Gatha, 23. Dutu Gemunu Aarakshaka Gatha
 

The Pirit Ceremony 

Famous and much revered pre-Buddhist cave painting from the forests of central Sri Lanka.

 

Pirit (or paritta) is a collective term designating a set of protective chants or runes sanctioned by the Buddha for the use of both laypeople and monastics. Pirit-chanting is a very popular ceremony among the Theravada Buddhists of Sri Lanka.

 

As the term itself suggests (paritta = protection), pirit means a safety rune, a ceremonial recital regarded as being capable of warding off all forms of harm and danger (vipatti), including disease, the evil influence of ghosts, spirits, planets, and so on. These may be real dangers to the safety of people and property or superstitions and imagined calamities.

In addition to this curative and positive aspect, pirit is also chanted for the attainment of general success (sampatti, siddhi). In the domestic and social life of Sri Lankan Buddhists, no important function can be considered complete without this ceremony. However, the ceremony may vary from a simple one to something elaborate, depending on the occasion and the status of the sponsor.

 

The Golden Temple at Dambulla, Sri Lanka

The essence of the pirit ceremony consists of ritual chanting of certain Pali language texts selected from the canonical sutras. These extracts are found collected and arranged in a particular order in The Book of Protections or Pirit-Pota.*

• *The Pirit-Pota is also known by the more honorific designation Piruvana-Potvahanse. For an English translation of the most important texts from this work, see Ven. Piyadassi's The Book of Protection (Buddhist Publication Society, 1981).

It is known in Pali as Catu-bhana-vara. It contains 27 extracts, including such sutras as the Jewel, Blessings, Loving-Kindness, Dealing with Ogres (Ratana, Mangala, Metta, Atanatiya), and so on.

 

Buddhist Ceremonies (BPS.lk)

The use of protective spells -- variously known as paritta, mantra, rakkha, dharani, kavaca, and so on, each term representing slightly different forms -- against various dangers has been a common practice among the Indians from very early times. The Buddha himself is said to have adopted the practice on several occasions.

 

The public recitation of the "Jewel Sutra" (Ratana Sutta) at Vesali is the best known instance. The Snake Protection, Dealing with Ogres, and Loving-Kindness discourses (Khandha Paritta, Atanatiya Sutta, and the Metta Sutta) are some protections that have received the sanction of the Buddha himself.

As they generally embody statements of truth as taught in Buddhism, their recitation is regarded as an "asseveration of truth" (sacca-kiriya) whereby evil can be averted. The Jewel Sutra is a good example of this kind of protection. It draws its power by wishing the listeners safety after affirming the excellent qualities of Buddhism's Three Jewels or Gems: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha -- the Enlightened One, the Teaching of the path to enlightenment, and those successfully taught (the "noble" or enlightened community, which is composed of laypersons and monastics who have attained at least stream entry, the first stage of enlightenment).

The ancient Sri Lankan Buddhist Temple of the Tooth is a reliquary of the historical Shakyamuni Buddha's tooth in Kandy with moat next to Borisvoronin reservoir (flickr.com).

  

The power of virtue (sila) contained in the Blessings Sutra or Mangala Sutta and the power of loving-kindness (metta) contained in the Metta Sutta are two other aspects that make pirit effective.

The power of the sound waves and vibrations resulting from the sonorous and rhythmic recitation and also from particular combinations of certain letters and syllables play a part in exercising this beneficial influence. 

The vibrating sound waves produced by the mellifluous chanting adds to the effect of the truths enunciated. The ceremonial recitation with various ritualistic observances (discussed below) and with the presence of the Triple Gem in the form of the relic casket representing the Buddha, The Book of Protections representing the Dharma, and the reciting monks or nuns representing the noble Sangha (community of all enlightened disciples), are additional factors that are regarded as increasing the efficacy of pirit chanting.

 

Pali language chanting app

Among laypeople in Burma and Sri Lanka The Book of Protections is more widely known than any other Pali language book. Any Buddhist, educated or not, knows what it is and regards it with honor and respect. Even in ancient times the blessings of the pirit ceremony were sought in times of national calamity just as in Vesali at the time of the Buddha (when a great plague was averted by Buddhist monastics sent out by the Buddha to bless an area).

King Upatissa (4th century: Mhv. xxxvii,189), Sena II, and Kassapa V (ibid, li,80; 1ii,80) are three such Sinhalese Sri Lankan monarchs who had the ceremony performed under such circumstances. The incorporation of an element called the dorakada-asna ("message read at the threshold"), as explained below, shows that it is a ritual that has gradually been elaborated over time.

 

The simplest form of the pirit ceremony is held when what is called the maha-pirita (great or major pirit) -- the Mangala, Ratana, and Metta Sutras and a few benedictory stanzas -- is chanted by a few monastics, usually three or four, three times with a break in between. The three times may consist of the morning and evening of one day and the morning of the following day, or the evening of one day and the following morning and evening. The monastics are conducted to the particular household and the chanting takes place in any room of the house chosen.

  

(Electric Samurai) WARNING: Too sexy! New ritual element, a wedding of a Hula Hoop and a GoPro with amazing, if unnecessarily sexy, results! Psychedelic Trance 2014/2015 Mix, Part 1.

 

Ritual Chants

The Book of Protection: Paritta (Ven. Piyadassi Thera, Buddhist Publication Society)

  

Men, monks decorate stupa with lights.

Monastics sit around a table on which a clean white cloth has been spread, and flowers and puffed rice are strewn about. A pot of filtered water is placed in the center of the table and one end of a ball of three-stranded thread is twisted around it.

The thread then passes through the hands of the reciting monastics and is next held by the person or persons on whose behalf the chanting is being done. They are seated on a mat on the ground in front of the reciting monastics. The water in the pot, designated pirit-water (pirit-pan), and the sacred thread (pirit-nula), become sanctified through the chanting and are used thereafter as a protection against evil.

 

The thread is used by tying a piece around the wrist or arm and the water by drinking or sprinkling it, according to requirements. In the simplest form, the ceremony is called varu- or vel-pirita (varu and vel in Sinhalese meaning half-day session) as the ceremony is confined only to a portion of the day and only the major pirit is chanted.

 

But the full-fledged pirit ceremony is a much more elaborate ritual. It also has two main forms -- one lasting for one whole night and the other for a week or even longer. The former is the more usual form as a domestic ceremony while the latter is held on special occasions, particularly for public purposes. Whatever the form may be, when this kind of chanting is undertaken, a special pavilion called the pirit mandapaya is constructed for the purpose.

If the ceremony is to be performed in a private home, this pavilion is put up in a central room of the house. Generally it would measure about 12x12 feet and is decorated with tissue paper, tinsel, and so on. Its roof is covered with a white canopy from which are hung small cuttings of arecanut flowers, betel twigs, tender twigs of the iron wood (na) tree, etcetera. Two water pots on which opened coconut racemes are kept are placed on either side of the entrance. Two lighted coconut-oil lamps are also placed on the coconut racemes.

 

In the center of the pavilion is a table, usually a round one, on which a clean white cloth is spread. Upon it are strewn puffed rice (vilanda), broken rice (sun-sal), white mustard (sudu-aba), jasmine buds (saman kakulu), and panic grass (itana). These five varieties, known as lada-pas-mal, are regarded as having a sanctifying and purifying power in combination and are therefore used for ritualistic purposes at Buddhist ceremonies.

Enlightened monastics entering at right, statues of first Buddhist missionaries to arrive from India: Ven. Mahinda and his sister Ven. Sanghamitta (Richard Silver/rjsnyc/flickr).

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In the center of the table is the filtered water pot around which the three-stranded sacred thread is twisted. This thread is drawn round the interior of the pavilion, and when the chanting commences it is held by the chanting monastics and given over to be held by the person or persons for whose benefit the ceremony is held.

An ola palm leaf copy of the Pirit-Pota, regarded as more sanctified than a printed paper one, occupies a significant place on the table, representing the Dharma, the second of the Three Jewels. Consequently, while the printed copy is used for reading, the palm-leaf version is regarded as an indispensable item on the table. The other important item brought inside the pavilion is the sacred casket containing the bone-relics of the Buddha (dhatu-karanduwa), representing the Enlightened One. It is placed on a separate decorated table on one side of the pavilion.

 

In the monastic seating arrangement, two chairs, centrally placed near the table, are referred to as yuga-asana or "seats for the duel." During a greater part of the all-night recital, two monastics occupying these two seats continue the chanting, taking it in relays, instead of the full assembly. A post called indra-khila or raja-gaha is planted securely and fastened between these twin chairs. This post, resembling a mace in more ways than one, is attractively decorated and serves as a symbol of authority and protection for the officiating monastics. This is generally erected only when the ceremony lasts for a week (sati pirita) or longer.

 

Even when the ceremony is held in a private home, the temple is connected with every stage of the ritual. Temple authorities are responsible for assigning the required number of monastics. On the evening of the day on which the chanting takes place, a few members from the particular household go to the temple in order to conduct the monastics.

 

They come in a single file procession in order of seniority, attended by drumming. At the head of the procession the relic casket is carried, borne on the head of a layman, under an umbrella or a canopy. The beating of drums continues throughout. As the monastics enter the home, a layperson washes their feet while another wipes them. They walk to the pavilion on a carpet of white cloth (pavada) and take their seats around the table.

The relic casket, The Book of Protection, and the monastics thus come together, representing the Triple Gem: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

(Mahakalu Sinhalayo) Major Pirit (Maha Piritha, මහ පිරිත - තුන් සූත්‍රය) by Thun Suthraya (MKS)

  

Before the commencement of the ceremony proper, the usual time of which is around 9:00 pm, the monastics are welcomed and requested to perform the ceremony by being offered a tray in which betel leaves, arecanut, cardamon, nutmeg, and more are nicely arranged, the ingredients being those taken for the chewing of betel nut.
 
This invitation is usually extended by the chief householder if it is in a private home. Otherwise, some leading lay devotee does it. One of the senior monastics present accepts the invitation on behalf of the entire Sangha and, in order to make the invitation formally valid, a lay devotee repeats the following Pali stanza requesting the monastics to begin the ceremony:

Vipattipatibahaya — sabbasampattisiddhiya
sabbadukkhavinasaya — parittam brutha uttamam

"Please recite the noble pirit for the avoidance of all misfortune, for the attainment of all success, and for the end of all suffering."

Next the senior monastic explains the significance of the occasion in a short address. This is followed by ceremonial drumming (magulbera vadana), as a ritualistic preamble to the ceremony, serving both as an invitation to the devas and an offering of sound (sadda-puja). The monastics also commence the chanting by reciting a stanza that invites all of the divine beings in the universe to the ceremony:

Samanta cakkavalesu Atragacchantu devata
Saddhammam Munirajassa Sunantu saggamokkhadam

"May the divine beings of the entire universe come here to hear the good doctrine of the Best of Sages that confers both heavenly happiness and the freedom of nirvana."

From the commencement of the chanting until its conclusion the following morning, the pavilion is not vacated. The major pirit, with which the chanting begins, is chanted in a rhythmic manner by all of the monastics, numbering about 10 or 12, seated in order of seniority. The rest of the discourses are chanted by two or four of them. The ceremony is concluded the following morning with the recital, once again, of the major pirit at which ceremonial drumming takes place once more.

This drumming is also performed at the recital of important discourses like the Set Rolling the True Wheel of the Dharma Sutra (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta) and the Dealing with Ogres Sutra (Atanatiya Sutta). Once the chanting is concluded, convenient lengths of the thread, sanctified by the chanting, are cut and tied around the wrists or arms of those assembled. A little of the sanctified water is given to everyone for drinking.

 

When the ceremony continues for several days, or a week (sati-pirita), the chanting must continue night and day without break. When the set of sutras constituting pirit is completed, chanting is recommenced from the beginning and in this manner they are recited over and over again until the session is concluded. Both to begin and to end the session, the major pirit is recited in chorus by all of the monastics on each day at sunrise and at sunset.

 

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New ritual elements

Gold leaf coating (VagabondTravels/flickr)

An important ceremony connected with the seven-day and longer pirit ceremony is known as dorakada-asna, which seems to have entered the pirit ceremony during the Kandyan period, 18th century (Ven. Kotagama Vacissara Thera, Saranankara Sangharaja Samaya, pp.118-19).

 

The theme of this ritual is to invite all of the devas (deities, fairies, nature spirits residing in the vicinity) and request that they partake of the merits generated by the pirit ceremony and to help dispel all evil and bring about prosperity to everyone.

 

This ritual involves several stages commencing from the morning of the last day of the pirit ceremony, that is, the seventh day if it is a seven-day ceremony. The first stage is the preparation of the message to be taken to the neighboring temple where the abodes of the devas (deva-layas, deva-statues) are also found. For this purpose several palm (talipot) leaves, on which the message is to be written, are brought to the chanting pavilion in a ceremonial procession and handed over to a monastic who has previously been selected to write the message.
 

Ancient Greek deva statues (flickr com)

Next, this particular monastic writes down the auspicious time for the "messenger of the devas" (deva-dutaya) to set out to the deva-laya and read it aloud, to be sanctioned by the assembled monastics. Once this is done another monastic, also previously selected, reads aloud a text written in a highly ornate and stilted style, enumerating the temples and deva-layas at which the deities are requested to be present at the pirit chanting that evening.
 
This text is called the vihara-asna. Until these preliminaries are gone through, the other monastics keep holding the sacred thread. After this, the monsatic who was appointed to write the message begins to write it while the other monastics retire.
 
The message contains the invitation -- which is a command from the Sangha (sangha-natti) and therefore not to be turned down -- addressed to all of the deities residing at the religious places enumerated in the vihara-asna to come and partake of the merits of the week's pirit chanting.
 

Dancers? Stilt walkers? (AlisonRyde/flickr)

The message is prepared in quadruplicate. These are then hung on a pole and handed over to a young boy, specially selected for the task and richly attired as befits a messenger of the devas. Mounted on a caparisoned elephant and escorted by men with swords, the boy carries the message in a procession to the deva-laya. This procession is called the devaduta-perahera, "the procession of the devas' messenger," and has many features like dancers, drummers, mask-dancers, stilt-walkers, and so on.
 
At the deva-laya, the monastics and the deva-dutaya first go near a Buddha statue and pay respects, after which they proceed to the building where the statues of the devas are and chant the Loving-Kindness Sutra (Metta Sutta). The devas concerned are usually Lord Vishnu and the spirit Kataragama (Skanda). This is followed by ceremonial drumming (magul bera) as an invitation to the devas, and next a monastic reads the message out loud.
 
The four messages are given to the lay officiating priest or priestess of the deva-laya (known as kapurala) to be hung in the four cardinal directions inside the deva-laya, the abode of the devas. These are meant for the Regents of the Four Quarters (the Four Great Sky Rulers or Catumaharajikas -- Datarattha (east), Viruda (south), Virupakkha (west), and Vessavana (north) -- who are requested to come to the ceremony with their assemblies. The procession now returns.
 
Until the monastics arrive for the pirit chanting, the messenger or deva-dutaya is kept confined and guarded. Once the monastics arrive and take their seats inside the pavilion, a dialogue takes place between the deva-dutaya and a monastic, the purpose of which is to reveal to the assembled gathering that the task of the messenger, which was to invite the devas to partake of the shared merits, has been done and that all the devas have arrived.

Message read at the threshold

Bhumi devas in European art (youtube.com)

The deva-dutaya makes this statement, standing and guarded by the swordsmen, at the entrance (dorakada) to the chanting pavilion within which the monastics have taken their seats. It is this statement of the deva-dutaya which thus comes to be called the dorakada-asna, meaning "the message read at the threshold."
 
The gist of this statement, written in the same kind of stilted language as the vihara-asna referred to earlier, is that all the devas invited have arrived for the pirit ceremony so that they may dispel all misfortune and bring about prosperity to all.
 
After the dorakada-asna, another monastic standing within the pavilion reads out a similar text called the anusasana-asna, wherein all the devas assembled are requested to rejoice in (approve of, applaud, laud, encourage) the merits of the entire ceremony. This monastic holds a round-handled fan made of the talipot palm leaf, elaborately decorated, a symbol of authority and high ecclesiastical position.
 
These three ritualistic message texts mentioned -- that is, the vihara-asna, dorakada-asna, and the anusasana-asna -- were all composed during the Kandyan period, the 18th century, when ceremonies and rituals, especially those connected with the devas, became more popular than during the earlier periods (Ven. Kotagama Vacissara Thera, Saranankara Sangharaja Samaya, pp.118-19).

The golden shores of the Sri Lanka or "Spice Island" (Cyrille Gibot/flickr.com).

 
It is also worth noting that this ceremony of dorakada-asna, the message at the threshold, has in addition to its religious and ritualistic significance considerable dramatic and theatrical value. For the whole event, from the preliminaries of the morning to the grand finale of the anusasana in the evening, contains much impersonation, mime, and dialogue.

In this connection we may note that as early as the time of Buddhaghosa (5th century A.C.E.), the greatest of all Buddhist commentators, there were Buddhist rituals with such theatrical features as is shown by the "exorcism ritual" of reading the Atanatiya Sutta described in the Commentary to the Longer Discourse (Digha Nikaya Tika iii, 969-70). [For details of the Atanatiya recital, see below, pp.55-57.]
 
The recital of the "Verses of the Supreme Blessings" or Jayamangala Gatha, a set of eight benedictory stanzas extolling the virtues of the Buddha, may also be cited as a popular custom partly related to the chanting of pirit. This is usually done on important occasions like the marriage ceremony, when setting out on an important journey, or when inaugurating any venture of significance.
 
This custom is inevitably observed at what is called the Poruva ceremony when, after a couple to be married ascends a small decorated platform (poruva), they are blessed for future prosperity. The recital is usually done by an elderly person who, for the occasion, assumes the position of an officiating priest.
 

May we participate in the Sri Lankan ritual?

At public functions a bevy of young girls clad in white uniforms also do the recital. The contents of the stanzas recited clearly show that the ritual is intended to bring happiness and prosperity to the persons concerned or the successful completion of the project. Accordingly these verses have come to be called "the stanzas of success and prosperity," Jaya Mangala Gatha, and have become quite popular among all sections of the Buddhists.
 
While the origin of these stanzas is shrouded in mystery, it can be stated with certainty that they were composed in Sri Lanka by a devoted Buddhist poet. The earliest available reference to them is during the Kandyan period when they are given in a list of subjects that a monastic should study. This shows that they had become well established during the 16th and 17th centuries; therefore, they must have been composed at least a century earlier. These stanzas are regarded as efficacious because they relate eight occasions, each based on a beautiful story, when the Buddha triumphed over powerful opponents.
 
The chanting of what is called set-pirit by a few monastics at the inauguration of new ventures or at receptions and farewells to important public personages has also become quite common. The chanting usually consists of a sutra like the Mangala, Ratana, or Metta Sutta, and a few benedictory stanzas.

Set-pirit is broadcast by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation every morning as the first item of its program. More

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