Appendix
B:
The Aspiration to Meet Buddha Ari Metteyya
Namo Tassa
Bhagavato Arahatto Sammasambuddhassa
We have made some alterations in the
following translations.
- Aspiration concluding many Pali
manuscripts in Sri Lanka (from Dbk, p. 36):
By the merit of this writing may I
draw near to Metteyya (and) having been established in the Refuges,
may I be well established in the Sasana.
- Aspiration concluding manuscripts in
Sihalese (from Dbk, p. 37):
By the power of these meritorious
deeds, without falling into the four hells, may I seek the
Bodhisatta Metteyya in the Tavatimsa heaven and enjoying divine
happiness, and going from there to Ketumati City, eradicating the
defilements, may I receive the peace of liberation from the Buddha
Metteyya.
- Aspiration concluding the Dvadasaparitta
(from Dbk, p. 38):
In the future, Buddha Metteyya will
be unexcelled in the world, he of great merits, of great power; may
you have great peace.
- Aspiration attributed to King
Parakramabahu I of Sri Lanka (from Dbk, p. 38):
Having departed from here and being
reborn on the peak of Himalaya in the noble Jambudipa (India) as a
leading deity of an aeon's life-span, I shall indeed hear the
Doctrine of Lord Metteyya.
- Aspiration at the conclusion of the
commentary on the Jataka (from Dbk, p. 39; verses 4-11 of the
concluding 37 verses):
May I, through this meritorious
deed, be born in my next life in the city of Tusita, the beautiful
dwelling-place of the gods. May I listen to the preaching of Lord
Metteyya and enjoy great glory with him for a long time. When this
Great Being is born in the charming city of Ketumati as the Buddha,
may I be reborn with the three noble root-conditions in a Brahman
family. May I make offerings to that Great Sage of invaluable robes
of the finest sort, alms, dwelling-places and medicines in
abundance. May I undertake the life of a bhikkhu in the
dispensation and illumine that noble (institution), being the
possessor of potency, mindful and well-versed in the Tipitaka.
May he predict (of me), "This one will be a Buddha in the
future." And may I offer gifts to the Buddhas who will come one
after the other and (receive sure prediction) from them too. May I
fare on in repeated births, give food and other things that are
desired like a wish-conferring tree. May I fulfil all the
perfections of morality, renunciation, wisdom, and so forth, and
having attained the summit of the perfections, become an
incomparable Buddha. May I preach the sweet Doctrine which brings
bliss to all beings, liberating the whole world with its Devas from
the bondage of repeated births. May I guide them to the most
excellent, tranquil Nibbana.
- Aspiration at the conclusion of
Sinhalese manuscripts of Ashin Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga (The
Path of Purification, pp. 837f.):
By the performance of such merit As
has been gained by me through this And any other still in hand So
may I in my next becoming Behold the joys of Tavatimsa, Glad in the
qualities of virtue And unattached to sense desires By having
reached the first fruition, And having in my last life seen
Metteyya, Lord of Sages, highest Of persons in the world, and helper
Delighting in all beings' welfare, And heard the Holy One proclaim
The teaching of the Noble Law, May I grace the Victor's Dispensation
By realizing its Highest Fruit.
- The aspiration of Thera Maha-Mangala
in his biography of Ashin Buddhaghosa (Buddhaghosuppatti)
(from Dbk, p. 40):
O may it be my lot to meet with him,
the Lord Metteyya! He, the Fully Awakened One, shall lead vast
multitudes across samsara's stream.
When I have found Metteyya, may I be
versed in the three scriptures, and then in wisdom I shall see
face-to-face the lord of mercy.
- Aspiration at the end of sharing
merits in the Dana ceremony in Sri Lanka (from Dbk, p. 41):
By the aid of this meritorious deed
of Dana, may you be reborn in the heavenly and human worlds,
enjoying the greatest of worldly happiness, and may you be born
again in the presence of Buddha Metteyya, and benefiting from his
teaching of the Four Noble Truths, may you attain to the supreme,
immortal, great Nibbana!
- Aspiration used in connection with
the recitation Parittas (verses of protection) in Sri Lanka (from
Dbk, p. 42):
May the multitude of gods dwelling
over the seven oceans, on Mount Meru, in the Titans' world, in the
world of Nagas, in the six celestial worlds, in the four shrines of
the (four Guardian) Devas, on Mount Samantakuta, on the Himalayas,
over the seven lakes, over Lake Anotatta, in the sky, on the earth,
in all the Brahma worlds, in this Cakkavala (world-system), in the
island of Ceylon, partake of these merits with loving thoughts and
perceive Nibbana by seeing the sage-king Metteyya.
- Closing verses at the end of
Sinhalese manuscripts of Ashin Buddhaghosa's Atthasalini (from
The Expositor, p. 542):
By grace of this, the book I wrote,
Into Metteyya's presence am I come. Within the Refuges established
Upon the Sasana I take my stand. May mother, father,
teachers, they who wish me well And they who do not, give me happy
thanks And long safeguard the merit I have won.
Published by the
Sayagyi U Ba Khin Memorial Trust, IMC-UK, Splatts House, Heddington,
Calne, Wiltshire SN11 0PE, England,
Tel: +44 1380 850 238, Fax: +44 1380 850 833.
Registered Charity No 280134.
This publication
is one of several marking the tenth anniversary of Mother Sayamagyi and
Sayagyi U Chit Tin's
coming out of Burma to continue their work in the Tradition of Sayagyi U
Ba Khin
by teaching the Buddha-Dhama in the West.
The gift of the
Dhamma surpasses all other gifts.
Dedicated to our
much revered teacher the late Sayagyi U Ba Khin (Thray Sitthu)
to mark the 89th anniversary of his birth in March 1899.
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