English
Homage to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One. 1. Great compassion, whose heart arose, arose, arose, For the benefit of beings experiencing suffering, again and again, He attained the state of Enlightenment, step by step, I bow down to that Conqueror, Conqueror, Conqueror; (Yamakabandhanaṃ) 2. Having abandoned delight, delight, delight, Monks rejoice only in the Dhamma, monk, monk, monk, Giving liberation, from all existence, existence, non-existence, I bow down to that revered, beneficial, beneficial One; (Yamakabandhanaṃ) 3. Having drunk the flavor of the true Dhamma, flavors, non-flavors, A field of great merit, non-tastelessness, always, always, Those who have gone, dispelled by the discipline by which, I bow down to that assembly of sages, courtyard, courtyard; (Yamakabandhanaṃ) 4. A row of swans on the lotus-like thighs of the Conqueror, A swarm of bees in the cage-like mouths of the Conquerors, Destroying the essence of true meaning, delightful, May speech come to my mind; 5. Due to the residue of karma, examined by birth, My bonds that hinder the accumulation of books, By the power of this act of reverence and merit, May there be no opportunity for ripening; 6. Even a golden one, praising the color of the golden-hued Conqueror, For an eon, would be exhausted, Because of the endlessness of the eon, One would not reach the end of the Buddha's virtues; 7. Whose form is like refined gold, beautiful, And whose speech is an ornament of eloquence, His knowledge is unique, Unfathomable, inconceivable, and immeasurable; 8. Where is the unique beauty of form, Where is the unique beauty of speech, Where is the unique beauty of knowledge, Where is the beauty of my dull mind; 9. Those who are proud, envious of others, Being destroyed by envy and pride, Seeking the faults of others here, What do I care for their praise or blame; 10. Those virtuous ones, who have seen the essence of the esteemed scriptures, Who delight in the qualities of the good, They alone know the extent of our effort In composing this text; 11. The lineage of that Conqueror, born in the Solar Dynasty, By those skilled in the Conqueror's teachings, Has been spoken of in previous texts By the teachers in brief; 12. It is not possible for them to know the lineage of the Well-gone One, Even a little. Having entreated, For the elucidation of the Complete Lineage, Therefore, with an uplifted mind; 13. Being deeply devoted to the Triple Gem, Of noble lineage, a lord of lords, An ornament, renowned for his glorious fame, Who shines in Lanka, auspicious and fortunate; 14. Of the exceedingly generous and delighting in charity, Named Punandu, compassionate and wealthy, Having accepted his request, And also his exceeding faith in the Buddha; 15. For the destruction of wrong views, following the advice of former teachers, For the benefit and welfare of the listeners, In the Magadhi language, correctly, This Jinavamsadipa is being composed; 16. By the listeners, with minds like celestial mansions, Guided by faith and affection, with wisdom as their lamp, This Jinavamsadipa, a lamp of the Conqueror's lineage, Is lit, dispelling darkness with its concise composition; 17. Full of prosperity, in the excellent Jambudipa, Descended by day with a wealth of fortune, Like the Amaravati of Devaraja, There was a city named Amaravati; 18. Of the Vidyadharas and the birds, Hindering the swiftness of their aerial flight, In that city, the circle of the victorious enemy, Was like the circle of the world, a wall of fortifications; 19. The beautiful moat, filled with the massed pollen Of lotuses, exceedingly golden, On the hip-like part of the city's wall, Seemed to bear a golden girdle; 20. Night and day, the capital city, Was colored by the radiance of rubies and sapphires, Which bound the sky with the splendor Of Indra's rainbow, exceedingly bright; 21. Where the lotus-like faces of the women Put the deer-marked moon to shame, And the blue-lotus arches, with their radiance, Made it appear sorrowful and pale; 22. The lotus-like radiance of the jeweled mansions, Kissed the full moon's reflection; Delighting the hearts of the beautiful people, In that city, they extended their hands in wonder; 23. Where the lotus-like faces, Reflected in the mirror-like walls, Were a hindrance to the honeybees, Seeking to alight on the eyes; 24. In which, from the foreheads of intoxicated elephants, Flowed streams of ichor, And the dust was scattered by the waves Of the horse races, like a turbulent sea; 25. The sounds of lutes and jeweled anklets, With soft hands and feet, Whose tinkling anklets rival the sound of bees, What adornment did not find a place there? 26. With full-breasted women, Whose eyes were like rows of bees on lotus faces, The night in that city shone Like a fully blooming lotus pond with waves of laughter. 27. Where streams of moonstone, kissed by moonlight, And moonbeam-like jewels, Were the resting places for moon-like faces, To relieve fatigue for the women. 28. In which city, the rows of jeweled mansions, With their interwoven brilliance above and below, Displayed the beauty of awnings and canopies, Anointed with red arsenic paste. 29. Which city was rich with gold, pearls, gems, bamboo-colored Coral, silver, and diamonds, And the seven kinds of grain, Like a woman named Dhannavati, full of wealth. 30. Where shops, spread out in many directions, Filled with various clothes, ornaments, and more, Surpassed the wish-fulfilling trees, And fulfilled the desires of the world. 31. Red with pollen, intoxicated with honey-drinking bees, With intertwined banks and dense blue algae, With swans as their resting places, delightful with the five arrows of love, In which the ponds resembled a place for sensual pleasures. 32. In that city, with the darkness dispelled By the rays of precious jewels, People did not know the difference between night and day, Due to the rising of white lotuses and red lotuses. 33. In which city, the deep sound of the bells On the foreheads of the elephant-clouds, Caused the intoxicated peacocks, adorned with crests, To play incessantly even at inappropriate times. 34. In which city, the lotus feet Of the brides, adorned with tinkling anklets, Conquered the lotus ponds, where the bees were bound To the tips of the blooming red geese flowers. 35. That capital city, whose banners of silver and gold Covered the subterranean world, adorned with the hoods of snakes, And the sky, adorned with lightning streaks, Seemed to conquer them. 36. That city possessed the essence of many meanings, the color of mixed elements, Worthy of poetry, delightful to the ears, Praised by poets, full of flavor, Like a poem adorned with figures of speech. 37. In that city, the Buddha-seed, a treasure of compassion, In the lineage of the best of Brahmins, For countless aeons Thus it was, of the four, Of Lakkhādi, born before; 38. In the Bhovādi lineage, a single sun, By merit's power, with auspicious rise, Born, indeed, now Jambudīpa Plundered the sport of auspicious dwellings; 39. At the moment of his birth, by the scent From his body, by his hue, in his own abode, Extinguished were the lamps of sandalwood oil, Known only by their form; 40. By nurses freed from faults, well-nourished, With pitcher-like, uplifted breasts, Nourished, the boy, with tender frame, Spent some days; 41. When a great festival was set in motion, By the wise, skilled in the Vedas and their branches, His parents caused to be made for their son A name, "Sumedha," rich in meaning; 42. As the boy grew, with surpassing fortune, The mother found no satiety, Giving suck, with eyes like blue lotus buds, Kissing his lotus-like face; 43. The boy, with limbs well-nourished, On the jeweled floor of the palace, Crawled, beseeching his parents, The tender child, on his knees; 44. With the beauty of a golden image, Moving about, leaning on the nurses' arms, With the blossoming of understanding, He adorned the dwelling playfully; 45. With his own radiance, the living world, With fame, unprecedented, touching, Obscuring the splendor of sun and moon, Grew the wise one, well-formed on both sides; 46. Until the seventh generation of his grandfather, He was pure in womb and lineage, "Of low birth," no caste-based insults Were hurled, no scorn, the foremost of Brahmins; 47. The Vedanta, with its glossary and scriptures, With its etymology and phonological distinctions, The code of conduct, the history, He knew, the Vedas with their branches; 48. A reciter, a master of mantras, skilled In the arts, in worldly signs, A fulfiller of verses, a poet, He was, a grammarian, a mathematician; 49. The line of his beard, like the smoke of passion's fire, Hanging playfully, Not only the tender cheeks, But also the minds of women it defiled; 50. In the ocean of the color of youth, A raft for the thirst for the form of man. Ānanda, Pāyāsi, dear to the eye, A helmsman on the further shore. 51. The wise brahmin, of very pure wisdom, After the death of his parents, Enjoyed the pleasures of the senses, Living in the midst of his house, from the power of merit. 52. Sitting one day on the palace terrace, Having taken a seat in solitude, He thought, considering the truth: "Rebirth, the dissolution of the body, is suffering." 53. "Born, I am subject to birth, old age, disease, and so on, Therefore, to find the sorrowless void of becoming, The constant, unborn, ageless, diseaseless, It is fitting to seek nibbāna." 54. Just as when there is suffering, there is also ease, When there is heat, there is also cold, When there is becoming, so too is there non-becoming, When the three fires are extinguished, there is nibbāna. 55. When blameworthy things are found here,