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### Sutta Nipata II.1

# Ratana Sutta

# Treasures

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.

Read an alternate translation by Piyadassi Thera

Note: This sutta also appears at Khp 6.

> Whatever spirits have gathered here,
> -- on the earth, in the sky --
> may you all be happy
> & listen intently to what I say.

> Thus, spirits, you should all be attentive.
> Show kindness to the human race.
> Day & night they give offerings,
> so, being heedful, protect them.

> Whatever wealth -- here or beyond --
> whatever exquisite treasure in the heavens,
> does not, for us, equal the Tathagata.
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Buddha.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> The exquisite Deathless -- ending, dispassion --
> discovered by the Sakyan Sage in concentration:
> There is nothing to equal that Dhamma.
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Dhamma.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> What the excellent Awakened One extolled as pure
> and called the concentration
> of unmediated knowing:
> No equal to that concentration can be found.
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Dhamma.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> The eight persons -- the four pairs --
> praised by those at peace:
> They, disciples of the One Well-Gone, deserve offerings.
> What is given to them bears great fruit.
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> Those who, devoted, firm-minded,
> apply themselves to Gotama's message,
> on attaining their goal, plunge into the Deathless,
> freely enjoying the Liberation they've gained.
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> An Indra pillar,[1] planted in the earth,
> that even the four winds cannot shake:
> that, I tell you, is like the person of integrity,
> who -- having comprehended
> the noble truths -- sees.
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> Those who have seen clearly the noble truths
> well-taught by the one of deep discernment --
> regardless of what [later] might make them heedless --
> will come to no eighth state of becoming.[2]
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> At the moment of attaining sight,
> one abandons three things:
> identity-views, uncertainty,
> & any attachment to precepts & practices.[3]
> One is completely released
> from the four states of deprivation,[4]
> and incapable of committing
> the six great wrongs.[5]
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> Whatever bad deed one may do
> -- in body, speech, or in mind --
> one cannot hide it:
> an incapability ascribed
> to one who has seen the Way.
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> Like a forest grove with flowering tops
> in the first month of the heat of the summer,
> so is the foremost Dhamma he taught,
> for the highest benefit, leading to Unbinding.
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Buddha.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> Foremost,
> foremost-knowing,
> foremost-giving,
> foremost-bringing,
> unexcelled, he taught the
> foremost Dhamma.
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Buddha.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> Ended the old, there is no new taking birth.
> dispassioned their minds toward further becoming,
> they, with no seed, no desire for growth,
> the prudent, go out like this flame.
> This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha.
> By this truth may there be well-being.

> Whatever spirits have gathered here,
> -- on the earth, in the sky --
> let us pay homage to the Buddha,
> the Tathagata worshipped by beings
> human & divine.
> May there be
> well-being.

> Whatever spirits have gathered here,
> -- on the earth, in the sky --
> let us pay homage to the Dhamma
> & the Tathagata worshipped by beings
> human & divine.
> May there be
> well-being.

> Whatever spirits have gathered here,
> -- on the earth, in the sky --
> let us pay homage to the Sangha
> & the Tathagata worshipped by beings
> human & divine.
> May there be
> well-being.

### Notes

1. Indra-pillar: A tall hardwood pillar, planted at the entrance to a village. [Go back]

2. The person who has reached this stage in the practice will be reborn at most seven more times. [Go back]

3. These three qualities are the fetters abandoned when one gains one's first glimpse of Unbinding at Stream-entry (the moment when one enters the stream to full Awakening). [Go back]

4. Four states of deprivation: rebirth as an animal, a hungry shade, an angry demon, or a denizen of hell. In the Buddhist cosmology, none of these states is eternal. [Go back]

5. The six great wrongs: murdering one's mother, murdering one's father, murdering an Arahant (fully Awakened individual), wounding a Buddha, causing a schism in the Sangha, or choosing anyone other than a Buddha as one's foremost teacher. [Go back]

Revised: Sun 16 September 2001