Pirith

A Drop from Buddha's Teachings

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The Actual Meaning of Rathnamali Gatha and Rathnamali Yanthra

Rathnamali Gatha also known as Rathnamali Gatha Rathnaya, because Buddhists extremely believe that it is precious and powerful. This can be proved by the eagerness of the Buddhists to it every day. 

 Rathnamali Gatha reveals the greatness of Triple Gems in Buddhism. It means the three corners of ‘Theruvan’. It’s the Buddha, his teachings and Sanga who follows the Buddha. 

The Gatha includes three stanzas which contains four lines in each. The first stanza conveys the difficult path which Lord Buddha followed to attain great ‘Nibbana’. The first stanza of Rathnamali Gatha appreciate the wisdom that Lord Buddha had. 

 The second stanza of The Gatha reveals the importance of ‘Dhamma’. The mid stanza tells that ‘Dhamma’ or Buddha’s teachings help to clear the confusing matters of life and illuminate the human mind always.  

The third stanza of Rathnamali Gatha conveys the difficulties that Sanga meet and how their lives are rewarding. They come to live as monks by refusing all the comforts at home. They have to live a lonely life as monks, however every monk’s final destination is pure Nibbana. So, the last stanza is dedicated to Sanga who do a great consecration to attain holy Nibbana.   

 All the Pirith and Gatha preached by Lord Buddha was erased from the ancient Indian history after Lord Buddha passed away. However, King Kanishka from Bharath began to use Rathnamali Gatha Yanthraya as a protection after 400 years of Lord Buddha’s time. Rathnamali Yanthraya is a piece of gold or copper paper which includes engravings of Rathnamali Gatha.  

This system also spread in Sri Lanka when King Valagamba’s era. There are historical evidence which proves king Dutugemunu prepared a Rathnamali Yanthra and places it under the basement of Ruwanmeli Maha Seya (Ruwanmeli Pagoda).  

If you have visited The Temple of The Tooth, you may have seen a golden Rathnamali Yanthra at The holy Casket. 

Pirith and Yanthra was began to spread around Ceylon during king parakramabahu’s time. The king had given the priority to Dhamma when he starts something important in his personal or political life. That was the time that people used to listen and chant more paritta to receive protection in daily life. 

 Rathnamali Gatha starts with the sound ‘sa’. It’s known as the most power full sound in the universe. It provides good health and protection for all human beings. 

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Duty of a religion

Our belief in some power beyond the world is as old as the human race. Different religions have given this belief enduring substance, and ceremony. While theologians debate religions truths, great philosophers attempt to understand our physical world, grappling with logic in their search for knowledge and certainty. 

The world ‘religion’ has no one generally accepted definition. Philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, theologians and many others interested in a particular aspect of life, have all defined religion in their own ways and for their own purposes. 

However, the main purpose of every religion is to teach people how to lead a respectable and harmless life and to find out their liberation from physical and mental suffering. 

Religions are meant for the emancipation of living beings. Religions are not a mere subjects of study and essay writing, but are practical modes of conduct in the grooming of human beings. Externally in matters of the mundane and internally in things that concern the inner spirit. Religion must be experienced at the very source of its beginning and lived in utter abandonment, through all phases of change to attain a spirituality and inner growth.   

Among all the great founders of religions, it was the Buddha alone who encouraged the spirit of investigation among his followers. He advised them not to accept even his teachings with blind faith and without thorough impartial investigation. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that Buddhism can be called a religion of science. Whatever scientists have discovered so far, they has never gone against the teachings of the Buddha.  

 Buddhism is truly a religion suited to the modern, scientific world. The light, which comes from nature, from science, from history, from human experience, from science, from history, from human experience, from science, from history, from human experience, from every point of the universe, is radiant with the Noble Teachings of the Buddha. 

Religion is a system of education  

Religion is, among many other things, a system of education, by means of which human beings may train themselves, first to make desirable changes in their own personalities and in society, and, to heighten consciousness and so establish more adequate relations between themselves and the universe of which they are parts. 

 A religion of freedom  

The freedom that the followers of the Buddha enjoy is commendable. In fact, many Buddhists have not even realized this themselves. They have full freedom to judge and to think for themselves whether to accept or to reject anything.

 They are not bound to accept anything in the name of religion, either simply by thinking of the greatness of a particular religious teacher, or, by thinking that is their bounden duty to accept the words of holy scriptures, or, the ways of ancient traditions. 

 Buddhists are at liberty to investigate for themselves and accept or reject.

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Power of Piritha

Pirith was chanted by Lord Buddha to bless the human beings from evil power around the home environment. The power of Pirith comes from its sounds and the meaning. The word piritha came out from the Pali word pariththa. There are number of pirith in Buddhism. All of them includes the great qualities of Lord Buddha and the value of his teachings. However, some of them includes positive messages to the society. Mostly, the importance of treating well to your parents, value of generosity and positive results of good deeds are among them. Single pirith is divided into many stanzas. Each stanza includes at least two lines. All the pirith have written in Pali, which is an ancient language spoken during Buddha’s time in India. It is a powerfully sound language that difficult to acquire. The power of Piritha stimulates by various annotations use while chanting. Buddhists commonly play recorded pirith every day at dawn and dusk. Because, they believe that pariththa protect them from harmful unseen forces. Pirith generally chant into a long cotton string ball by sanga. And then, divide it into pieces to tangle around the Buddhists right hand as a blessing. This is known as ‘Pirith Noola’. This event is mostly done after the Maha Piritha which is chants around whole night. However, ‘Pirith Nool’ are used as a blessing before an examination and first day of the job. The book which has all pirith is named as ‘piruwana poth wahanse’. It includes all pirith and it’s power. It says that some of them are used to chase away the insects and mice that harm harvest. Kanda Piritha is also used to chase away domestic snakes. Piritha was always used to chase away gigantic wild elephants who intrude into paddy fields to eat crops.

Pirith are different from Mantra. Buddha didn’t preach Mantra. The creator of Mantra was humans who deal with evil forces. Listening to pirith brings prosperity and health for all human beings. Listen to Pirith everyday.

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