Sunday, August 17, 2008

Mantra: the final exhortation

If you enjoy VISUALIZING your mantras...


Pronunciation (transliterated)
va ya dha mmā saṃ khā rāa ppa mā de na saṃ pa de thā
vayadhammā sankhārāappamādena saṃpadethā.

Translation
"Conditioned things are perishable;
with vigilance strive to succeed."
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Or more traditionally:
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"All conditioned phenomena is impermanent;
work out your salvation with diligence!"

Explanation
Tradition holds that these were the last words uttered by the Buddha just before he passed into parinirvana (final passing away). The source text is Chapter 6 of the Mahāparinibbāna Sutra (DN 16.6.8).
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Notes
Pāli text from the Vipassana Research Institute CD of the Pāli Canon is now available as a download. The translation is by Jayarava, who has written a full-length commentary on the Buddha's Last Words available here. Jayarava has also blogged a shorter gloss focusing on the word appamāda at: The Last Words of the Buddha.
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Find an excellent translation of the entire Mahāparinibbāna Sutra in the Dīgha Nikāya ("Lengthy Discourses"), available in English in the book The Long Discourses of the Buddha by Maurice Walshe.

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