Chapter III

The Merit Derived from Perfect Wisdom

"One who will take up this Perfection of Wisdom,
Wherein the Saviours course, and constantly study it;
Fire, poison, sword and water cannot harm him,
And also Mara finds no entrance, nor his host.
Someone may for the Sugata who went to rest build Stupas,
Made of the seven precious things, and worship them;
Until thousands of kotis of fields are filled with these Stupas
Of the Sugata, countless as the sands of the Ganges;

And like him as many beings again as there are in endless kotis of fields,
They all would do worship, without doing anything else, -
With heavenly flowers and the best perfumes and unguents, -
Let us reckon for aeons in the three periods, and still more than that:
But if someone else had copied this book, the Mother of the Sugatas,
From which come forth the Guides with the ten powers,
Would bear it in mind, revere it with flowers and unguents, -
An infinitesimal portion of his merit would have those who had given worship to the Stupas.

Perfect Wisdom a Great Lore

This Perfection of Wisdom of the Jinas is a great lore,
Appeasing dharmas making for sorrow and ill in many a world of beings.
The Saviours of the World in the past, and in the future, and those [now] in the ten directions,
They have, by training in this lore, become the supreme physicians.

And [also] those who course in the practice of pity and concern for the welfare of others,
They, the wise, by having trained in this lore, will experience enlightenment.
Those who have conditioned happiness, and those who have unconditioned happiness,
All their happiness should be known as having issued from this.

Perfect Wisdom and the Other Five Perfections

Gems exist potentially scattered in the earth,
And, when conditions are favourable, they grow in great variety:
All the qualities of enlightenment [that are in] the five perfections,
They all grow from the perfection of wisdom.

Wherever, we know, the Universal Monarch may travel,
There is all the army of all the seven precious things:
Wherever there is this perfection of wisdom of the Jinas,
There also all dharmas of good quality are brought along."