In Verses of Good Fortune, the Buddha responds to a god’s question by offering a series of verses praising the supreme qualities of the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha). Each stanza concludes with “By this truth, may there be good fortune,” invoking these profound truths to bring blessings and auspiciousness.
This text was translated by the Mahaprajapati Gautami Translation Group under the guidance of Khenmo Karma Yangchen. The text was translated into English by Drupchen Hildt, the English draft translation was revised by Felicia Rosas, and Daniele Vargas created the glossary.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Bob Miller edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Sameer Dhingra was in charge of the digital publication process.
Verses of Good Fortune is given by the Buddha in answer to a god who asks for a verse he can recite to bring good fortune. The Buddha extols the qualities of the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha) and mentions how they are more precious than any other jewels found both in this world and in the heavens. Although they be precious and rare, such jewels afford no comparison to the Three Jewels. After each verse of praise, the Buddha declares what he has said is true and that good fortune will result from the reciter’s declaring such truths.
Verses of Good Fortune belongs to a wider genre of prayers, often recited at the conclusion of rituals, to bring good fortune and invite auspicious outcomes. In Tibet, the prayer has been held in high esteem and its inclusion in many Tibetan ritual and prayer collections indicate that Verses of Good Fortune has been recited as a prayer of auspiciousness in Tibet for many centuries.
The colophon in the Degé Kangyur recension does not record the translator’s name. However, according to the Phukdrak and the Hemis Kangyurs, it was translated by Jinamitra and Bandé Yéshé Dé. The text is also listed in both the Phangthangma and Denkarma catalogs of translated texts,1 indicating that it was translated into Tibetan no later than the early ninth century
Because of its widespread use as a prayer of auspiciousness, Verses of Good Fortune is found in more than one location in most Kangyurs. In the Degé Kangyur, it is found in the “dedication-aspiration” collection of texts included at the end of the tantra section (Toh 817) and in the “aspiration” section at the end of the dhāraṇī section (Toh 1101).222 It is also included in the “dedication-aspiration” at the end of the Degé Tengyur (Toh 4400a).
This translation was made based on the two versions included in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), and the Stok, Phukdrak, and Shey Kangyurs.
This completes the “Verses of Good Fortune.”
In Verses of Good Fortune, the Buddha responds to a god’s question by offering a series of verses praising the supreme qualities of the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha). Each stanza concludes with “By this truth, may there be good fortune,” invoking these profound truths to bring blessings and auspiciousness.
This text was translated by the Mahaprajapati Gautami Translation Group under the guidance of Khenmo Karma Yangchen. The text was translated into English by Drupchen Hildt, the English draft translation was revised by Felicia Rosas, and Daniele Vargas created the glossary.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Bob Miller edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Sameer Dhingra was in charge of the digital publication process.
Verses of Good Fortune is given by the Buddha in answer to a god who asks for a verse he can recite to bring good fortune. The Buddha extols the qualities of the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha) and mentions how they are more precious than any other jewels found both in this world and in the heavens. Although they be precious and rare, such jewels afford no comparison to the Three Jewels. After each verse of praise, the Buddha declares what he has said is true and that good fortune will result from the reciter’s declaring such truths.
Verses of Good Fortune belongs to a wider genre of prayers, often recited at the conclusion of rituals, to bring good fortune and invite auspicious outcomes. In Tibet, the prayer has been held in high esteem and its inclusion in many Tibetan ritual and prayer collections indicate that Verses of Good Fortune has been recited as a prayer of auspiciousness in Tibet for many centuries.
The colophon in the Degé Kangyur recension does not record the translator’s name. However, according to the Phukdrak and the Hemis Kangyurs, it was translated by Jinamitra and Bandé Yéshé Dé. The text is also listed in both the Phangthangma and Denkarma catalogs of translated texts,1 indicating that it was translated into Tibetan no later than the early ninth century
Because of its widespread use as a prayer of auspiciousness, Verses of Good Fortune is found in more than one location in most Kangyurs. In the Degé Kangyur, it is found in the “dedication-aspiration” collection of texts included at the end of the tantra section (Toh 817) and in the “aspiration” section at the end of the dhāraṇī section (Toh 1101).222 It is also included in the “dedication-aspiration” at the end of the Degé Tengyur (Toh 4400a).
This translation was made based on the two versions included in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), and the Stok, Phukdrak, and Shey Kangyurs.
This completes the “Verses of Good Fortune.”
This text, Toh 1101, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, wam), are listed as being located in volume 101 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version displayed by the 84000 Reading Room—list this work as being located in volume 102. This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed another text—which forms a whole, very large volume—the Vimalaprabhānāmakālacakratantraṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med ’od, Toh 845), before the volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags (catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation.
The eight types of person divided into four pairs are: (1) The person on the path to stream-entry and the stream-enterer, (2) The person on the path to once-returning and the once-returner, (3) The person on the path to non-returning and the non-returner, and (4) The person on the path to arhatship and the arhat.
In Buddhist literature, this is an epithet applied to buddhas, most often to Śākyamuni. The Sanskrit term generally means “possessing fortune,” but in specifically Buddhist contexts it implies that a buddha is in possession of six auspicious qualities (bhaga) associated with complete awakening. The Tibetan term—where bcom is said to refer to “subduing” the four māras, ldan to “possessing” the great qualities of buddhahood, and ’das to “going beyond” saṃsāra and nirvāṇa—possibly reflects the commentarial tradition where the Sanskrit bhagavat is interpreted, in addition, as “one who destroys the four māras.” This is achieved either by reading bhagavat as bhagnavat (“one who broke”), or by tracing the word bhaga to the root √bhañj (“to break”).
The Indic term
The term dharma conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti. The primary meanings are as follows: the doctrine taught by the Buddha (Dharma); the ultimate reality underlying and expressed through the Buddha’s teaching (Dharma); the trainings that the Buddha’s teaching stipulates (dharmas); the various awakened qualities or attainments acquired through practicing and realizing the Buddha’s teaching (dharmas); qualities or aspects more generally, i.e., phenomena or phenomenal attributes (dharmas); and mental objects (dharmas).
An epithet for the historical Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama: he was a muni (“sage”) from the Śākya clan. He is counted as the fourth of the first four buddhas of the present Good Eon, the other three being Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, and Kāśyapa. He will be followed by Maitreya, the next buddha in this eon.
In a general sense, samādhi can describe a number of different meditative states. In the Mahāyāna literature, in particular in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, we find extensive lists of different samādhis, numbering over one hundred.
In a more restricted sense, and when understood as a mental state, samādhi is defined as the one-pointedness of the mind (cittaikāgratā), the ability to remain on the same object over long periods of time. The Drajor Bamponyipa (sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa) commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti explains the term samādhi as referring to the instrument through which mind and mental states “get collected,” i.e., it is by the force of samādhi that the continuum of mind and mental states becomes collected on a single point of reference without getting distracted.
Though often specifically reserved for the monastic community, this term can be applied to any of the four Buddhist communities—monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen—as well as to identify the different groups of practitioners, like the community of bodhisattvas or the community of śrāvakas. It is also the third of the Three Jewels (triratna) of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Community.
A frequently used synonym for buddha. According to different explanations, it can be read as tathā-gata, literally meaning “one who has thus gone,” or as tathā-āgata, “one who has thus come.” Gata, though literally meaning “gone,” is a past passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. Tatha(tā), often rendered as “suchness” or “thusness,” is the quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms. Therefore, this epithet is interpreted in different ways, but in general it implies one who has departed in the wake of the buddhas of the past, or one who has manifested the supreme awakening dependent on the reality that does not abide in the two extremes of existence and quiescence. It is also often used as a specific epithet of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha—the three objects of Buddhist refuge. In the Tibetan rendering, “the three rare and supreme ones.”
An epithet for the Buddha.
bde legs kyi tshigs su bcad pa (Svastigāthā). Toh 817, Degé Kangyur vol. 96 (rgyud ’bum, wa), folios 257.a–258.b.
bde legs kyi tshigs su bcad pa (Svastigāthā). Toh 1101, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs ’dus, wam), folios 271.a–272.b.
bde legs kyi tshigs su bcad pa (Svastigāthā). Toh 4400a, Degé Tengyur, vol. 207 (mdo ’grel, nyo), folios 338.a-339.b.
bde legs kyi tshigs su bcad pa (Toh 817). bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 96, pp. 848–53.
bde legs kyi tshigs su bcad pa (Toh 1108). bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 98, pp. 950–55.
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
