-

VAi
(Pali_ Text in Devanagari, Roman and Telugu Scr
ipts
with English Diactrics)

With English Translation

Edited, Transliterated and Translated by

C. Upendra Rao

Buddhist World Press

Delhi-110 052
 Preface

The Vajirasara (Diamond-Essence) is an exceptional and important

work in the Pali literary landscape, which describes the Buddha's words
in a most efficient and magical literary form. This Pali text was composed
• in northern Thailand in the 16th century A. D. But if you search for the
text today, it is almost absent from the catalogues, of the literature of the
Thailand. The handwritten primary sources are difficult to locate; and its .
information is not much available in the secondary literature. Only Khmer
source, namely a critical edition of the text (Preas Siri Sammativong Em,
1_952) deals with the subject matter of this text. Yet some scholars have
pointed out that few manuscripts of Vajirasara are available in Thailand's
libraries.
The author of this text is Bhadanta Ratanapamio .. Vajirasara is
based ~n the text "Vajirasarattha Sangaho". The text "Vajirasarattha
Sangaho" clearly mentions in the notes of the first stanza, "ahatp
Bhaddanta -siri-Ratan apafifio nama santarp ragadi-kile sa-
pari}ahaviipasamitarp santehi sappurisehi piijitarp Buddharp Samma-
sarpbuddharp name namami ....". His name is mentioned two times in
"Yajirasaratthasangaho" in the s~anza 410 such as- "by the monk named
Ratanapfifia etc. But these details can't be seen in our text 'Vajirasara',
as this is based only on some gleaned gatha-s of "Vajirasaratthasangaho",
authored by Bhadanta-Siri-Ratanapafifio. The 'Vajirasaratthasangaho' has
409 verses and the 'Vajirasara ' ,which was edited by Preas
Sirisammativong Em and published from Phnom Penh in Khmer script.
•
 •
Vl Ya··
-
~Cll-q
253 verses and this counting of ve
possesses only rses also is not c
• es the two anu. . stu p verses are clubb ed as one verse and. 1ear.
Somet1m .
th lac es the tw o P
ada -s of anu~tuP are conside red as one v in soIlle
o er P _ • ho' has a Pali explanatio . ( -k-
'V: ••rasaratthasang a n t1 a)_ named 'Vaerse'(lit
'rL
aJt " ._
whereas the V:aJ••tr asara' edited by Preas S1r1sammat1v . ~
ong E • ',
. •
pubhshed from Phnom Penh has only Pali verses. Interestinglyrn and
.1 · ,, ,. ·· -
nd 1·n Va~iirasara are SOtnc,1
c. no
verses, 1ou .
t ava 1 va 1rasaratthasan '-'i:
auo i
,

Thus the both texts do not have ?1e

same number o! stanzas. 'Ibe
••
V:aJtrasar - a, edi ted by Pre as Sirisammat1vong Em does not includ
text.The introductory parts, which fi . . . e all th
are 1gunng. in_ all_ chapters ofe
Vajirasaratthasangaho and few other
verses are m1ssmg 1n Vajirasara.
Interestingly the text Vajirasara includ
es the verses, belonging to the
Vajirasaratthasangaha-tika.The manuscr
ipts of Vajirasaratthasangabo and
its tika are available in various places
of Thailand, Cambodia, Burma,
Laos, and Sri Lanka.. The Vajirasara ve
rsion has been edited and publishe,d
only in Cambodia, which is based
- on a Thai manuscript, written iii
I<Jiom script. J

"- l)le text holds a vast amount of Bu

ddhist teachings presented in a
• remarkable method. Knowledge of
moral principles for lay Buddhists,
points of reli~ous doctrine, etymolog
y, poetics, cosmology, riddles, etc.
Its style of presentation is magical, fol
lowing the ancient Indian style,
which we can see in Sanskrit Literatur
e. Nineteen chapters of this Pali
text _are ~ery ~ften coded. The principl
e of composition underlying each
section is ~ainly based on literary me
chanisms and poetic games based
on the Pab language and its construc
tion. Thus we can find riddles,
grammatical notions, double meaning
s, acrostics, etc. Thereby, this long
and complex work acts as a centralizing
place of scholarly elements and
~etlects tbe excellence and the creati
1orward all the p0 t t' • • vity of the author. It aimed to pudt
~ • . 1
en ia 1ties of the Pali • g an
ocusmg on its most fundamental constit language manipu1attn
uent, the syilable (akkhartJ)·
After translating th' . .
subject matter of this is _poem~~n to .Fnglish, I hav~ nonce . d that the
meaning of Pal· Thrite~t 18 nothing biddell
i -P 1~ • bu t the elucid ation of the It
seems to be a sm all .~ L i.e: ~Ptta, Vinaya ·dharn tna·
sophisticated mann ~d e to Tnp1tak and Abh1 . a Illosl
a tea ching s, pre
• er. - enerable Lvi Em (Preas Si rispared_ in EtJY
an un aU ~
 Preface ..
Vll

had translated it from Pali to Khmer. His name is Lvi Em and

he was
holding the title 'Samdac', which is the Khmer title. Samdac
means the
'king'. Only important persons and venerable monks receive
this title
from the King in Cambodia. People call him as Samdac Em or
Ven. Lvi
Em. His other title was 'Dhammalikhita'. He had other two titles
; Brah
Nanapavaravijja and Sirisammativarpsa. He was a reputed Budd
hist monk
and Pali scholar in Cambodia. He was the best friend of Ven.
Samdac
Choun Nat, another chief monk in Cambodia in later period, and
compiler
of the first Khmer dictionary during the l 960s, and holding the
highest
title as 'Mahasumedhadhipati'.
Now let me explain the title 'Dhammalikhita', which Vene
rable
Lvi, Em was holding. This title is a general title for any chief
monk like
a Sankaracfuya in Hindu tradition. It means when any venerable
monk
will ·become a chie f monk, in Cambodia, he will get
a title
'Dhammalikhita'. But wh~n he dies as a monk, people call him
with this
title "Samdac Dhammalikhita", so therefore we call Ven. Lvi
Em as
"Samdac Dhammalikhita Lvi Em.There can be several "Dhamma
likhita-
s" through the time. Another interesting information in this cont
ext is,Ven.
Lvi Em had received the title 'Samdac\ but he added to
his title
'Dhammalikhita', and became the "Samdac Dhammalikhita".
Generally
Cambodian king gives this title to a monk, but during the life
time of
Ven. Lvi Em, the Khmer King was a student of Ven. Lvi Em
and the
King was afraid to confer this title to him, as most of the stud
ents of
Samdac Em were opposing the French rule in Cambodia, beca
use during
that time the Cambodia was under the French rule. Therefore
the then
Cambodian King did not have the power to confer the title to the
monks.
Ven. Lvi Em is a well-known monk in the Cambodia. He was
a
learned monk on 'Kammatthana', 'Vipassana' meditation and
was a
great teacher of' Abhidhamma'. This is the reason why he coul
d perfectly
understand the mystic meanings of this text 'Vajirasara'. He
explained
many issues that we come across in the text. His translation
in Khmer
has a deep meaning. He became the head of Cambodian monk-co
mmunity
(Gal}.a Mahanikaya) during the 1940s and he also was the chie
f of the
scholars, who started to translate the three Pitakas from the
Pali into
Khmer. With his effort the 110 volumes of Pali Tripitakas are
available
 Jla··
••• ~,d,.o
Vlll ~

lations. All this is the fruit of his hard Work

today in K}uner trans ' aloag
•th many other scholars. -
Wl rk Cambodia, the Thailand maintains some of th
. TodaY: unantu:cripts. The National Library situated in the ceap~
ancient Pa11 m . • t f h , ,. .. Ital
. gk k ontains the nineteen manuscnp s o t e vaJirasar ...
city of Ban o c . • Kh . aPali,
.. _ • aho VaHrasatigaho, all wntten 1n om scnpt except"
VaJrrasarasang , ~ . h h ' •or
. h 'Tham, script. According to sc ~1ars, t ese manuscripts
one 1n t e . Th rr. •• - h . are
preserved under the different titles.. e ra11rasaratt
. asangaha-tzla.
. . IS
resent in the same proportion, and one nzssaya on 1t, in Kb""'
a1so P . .d I vqa
characters is also available. The ~om s_cnpt ~as w1 e y used ~or writing
the Pali and Sanskrit texts in ancient times 1n South East Asia. Before
the Por Ramkamhaeng had invented the Thai script, this 'Khom' script
was used for writing the ancient texts, both in Cambodia and Thailand
So this script is a Khmer script in origin, but the Thai people mostly call
it Khom. As a matter of fact, this script is based on the ancient script of
India, in which the Pali and Sanskrit inscriptions and m~uscripts were
prepared. •
In the northern part of Thailand, the 15th and 16th centuries can
1

be considered as a golden period beca'1se we can notice, a political and

cultural s~bility during this time. This was the early Lanna Kingdom
During this period some Sinhalese monks,· who were efficient in Buddhist
tradition, which they received from India, have entered into the
Thailand.The native religious situation in Thailand had further developed
~Y this. 1:1e:~ came eventually the numerous inscriptions and m~Y
literary actiVIties too were promoted both in Pali and in native languages.
. .

the Thus, no~ only ~e learning and _reciting of the Pali texts, b~t ~
art of creabv~ wnbng and the composing the original works lll Pali
such as ~smological treatises, commentarial works chronicles, etc. ba\lC
begun With tbe indirect influence of India In th1·s' pro~ess the sunilat
text named 'Vi •• - • • ' • 1534
bYa monk named Rat aJrrasaratthasangaho' was written in Chiang Mai 111 uld1
-- h co ·
betbeauthor fth anap~a,.~ccording to some schol~ e tial
e •d ~ e otber Pah works like the Jinaka,/amali. No substan.
v1 ence exists about th. ·11 eII1a1ns
incomprehensibl Yi . ts text, and the history st1 .r . dbY
all Th ~...1· ~- et, th1s text "Vajirasaratthasangaho" was studie ,
erav4U1n-s in Southeast As·ta.
 Preface .
1X

But the present edition of the 'Vajirasara' is largely based on the

Pali text 'Vajirasara'. This text was translated into Khmer by Ven. Em
and it was frrst published 1n the year of 1952, in Cambodia, in Khmer
scnpt and with the Khmer translation.The text of 'Vajirasara' must have
15een obtained by the translator from the ancient manuscript collection of
Thailand. This text is quite similar to the aforementioned text of
'Vajirasarattliasangaho' and therefore it raises many speculations and
confusions, but it can be presumed that Ven Em, who was a good Pali
scholar in Cambodia, had prepared and renamed the text as 'Vajirasara'
by gleaning the precious gatha-s from 'Vajirasaratthasangah~'. The present
edition of the 'Vajirasara' contains the 254 gatha-s, but the Khmer original
has 253 gatha-s. It was also mentioned there ·as "tipamiasadhika
dvisa~gatha". However the numberinig of the Pali gathas is not accurate
in the Khmer version ofVajirasara, the two different gathas of anu~tup
metre are clubbed together under the single number. We can see this
uncertain situation in few places of the text1. But as I have divided the
gatha 164 into two, the number of the Pali gathas has reached to the
-254, because the gatha-s 164 and 165 are clubbed in Khmer text.
The publication of this text with the Khmer translation became
possible with the laudable efforts of Venerable Vinayadhara Pin in, who
• was the chief monk at the Maha Khetavana pagoda (situated in the
Kandal province of Cambodia). His local priest was Mr. Sim, a teacher,
and Mr. Vi and Mr. Pon, who were the clerks, working at the Community
office. They thought to do some good work during the funeral of their
teacher, and many students were willing to publish a book on this
occasion as a gift to the public for meritorious deeds of the teacher. They
gave this text to the venerable Vinayadhara Pin, and he had sent the text
to Venerable Siri SammativatpSa Em, the Head of the Pali school in
Phnom Penh, by requesting him to write a useful commentary on
Dhamma. He was kind enough to translate this book. This book is in line
with the honor of the dead, because in his lifetime he always enjoyed
the deepest sense of the words, like the words used in this book. Ven.
Em offered 10,000 riel to support the publication of the book, while the
students donated 30000 rie12, and he took the permission from the
government to publish this book. "Please understand the Dhamma, and
please meet good friends until Nirvana" were the words by the Priest Yi

t1. Seo verse 141.

Riol is the name of Cambodian Currency. •
 X
~S-
ara
in the beg inn ing of the Kh me r ver sion of ------...:.
Vaj iras ara, whi ch he
und er the title of ,,vac
,.
ana ppad-ana , . H e was wo rking 1n .
the Pali Wro
lf te
school in Phn om Pen h.
Igh
The ver y con cep t of this tex t and the pur pos
e of its contents
completely unn otic ed by s?m e of the wes t~m t_( are
~cholars. For example, the
famous sch olar Rhy s Dav ids tho ugh t the VaJ
trattha-Sara' a "Pali work
on poetical acrostics" (Rh ys Dav ids, 1882).
_The De Silv a stated that it is
a tex t of "Pa li quo tati ons from var iou s sou rce
s" (De Silv a 1938). Lildiit
Lik hita non ta def med the tex t as "a sma ll boo
k on gra mm ar that deals
wit h the rule s to dete rmi ne the con son ant
s and vow els that undergo
change in gra mm atic al form atio n" (Likhit, 196
9). Mr. Pet er Skilling and
Santi Pak dee kha m hav e stat ed in the ir cata
log ues tha t the Vajirasara is
"a man ual on the my stic al tran sloc atio n
of vow els and consonants"
(Skilling and Pak dee kha m, 2002). 31~
'
'Va jira sara ' is a comprehensive Pal i wo rk whe
re the technique of
camatkara was dev elo ped by pro vid ing a sch
olarly background to the
livi ng trad itio n of Buddhism. The tex t has the
18 sections of the verses.
The nam es of the 18 sections are:
1. adisanketa
2. antasanketa
3. adyantasanketa
4. majjhasatphata
5. patilomakkhara
6. linantarakkhara
7. dvatthakapayoga
8. lokasaiiiiakitasatpkhya
9. vat)J}3.Satpkhya
10. silesikagatha
11. adipadottaragatha
3. J. Schnake, in the introduction of his disse
rtation, 2018.
•
z O~'~,,. f'., 's ~\
w ~~
,.
"' ,v-1 ~
ll lJ
 Preface
XI

12. majjhapadottaragatha
13. antapadottaragatha
14. paiihasamottaragatha
15. gUlbapadatthakagatha
16. pahe!ikagatha
17. yainakagatha
18. pakil)l}.akagatha
'Vajirasa.ra' is very interesting work because of the literary talent of
its author. For example, see the 4th stanza, which presents the material
of the Tipitaka in the following manner,

~ffi Gx-i¾F<I 3l ~ fct ~ m 3l ~ "ff ~ 1l

cI"ifm 4:J, 0 11 ~~ J.i~x-il m~ ~ I
..,."The one who has learnt by heart, the ten syllables a SaIJl vi su lo
a pu ~a bu bha, by the mind, he obtains the happiness". The letter
s
mentioned here refer to the formula of recollection of the nine virtues of
the Buddha, as described in the texts of the Pali literature such as the
" . They are mentioned as follows, "iti pi so bhaga
'Visuddhimagga' va
arahaip samma-sambuddho vijja-cara1J,a-sampanno sugato loka-vidii
anuttaro puris a-dam ma-s arath i satth a deva- manu ssana m budd
ho
bhagava ti". So each letter of verse indicates a word from this popu
lar
line, like, 3T = arahaip, ~ = samma-sambuddho, fcr = vijjacara1J,a-
sampanno, -~ = sugato, ~ = loka-vidii, 3T = anuttaro, ~ = puris
a-
damma-sarathi, "ff = sattha, j = Buddho, 1l = bhagava. This formu
la
was praised by the Theravadins and also by others.
Likewise, the 8th verse of the poem explains the Dhamma as
follows,

~x= itfc JTc fi3T T~c fT"f f~~ ~

'ti~~ G~ q Jt16 ~ I 3i cf> aJi~ J IiO fa I

By nature di and saxp are collected by pa, va kaip and a are

collected by s'i, va sa and sa are collected by sa. Having destroyed lo
xu•• ---------~-~~~~~ ~a.;,,.0a~
le to] si and mo [obstacle to] pa O •
a do [obstac ' , ner
[obstacle to] s ' .•
deliv
erance.
- d·tthi)
Ri
1. g ht view (samma- '·.
·2. Right thought (sammO-salikappa)

3. Right speech (samma-vaca)

4. Ri.ght action (samma-kammanta)
.
s. Right livelihood (sammO-iijiva)
6. Right effort (samma-vayama) .
7. Right mindfulnes_s (samma-sati)
8. Right concentration (samma-saf!Zadhi)
The syllable S8J!l denotes to sangahita, past participle ofsan~ . •
"to comprise, to collect", thus it means "collected". It descnoe.,
connection between these aspects and the three ratanas of the Bud •
practice. Likewise the 19th verse has a profound meaning.
GT-;n--fni-ffl-qRll~lxjtsi16-ftqcf>l-tlcf>I I
T.Jg-41GI ~~ tt~~5i-~-~ Rtc11 11

• !he four ~erses with profound meaning Ending by do ni ggi

expl~ the root of happiness. They have been formulated by tilt
Victonous, the Omniscient One.
~ome other verses are very complex. It is not easy to diaW tilt
meaning of such verses. For example,

- i-lq'ul'<d;:tl~R+j ~ffiPti -<d~ICf>~· I

~'tii~ti~;:; :j 31attl'c.ll'(Oll-4~3 11
This verse mea . h -
Lok»uarradha • h are t
ns, t ere are great nine gems (wbic
--~-roma-s) and th ~
among those nin ey occur only in their place each. Th8tin~
cl>, st
1he eight wise P:!,ems, a wise person can bear only one geIIl~ tbt
last gem, &enerally ns can bear the eight gems individually. . 11, tilt
lti8t 9 aana are 9
• .. •
.;:;:s
in all wise persons. It needs explant:aioil1
ttaradhamma-s. The 8 wise persons, VI
- •Ira, v-. 79
 Preface Xlll

4 magga-s and 4 phala-s, can bear only one gem ind~vidually. Only the
last gem that is nibbana, which generally occurs to those 8 persons.
that means, every wise person can bear his own gem with one
more extra gem, which is the 'Nibbana', as shown in the following
way-
• Sotapannapuggala bears the sotapatti magga-gem and a nibbana-
gem
• Sotapannapuggala bears the sotapattiphala-gem and a nibbana-
gem
• Sakadagamipuggala bears the sakadagamI magga-gem, and a
nibbana-gem
• Sakadagamipuggala bears the sakadagami phala-gem, and a
nibbana-gem
• Anagamipuggala bears the anagamimagga-gem and a nibbana-
gem
• Anagamipuggala bears the anagamI phala-gem and a nibbana-
gem
• Arahatpuggala bears the arahatapuggala-gem and a nibbana-gem
• Arabatpuggala bears the arahatphala-gem and a nibbana-gem
Thus the text Vajirasara stands as a unifying exposition of elements,
which are transmitted from ancient times. Certainly, the 'Vajirasara'
increases the better understanding between the Buddhist practices and
Buddhist learning. This is the first Devanagari version with the first
English translation of 'Vajirasara'. During my stay in Cambodia as a
visiting professor on the ICCR chair, though I started learning the Khmer
script and language, unfortunately had to give a break, because my term
on the India chair as visiting professor had ceased without extensions.
~- Khatna, one of my Sanskrit students, who gained enough inspiration
and interest through my Sanskrit teaching in Royal University, came
forward to help me in deciphering the text. I thank him for his immense
help in understanding the Khmer translations. i hope this work will be
commended by all academicians.
Prof. C. Upendra Rao
J.N.U.
New Delhi