Introduction – 12
Listen to the Chronicles of the Buddhas (
Buddha-vaṁsa
) which will give
you joy and happiness, remove the thorns of sorrow and bestow upon you
the three kinds of bliss: human existence, divine existence and Nibbāna.
Having thus listened, try to follow and practise the path, as will be
explained in this discourse that will dispel conceit, eradicate sorrow,
liberate you from Saṁsāra and put an end to all suffering.
Thus, the Buddha, out of compassion, urged all humans, Devas and Brahmas
reciting the verses numbering four recital sections (
bhāṇavāra
) or
approximately 1080 verses.
3
The Chronicles of the Buddhas (
Buddha-vaṁsa
) is included in the Collection of
the Supplementary Texts (
Khuddaka-nikāya
), which was recited at the first,
second and third councils by Arahats. The commentary on it, entitled the
Clarifier of the Sweet Meaning (
Madhu-rattha-vilāsinī
), consisting of 26
bhāṇavāra
(approx 200,000 syllables) was authored by Ven. Buddhadatta, a
resident of the Port monastery of Kāvīrapaṭṭana of the Coḷa Country in South
India.
The Great Chronicles of the Buddha’s Story
During the reign of King Bagyidaw (A.D.1819-37), the fourth founder of the
city of Ratanapūra, the first Ngakhon Sayādaw, recipient of the title of
Ādiccavaṁsābhidhaja Mahādhammarājādhirājaguru, wrote the Chronicles of
the Buddhas (
Buddha-vaṁsa
) story in prose. He combined the text and its
commentary, interspersed with certain Pāḷi verses and their word-for-word
translations, for the benefits of joy, the end of sorrow, etc., by young men and
women of good families, but he did not translate the whole text word for word,
as there already existed well-known translations in that style called
nissaya
, or
word-by-word translations.
That Chronicles of the Buddhas (
Buddha-vaṁsa
) in Myanmar prose was
published in 1935 by Zambumeitswe Piṭaka Press, Yangon, in three volumes,
with the title: “The Great Chronicles of the Buddhas Story.”
3
[One
bhāṇavāra
is equal to 250 Siloka verses, each of four lines, or 32 syllables.]