මහා මංගල සූතය

Maha Mangala Sutta

 මහා මංගල සූතය
( 38 blessings which are truly auspicious and conducive to happiness)

Once when Budun wahanse was residing in Jethawana ramaya in Sawath nuwara a god came in mid
night and made this request.
බහූ ෙද්වා මනුස්සාච - Many gods and humans
මංගලානි අචින්තයුං - Thought of Mangala( Auspicious) facts
ආකංඛමානා ෙසොත්තානං - for the benefit of all those
බෲහි මංගලමුත්තමං - May the lord reveal those mangala facts!
1.අෙසේවනාච බාලානං -
Avoid bad company, all the rest of 37 facts will open up to a person if he avoid being acquainted with
“Balaya” this also known as “Asathpurushaya” , he who does not recognize pina( daana, seela, bawana)
or pava . Do not recognize good from bad, do not recognize kusal( aloba, adosha- avoidance from anger
or hatred-, amoha- fear arising from not knowing four noble truth )or akusal. He doesn’t believe in
meritorious acts bring good effects and sins bring repercussions accordingly as he doesn’t believe in
heaven or hell. He always thinks to harm, speak with hatred and does harm. But most of the time they
are camouflaged as saints. The key to recognize these Balayan is to know what separates bala. That is
pin/pav, kusal/akusal if someone is conversant with these, he will quickly see through a bala and keep
him in a distant. So now it should be clear that there will be no hapiness associating with “Bala”.

2.පණ්ඩිතානංච ෙසේවනා -
Get to know true friends; friends known as “kalyana mithra”, who tells benefits of avoiding akusal,
embracing Kusal, he who practice such and glorify such. He introduce more similar friends so a person
who avoids Bala and seek Panditha will be in company of similar kalyana mithrayan who will direct him
and show the path to purify, which was hidden before. Our greatest kalyana mithraya is Lord Buddha, he
is the first in line. Once Anada thero said to Budun wahanse that the sasana is half dependent on
kalyana mithrayan but the nobleone said “ Ananda don’t say that Buddha sasanaya is totally dependent
on Kalyana mithrayan”. One day, when that kalyana mithra fence is broken, Buddha sasana will
disappear. So mahasSangha is the following panditha as they carried on the knowledge base so we still
have access to that unbroken kalyana mithra wata( fence)

3.පූජාච පූජනීයානං-
Treat the Maarga pala laabhi srawakayin ( person who is within the noble eight fold path with
unshakable belief and understanding of Budun wahanse’s wisdom) with reverence, they possess Seela
and they know dharma so they are suitable for being treated in such a manner .

ඒතං මංගල මුත්තමං - These are great auspicious facts.

4.පතිරෑපෙද්සවාෙසෝච -
Living in a suitable country. What does this means?. Well now most western world countries does not
know about Buddhism. If we are born here we will be the same, going to church or maybe not believe in
anything and be an athiest. May use pesticides and stamp on insects deliberately or go fishing for fun,
might hate someone so much as to wish him death and may even have a secret extra marital affair, all
leading to unimaginable suffering after death as consequence of those akusal, unfortunate thing is he
doesn’t have enough pin to know dhamma and his country is not a suitable land ( not a pathiroopa
desha). We on the other hand was born as we had enough pin in a “pathiroopa desha” to Buddhist
parents so we are in a position to understand dhamma, even after migration that auspicious fact(
Managala karuna) will not change if that person has establish him in Dhamma.

5.පුබ්ෙබ් ච කතපුඤ්ඤතා -
If someone realizes the truth in dhamma and begins to understand, he should have done colossal
amount of pin in past births. You all my friends are in that category, it is due to that you have an interest
in dhamma, believe in Budun wahanse. This is no coincidence! We all have been Buddhists before and
has done many pin( dana, seela and bhawana) in many past lives but has not done enough to
understand , that is why we are here. That is why we wants to give(dana) all the time but do not think of
observing a seela or doing bhawana, dana is what we are use to in sansara, that is being the easier thing
to do, just spend some money, you don’t want to stop drinking to come to a seela as it is hard and
bhawana is of course very hard as we do not have time!!! We never have time do we? These 3 are like
three horses tied to a cart, moving one horse will not move the cart, you have to move all three horses.

6.අත්තසම්මාපණිධි ච-
So the person who avoids bala, get to know panditha, respect theruwan, live in a suitable land, has
enough pin in his account will get this! He get establish in dhamma, that person tries to do everything-
think, speek and act after filtering through dhamma. He will no longer be an automatic person. He
develops a mechanism to avoid akusal and do kusal. Because of that he is protected, that is an
auspicious fact. Just to highlight the point. Now this person who has acquired this fifth auspicious fact
get bitten by a mosquito, earlier he is in automatic mode and without even thinking the mosquito will be
squashed and he will fume over all mosquitos even remembering mosquito’s mother as it did hurt him
in this simple incident he has done lot of akusal even without his conscious knowledge. But the person
who is establish in dhamma will realize even at the last second where he is about to whack, that he was
angry and killing is akusal so avoid it by shaking the mosquito away and more importantly extinguish any
anger that might have caused like a line drawn in water disappears in an instant( quote Buddha
deshanawak). Such is the intensity of mindful awareness.

ඒතං මංගල මුත්තමං-

These are great auspicious facts.
7.බාහුසච්චං ච -
“බාහුසච්ච” means knowledgeable. A person needs a good education to a secure a future occupation.
Then he has time and energy to learn dhamma, so when ever he come across new theory or argument,
he matches that with what he had learnt. If that agrees with dhamma and vinaya, he agrees and might
take it up, otherwise he let that go like rain falling on banana leaves. Without this essential knowledge it
is difficult to separate what is required and what is not. Most of the time the reason why people go after
unseen forces through handahana and nakath is not knowing dhamma. According to Buddhist
teaching,Those beliefs fall in to an akusal category called “seelabbatha paramasa”, it is a mithya drusti
and will acquire akusal, that knowledge comes from the auspicious fact no.6, and conducive to
happiness .

8. සිප්පංච -

“සිප්පං” means being professional. Be it in your occupation. Due to your hard work and dedication you
have come to a state where your skills are sought after and rewarded. You have time to think about
dhamma as you do not have to think much about your job, is there a meal on your dinner plate to night
or your loans(well may be a little). Imagine a manual labourer in Sri Lanka, because he does not have
this auspicious fact he do not have the peace of mind to sit and explore dhamma, even if he wishes he
has a struggle of survival several hungry mouths to fill. How true are these teachings of the greatest
human being ever to live on this era even valid after 2500 years later. That is why dhamma is called
AKALIKA( timeless).

9.විනෙයෝ ච- 10. සුසික්ඛිෙතෝ-

Properly disciplined. A person who has got a proper education and learnt to be a professional has to be
disciplined. But we know few such professionals among ourselves who are far from disciplined. It also
implies appropriate behavior that means he acts after thinking whether his act, be it a word or deed
cause unhappiness among the crowd, will it cause conflicts, will his act consider improper by general
consensus of the wise and respected. His reactions in public are by being an example of a disciple of
Buddha. Hope now you will realize what separate shrawakaya from the rest possessing auspicious facts
1,2,3,4 and 5. Go back and read these facts one by one till No8 these are all inter dependant cannot
survive alone.

11.සුභාසිතා ච යා වාචා-
Knowing meaningful, properly told, clear at beginning, clear at middle and clear in the end – words.
There are only one such collection in this world, that is the 18,000 suttas preached by Bhagyawathun
wahanse over 45 years from attaining Buddhahood to Parinirvana. Not a single word has been uttered
out of the four noble truths or noble 8 fold path. So if someone seeks meaningful words he can only find
these in Dhamma.

ඒතං මංගල මුත්තමං- These are great auspicious facts.

12. මාතාපිතු උපට්ඨානං-
Now the person, who hears this “සුභාසිත” dhamma, has a better understanding of normal life. He helps
his parents. He treats his or her mother and father. How he does that?. He may give them money,
clothes, nutritious or tasty food or medicine. That is called “ආමිසෙයන් සංග්රහ කිරීම”. That has merits
and should be done. The way the parents should be properly treated to be a mangala fact is to introduce
them to dhamma. Get rid of their මිථ්යා දෘශ්ටි; like believing in apala, handahana, kendara, various
forces like Katharagama god, paththini and all these misaditu so called “gods”- what we see in these
devalas are deamons benefitting from human fear. The real kataragama god is known to be a Buddhist,
someone who seeked refuge in triple gem, not someone with 6 faces and 12 hands carrying frightening
weapons of mass destruction in his hands! Stop parents from going Bo tree to Bo tree hanging flags
asking to free their children from ග්රහ අපල or seek a marriage, thereby accumulating අකුසල් by
insulting the sacred Bo tree and believing in something outside Buddhism ( This is called සීලබ්බථ
පරාමාස - village temples never taught them this as hamuduruwo also didn’t know and in fact most
village temples have devala making it even harder ) . Make them understand karmaya cannot be
changed like that and to read and practice dhamma so in their final years can accumulate merits and can
have a chance to go to a better place. Persuade them to observe සිල් every poya, give them money so
they can donate to needy. And discuss dhamma with them. No point having a grand funeral with an
expensive coffin. This may read bitter but that is the stark reality.

13. පුත්තදාරස්ස සංගෙහෝ-

පුත්ත- children, දාර- spouse. The way Budun wahanse teach in treating our children and spouse is by
සතර සංග්රහ වස්තුෙවන්- දානය, පිය වචනය, අර්ථ චරියාව සහ සමානාත්මතාවය. Spending funds earned
through right channels on behalf of family (දානය ), speak kind words ( පිය වචනය ), this includes
teaching them dhamma, teaching children about Buddha, pansil and kusal/ akusal, then comes the hard
part, he himself behaves, sets an example, he observe pansil (අර්ථ චරියාව ) and everyone in family
becomes equal in quality (සමානාත්මතාවය), we must remember our children are always watching us,
they will quickly see a discrepancy of our speech Vs deeds and silently question them. If you are drinking
and telling them about pansil that will not work, there will be no සමානාත්මතාවය in family as you are not
having අර්ථ චරියාව. By this way of living there are fewer disputes in family. Everyone can potentially lead
a calm life as they know the value of dhamma and tries to live through it. Never underestimate
children’s ability to understand dhamma. They are our children as they were born to Buddhist parents as
they possess පුබ්ෙබ් ච කතපුඤ්ඤතා, they knew this before and will easily understand if you make
an attempt to teach them.

14. අනාකුලා ච කම්මන්තා-

So the person who now has mangala facts up to number 13 , now will not lead a life in a turmoil, that is
a life mix with pin and pav. He will not indulge in dusirith( shameful living) as he is always conscious of
good and bad. He will not say a kelama( tell tales)/ steal / go to another woman or man / drink to his
desire today and observe Sil tomorrow. His actions- කම්මන්ත ( seelaya) will not be in a chaos - අනාකුල.

ඒතං මංගල මුත්තමං - These are great auspicious facts.

15. දානං ච -
Giving generously, finding opportunity. It is said that a person should be with washed hands always
ready and expecting an opportunity to donate. A දාන to be meritorious should be prepared and given
with whole heart, if someone gives something which has no use to him anymore will not amount to
same as where he specifically buy something good and worthy for the sole purpose of donating, in that
act he resist his stinginess. Then things given to Sangha who is rich in seela and to people who are
practicing dhamma by learning and engaging in the doctrine will be more meritorious in effect. The
bottom line is anything you give should be with no remorse or tinge of greed about parting with it.
Whatever wealth we have now in this life is from the දාන we did in our past lives and we are spending
that deposit fast so need to accumulate wisely for future use. One should not wait till an opportunity
comes knocking but must actively search for it. Back in SL there are enough opportunities. Find a
fatherless child to sponsor, donate to build a temple, give a dana to an orphanage regularly. Set aside a
few $ a fortnight specifically for that. It is a mangala fact as it brings bounty later on.

16.ධම්ම චරියා ච-
This is living by dhamma one is learning. There is no point of learning if one does not apply that to his
routine life. Dhamma is correcting or means of directing life towards one goal and one goal only, that is
towards understanding of the four noble truths in whole. If someone thinks that he doesn’t want to
attain nibbana in this life as there are so many things to do, unfortunately he has not even started being
a Buddhist. Of course one cannot attain nibbana just like that! There are things to understand and a
path which is called ආර්ය අෂ්ඨාංගික මාර්ගය to follow to completion. There should be no fear that just
trying to read few dhamma books, listening to few sermons, observing pansil and trying hard to
meditate for 5 mins a week will get one to nibbana in no time. Rest assured! But the good thing is all this
has a cumulative effect. Think what it can potentially bring a person than avoiding it. That is why it is
called a mangala fact.

17.ඤාතකානං ච සංගෙහෝ-
Treating your relatives is a mangala fact. The way which is taught by Bhagyawathun wahanse is similar
to the way one should treat parents and family, with සතර සංග්රහ වස්තුෙවන්- දානය, පිය වචනය, අර්ථ
චරියාව සහ සමානාත්මතාවය. Spending funds earned through right channels on behalf of relatives (දානය )
, speak kind words ( පිය වචනය ), this includes teaching them dhamma, teaching relatives about Buddha,
pansil and kusal/ akusal, then comes the hard part, he himself behaves, sets an example, he observe
pansil (අර්ථ චරියාව ) and if all goes well, every relative becomes equal in quality (සමානාත්මතාවය),do not
expect this to happen just like that as we know our relatives very well. But what we are talking is the
effort not the outcome, which is the mangala fact.
18.අනවජ්ජානි කම්මානි-
Doing the right deed, what is the right deed? Observing සීලය. This amount to සම්මා කම්මංත in ආර්ය
අෂ්ඨාංගික මාර්ගය. Shall we say protocol the bodily acts we do to be ALL THE TIME within the පඤ්ච
සීලය. Not just for the day we observe පඤ්ච සීලය for some occasion. It has to be an integral part of life.
Avoiding killing animal will mean all animals from elephants to mosquito. Not to kill but bring an
insecticide and give it to someone to spray will amount to breaking seelaya. mosquitoes, ants are all
animals there are no exceptions. But being a vegetarian is not a seela, according to buddhism it is a
preference only. Likewise one should avoid stealing, avoid being promiscuous, avoid lying and avoid all
forms of alcohol and intoxicating drugs. For many us, we all are observing any number of these already!
It is the extra effort and dedication which is required to embrace them in full and whole heartedly which
is the difficult thing to do. It requires right effort ( සම්මා වායාම). One needs to suppress desire and
clinging to these addictions. That can only be done by realizing the overwhelming benefit it brings to us
as a කුසල. Remember we only can let go of something when we cling in to something else. That is why
Lord Buddha said that සත්ත්වයා swing to desire like a monkey will only holds a new branch of desire to
let go the branch he is already holding. We has to realize the overwhelming benefit of observing sil and
the akusal we accumulate by not observing sil to let go of පංච දුසිරිත්. For example we simply cannot give
up drinking ( clinging to desire ) without realizing the akusal we do by that and the effect from
subsequent Karma is suffering inn hell and if we are born again we will be mentally retarded and the
benefit we get from abstaining from alcohol( swing to a new branch by letting go the desire to drink –
old branch: yes it is again a desire to accumulate kusal for future සැපය- but that desire is directional
towards extinction of desire in the big picture)

ඒතං මංගල මුත්තමං - These are great auspicious facts.

19. ආරති විරති පාපා-
Complete abstinence from engaging in sins or wrong doings by being vigilant about ones thoughts,
speech and bodily acts. Well it may seems impossible and unrealistic but observing පඤ්ච සීලය is a way
of assuring one observe this ආරති විරති පාපා auspicious fact. There are 10 sins or දස අකුසල් which one
should avoid. It requires lot of effort.

දස අකුසල්-

1. Killing all forms of life/පාණගාතය ෙහවත් සතුන් මැරීම Wrong doings by body
2. Stealing from others/ අදත්තාදානය ෙහවත් ෙසොරකම් කිරීම කෙයන් සිදුවිය හැකි
3. Adultery/කාම මිත„ාචාරය ෙහවත් පස්කම් සැප වැරදි ෙලස විඳීම
අකුසල්

4. Intentional Lying/ මුසාවාදය ෙහවත් ෙබොරු කීම Wrong doing by speech

5. Tell tales/ පිසුණාවාචා ෙහවත් ෙක්ළාම් කීම වචනෙයන් සිදුවිය හැකි
6. Use of Obscene words/පරුෂාවාචා ෙහවත් රළු වචන කීම අකුසල්
7. Use of meaningless words/ සම්පප්රලාප ෙහවත් හිස්වචන කීම

Wrong doings by
8. Greed/ අභිධ„ා ෙහවත් දැඩි ආශාව
thoughts
9. Hatred/ ව„ාපාදය ෙහවත් අනුන් නැසීෙම් සිත සිෙතන් සිදුවිය හැකි
10. Wrong views like nihilism/මිථ„ාදෘෂ්ටිය ෙහවත් වැරදි දැකීම අකුසල්

20.මජ්ජපානා ච සඤ්ඤෙමෝ-
Avoidance of alcohol and intoxicants is a mangala fact. Well this will test our mental stamina or veerya
which will amount to සම්මා වායාම. Because of our addiction to alcohol we hypothesize various excuses
from our mind to justify drinking alcohol,… it is a social requirement…., one will lose friends if not and a
little good for health etc; well if something is bad it is bad, there is no grayness to it, it is absolute! A
good example lord Buddha said is feces, how little the amount will not matter, it stinks( ටිකක් ගත්තත්
ෙගොඩක් ගත්තත් අසූචි අසූචිමයි අපිරිසිදුකෙම් ගෙඳේ ෙවනසක් නෑ )!!! If you consider you are a Buddhist and
still drinks then there is a serious conflict of interests. The repercussion of drinking is said that in his next
life, if he has the rarest chance of being again born a man, he will be mentally retarded, simply because
he created his karma and then bawaya in a way to like that inhibited consciousness. Every act we say, do
and think creates or carves our karma, the end product is birth accordingly. That is an eternal truth
belongs to truth of suffering(dukka aarya sathya). Then again if you are not possessing No 20, that
means you haven’t got No.1- අෙසේවනාච බාලානං !

21.අප්පමාෙදෝ ච ධම්ෙම්සු-
අප්රමාදී වීම ( ridding apathy and developing enthusiasm towards understanding Dhamma with same
urgency as if someone trying to extinguish a fire raging on his head ). Most of us think there is no time
to involve in dharmaya. We have so many unfinished businesses to attend and we hope that there will
be a time in future when all our problems are solved and we are relaxing and then we can leisurely seek
refuge of dhamma. Well, let’s be practical. Will that time ever come? If it ever comes then we are too
old and sick to sit in one place to concentrate, we may be having senile dementia so thinking is out of
the question, we may even die before that magical calmness descends to our lives. So what No 21 say is
to live through dhamma at present, practice dhamma at present, it doesn’t mean going regularly to
temple or giving a dana. It means barricading our minds to දස අකුසල් making an effort to annihilate sins
we have already commited, developing a checking mechanism within us to quickly realize if we get
consumed by anger, hatred or lust, be concious that it has occurred in our minds, it is අකුසල් and make
an effort to suppress it by thinking the benefits ridding those harmful thoughts brings, that act alone is a
කුසලය. Have you ever paid attention that our minds are always roaming fast from one thing to another,
from past to future, and most of the time repenting on things we did wrong or how to do something
right in future, it is a dream we are living based on craving, for material stuff, cars, houses, wealth,
beauty, health as if we have control over these. These random thoughts are called විතක්ක විචාර.
Usefulness of meditation is learning to control these fluctuant state of mind, learning to control the
mind so it become clear as still water, one can see the truth. It is like silencing the background traffic
noise so we can hear the bird singing, we will never hear it unless we control the background noise, it
will be hard to explain to someone the beautiful bird song who has never heard that before who is not
willing to reduce his back ground noise!. Simply we have to live in dhamma in our day to day life.
Imagine you at work find a weakness in a collegue if previously you chat about that to others and made
fun out of it and you sit down at lunch to do the same, the newly built checking mechanism in you come
to effect and shut your mouth, your are අප්පමාෙදෝච ධම්ෙම්සු. A mosquito bite and your reflex brings the
hand down to swat it, mid way your checking mechanism comes to effect and your hand freeze,
mosquito goes away and you have අප්පමාෙදෝච ධම්ෙම්සු, all these accumulate as කුසල්, the effect is
accumulating පින්, the past sins done becomes weaker and weaker and may even nullify, that is Buddhas
teaching, he ones said if you put a cube of salt to a cup of water what will happen? It will turn sour. But
what happens if you put a cube of salt to a river? Obviously that cannot change the taste of a river!
Likewise if one does lot of කුසල් his sins may become weaker and may be ineffective, isn’t that a
comforting thought or what…!

ඒතං මංගල මුත්තමං - These are great auspicious facts.

22.ගාරෙවෝ ච-
Respect to elderly, teachers, parents, people young or old who observe a seelaya and wise individuals
knowledgeable about Buddha deshana. This is defferent from පූජාච පූජනීයානං, which is the
reverence to Theruwan. ගාරෙවෝ as well as පූජාච පූජනීයානං are qualities which comes out only if the
person is humble. That person has no ego where he has defined himself as a Pundit and believe that he
should not respect others, he is not prejudiced where he will always quote Kaalama sutta and say he
only believes what he can perceive through his senses, the very senses which fuelled a very long sansara
by fooling him always, senses which are directional to hell than understanding; that akusalaya will
prevent him developing his shradda which is the central root one derives nourishment to grow as a
shrawakaya , directional towards and bent towards the noble eight fold path.

23.නිවාෙතෝ ච-
Listen to sound advice. Listen intently and accept good advice. The fact is the source is immaterial, be it
from a priest, child or a street dwelling beggar, if it is sound and agreeable to dhamma, one should
accept it and that is a mangala fact. For most of us, advice should come from a hierarchy to be
acceptable; this mindset is detrimental when it comes to success not only in dhamma margaya but in
mundane life as well.

24.සන්තුට්ඨි ච-
Satisfy with what we got! This is something we should all understand. Natural tendency fuelled by greed
is to be unsatisfied and wanting more or better. Which is something we can never fully conquer before
the ultimate achievement, being arhath. But if we learnt to be comparative then life will be less
complicated and less stressful. Desire is like a meat knife and cutting log! A person keeps cutting meat
continuously but only thing left in the end is the knife and the log. We want more and better it never
quells. That example is what Budunwahanse used to define Kamaya ( satisfaction from six senses), few
of others with same meaning is a torch “හුලු අත්ත” you have to hold it in front to see but then you get
burnt, it is a nail embedded in body will ache till you remove, it is a boil which aches till it burst, so
kamaya is the stress we face, ridding that will bring peace of mind, a calmness like never before. Just to
highlight the point if we are in a hot room, we wish for a fan or A/C that thought may be over whelming
that we may do nothing but think of that and get restless and even irritable, all are akusal. But if we
think like this, OK I’m not out side in the scorching sun, this is better than that, and concentrate on work
at hand, no accumulation of akusal and no interruption to work. As we can see, this is modification of
our thinking process, which requires perseverance and intent. Buddhism is not passive; there is no wish
that will be granted by an unseen force. The force is with us and hidden to be discovered within us.
25.කතඤ්ඤුතා-
Gratitude. Remembering who lent someone a hand in time of need, time of despair. As such time is
what will define a true friend. But a kalyana mithra goes beyond that, the help he renders will be carried
forward to next life in a positive way. May be his help shortens ones sanasara invariably reducing the
length of suffering one has to go through. Once a novice monk saw Sariputta rahathan wahanse worship
a direction before going to sleep, directional worship is a Brahama religious practice hence being an
ordinary person ( knowing Sariputtayan wahanse to be a noble casted Brahama before being a priest)
the novice priest approached Budun wahanse and complaint (hoping to win a favorite place in his
heart!) that Sariputtayan wahanse is still mithya drushtika and worship directions. Budun wahanse
summoned Sariputtayan wahanse and asked for clarification. He said that he became a Buddha
shrawaka because of Assaji maha rahathan wahanse and because he gave sariputta rahathan wahanse
the ultimate gift of Dhamma, before sleep every day he inquire using his Irdi (mind) powers of where
about of Assaji swamin wahanse and worship that direction, that is gratitude; කතඤ්ඤුතා.

26.කාෙල්න ධම්මසවණං-
Timely hearing of Dhamma or choosing the right time to hear dhamma. What is the right time?
Whenever our mind is in a turmoil is the right time, whenever a sorrow grips our heart is the right time,
when ever anger or hatred is tormenting our minds is the right time, when ever fear of unknown haunts
our minds in the right time and whenever there is doubt that is the right time, when ever our minds are
at peace and tranquility it is the right time, in other words any time is perfect to hear dhamma. Is that
the popular acceptance? No we wait for the poya day to hear bana, we wait till we get retired to hear
bana, we wait till the exam finishes to hear bana and we wait till our children get married and move
away so we can “leisurely” hear dhamma( of course we have a guarantee within ourselves that nothing
will happen to us and we will be sane and healthy and live till such time). That illusion comes from
Avidyawa and all most all of us dies unsatisfied , unhappy, thinking there are unfinished work, that
unhappiness can be a strong enogh akusalaya that can take us to Dugathiya. Moral - time is now and
motto – tomorrow may never come!

ඒතං මංගල මුත්තමං - These are great auspicious facts.

27. ඛන්තී-
Patience. Patience to tolerate cold, heat, thirst, hunger and insult. This may not be possible to
completeness but when an active effort made to control these sensations or feelings, it gives the edge
of being conscious. Being conscious avoids loosing temper in most unexpected moments or places.
Some time the blind rage leads to actions which will cause long term suffering to many. Lack of patience
is a potential weapon of mass destruction. I can think of many mistakes I have done because I lacked
patience. If I gave myself some time, if I gave more thought, things would have been different. That
probably is true to most of us. Likewise being patient is a utility, it accumulate pin. It creates a receptive
mind. It creates a clear mind where boundaries between kusal, akusal pina and pava is visible. That is
why it is a mangala fact.

28.ෙසෝවචස්සතා-
Obedience. That comes with patience. There is no obedience without patience. That is why this Mangala
Sutta is amazing. It is all interconnected and directional. It all begins with අෙසේවනාච බාලානං. The person
is now ready to accept teaching of dhamma, he is receptive to sound advice. He has shed the ego of
being delusional as to know things than others and be superior and indestructible. He realizes his
fragility and how unimportant he is in the bigger scale and the urgency to be secured within Dhamma as
he has given himself a chance - ක්ෂණ සම්පත්තිය through his previous Pin which should not be wasted.

29.සමණානං ච දස්සනං-
Seeing swaminwahanse is a mangala fact. A muslim can see a swamin wahanse, but that is not a
mangala fact to him as he has not come to the stage 29 from 1, 2, 3….28. Just working backward through
these mangala facts from 29 and applying that to a typical mithyadrushtikayek, we will soon realize the
great wisdom of Budun wahanse. Only a person who is obedient and has got patience will benefit from
seeing a swamin wahanse, hearing sri saddharma as he will understand and try to practice what he saw
through. Otherwise it will be like pouring water on a banana leaf, only achievement is waste of water.

30.කාෙල්න ධම්මසාකච්ඡා-
Discussing dhamma at the appropriate time. When a query arise regarding a dhamma fact or regarding
Bhawana ( general understanding of bhawana is that you have to sit on a particular time of day in a
special place is a misconception, there are no rules like that sathara sathipattana is living in a bhawana
during day to day activity. To do maithree bhawana you do not need to sit, you can do that when you
are driving, iriyapatha bhawana you can do when you are jogging, it helps a lot to sit down and do a
particular bhawana but rather than postponing to tomorrow which never comes, doing something when
you can with what is available is more practical) one should discuss it with swamin wahanse or kalyana
mithraya ( That is why this comes after No 29). When these queries get clarified, what improves or
grows is shraddawa. When shraddawa grows, the person get the key to enter the path to rid of
suffering, he will have set course to end getting old, getting sick, loosing loved ones etc:
ඒතං මංගල මුත්තමං - These are great auspicious facts.
If someone has come this far he has achieved what he has never achieved in any of his previous lives, he
has establish himself in Dhamma. This will be maximum he can achieve in his ෙලෞකික ජීවිතය
(mundane life). Nothing can revert him back; he will not be born in sathara apaya( hell). His course is
set not by any unseen force, but by his own tireless effort fuelled by dhamma.

Rest of the mangala facts from 31 to 38 are for swamin wahanse who become brahma chaaree( abstain
from sensual pleasures). These 6 facts are considered relevant for ෙලෝෙකෝත්තර ජීවිතය ( a state which
has exceeded mortal life), which will culminate as you see by attaining Nibbana; ultimate full stop for all
this suffering, or if someone do not like to call it suffering, then call it happiness! Happiness that we can
never keep forever, which we have no control over, which does not work as we wants it to work, looking
back at all our happy moments are blotched memories like old faded photographs in past nothing has
actually made us happy to last forever.

31.තෙපෝ ච-
The person who has mangala facts 1 to 30, now realize, to complete his course to attain freedom from
all these defilements, needs to be alone, needs to rid of all his material and intellectual bonds. He leaves
his home, family, loved ones, material wealth and his place in the mundane society. This of course
requires enormous effort and will transcending from his PIN and previous practice in Dhamma. He may
retreat to a forest dwelling to lead a very simple life with no burden except mere sustenance and have
the energy, time and peace of mind to counter the problem at hand, to rid of his own kleshayan which
was fuelling his terrible voyage in Sansara where he spent most of his time in Dugathiya or hell. That is
why Thathagathayan wahnse said hell is the home for pruthajjana( Person who is not a true Buddhist ).
Home is the place where we all spent most of our time. So the shrawakaya now likes තපස( living alone
in a forest or a simple dwelling), free as a swan in the sky. If you do not see that as freedom then do you
consider following as freedom? Thinking of ways to settle your mortgage, meeting your divorce
settlement, searching best treatment for your cancer or your child’s brain tumor, or finding means to
hide your haunting past. Make a judgment for yourself. What we should at least do is to appreciate that
people actually did and are doing this to purify them.

32.බහ්මචරියඤ්ච-
Abstinence from all sensual pleasures. This is self explanatory. If a person reaches level of Anaagaami,
he is such.
33.අරිය සච්චානදස්සනං-
Realising the four noble truth through his own wisdom each in 3 categories ( සත්ය ඤාණ- wisdom as it is
the truth, කෘත්ය ඤාණ- wisdom that there is a path to follow , කෘත ඤාණ- wisdom that the path has
reached the destination an all there is to achieve has been achieved ) so it gets completely understood
in 12 translations. සත්ය ඤාණ is when one realizes without a hint of doubt that four noble truths are
true in every form, this essentially happens when someone becomes the first person in Buddha
sasanaya or Sothapanna or commonly known as ෙසෝවාන්. Rest gets completed in entirety when he
realizes nirvana at higher levels of understanding.

34.නිබ්බානසච්ඡිකිරියා ච-
So it all comes to this! The most precious gift a person can ever have. He who has above 33 mangala
facts realizes nirvana and that is definite. He is Arhath, in a league of few elites including Budunwahanse.

ඒතං මංගල මුත්තමං - These are great auspicious facts

35.ඵුට්ටස්ස ෙලෝකධම්ෙම්හි චිත්තං යස්ස න කම්පති-

Rahathanwahhanse has the ability to face the nature of the world unruffled. The nature of the world
comes in 8 different versions, fortune/loss, fame/disgrace, popularity/ unpopularity and
sorrow/happiness. He accepts none; refute none as he has no attachment to these changing
circumstances.

36.අෙසෝකං -
Place where there is no sorrow…

37.විරජං -
Place where there is no lust, greed or craving….

38.ෙඛ්මං-
Place where there is no fear, there is no fear as he knows there is only one thing he will acquire if he
passes away, that is Nirvana, place where all suffering extinct. They smile when confronted with death
saying he is like a person waiting for pay day, waiting for parinirvana (passing away). He has rid of death
like a vomitus, death is a permanently cured illness for him as there is no death for him anymore.

ඒතං මංගල මුත්තමං - These are great auspicious facts

ඒතාදිසානි කත්වාන-
Completing all these 38 auspicious acts…

සබ්බත්ථමපරාජිතා-
Winning over all cravings, losing to no pleasure which will bind to another birth ….

සබ්බත්ථ ෙසොත්ථිං ගච්ඦන්ති-

In every place, they go to success!

තං ෙත්සං මංගලමුත්තමන්ති-
These are the revered mangala facts.

නෙමෝතස්ස භගවෙතෝ අරහෙතෝ සම්මා සම්බුද්ධස්ස!!!

(Namotassa Bhagawatho Arahatho Sammasambuddhassa!!!)

This Singlish translation is based on pinwath Kiribathgoda Gnanananda swamin wahansege

“සැබෑ
සැබෑ බසින් ෙමම ෙසත සැලෙසේවා !”/ “Saba basin mema setha salaseewa” book. May his
kindness in teaching dhamma in ways we can undersatand will cause him to realize ultimate
Nirvana within this Gauthama Buddha sasana. May his will power grow, may his wisdom reap,
may he be protected to carry forward the torch of wisdom far and deep to the darkness!

SADU ! SADU!! SAAADU!!!

෴ ……………. ෴