I go to the Buddha for refuge. I go to the Dhamma for refuge. I go to the Sangha for refuge. A second time I go to the Buddha for refuge. A second time I go to the Dhamma for refuge. A second time I go to the Sangha for refuge. A third time I go to the Buddha for refuge. A third time I go to the Dhamma for refuge. A third time I go to the Sangha for refuge.

[In this body there is:]

hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, muscle, tendons, bones, bone marrow, spleen, heart, liver, membranes, kidneys, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, gorge, feces, gall, phlegm, lymph, blood, sweat, fat, tears, oil, saliva, mucus, oil in the joints urine, brain.

Many devas and human beings give thought to protection, desiring well-being. Tell, then, the highest protection.

[The Buddha:]

Not consorting with fools, consorting with the wise, paying homage to those worthy of homage: This is the highest protection. Living in a civilized land, having made merit in the past, directing oneself rightly: This is the highest protection. Broad knowledge, skill, well-mastered discipline, well-spoken words: This is the highest protection. Support for one's parents, assistance to one's wife and children, consistency in one's work: This is the highest protection. Giving, living in rectitude, assistance to one's relatives, deeds that are blameless: This is the highest protection. Avoiding, abstaining from evil; refraining from intoxicants, being heedful of the qualities of the mind: This is the highest protection. Respect, humility, contentment, gratitude, hearing the Dhamma on timely occasions: This is the highest protection. Patience, compliance, seeing contemplatives, discussing the Dhamma on timely occasions: This is the highest protection. Austerity, celibacy, seeing the Noble Truths, realizing Unbinding: This is the highest protection. A mind that, when touched by the ways of the world, is unshaken, sorrowless, dustless, secure: This is the highest protection. Everywhere undefeated when acting in this way, people go everywhere in well-being: This is their highest protection.

Whatever spirits have gathered here, — on the earth, in the sky — may you all be happy & listen intently to what I say. Thus, spirits, you should all be attentive. Show kindness to the human race. Day & night they give offerings, so, being heedful, protect them. Whatever wealth — here or beyond — whatever exquisite treasure in the heavens, does not, for us, equal the Tathagata. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Buddha. By this truth may there be well-being. The exquisite Deathless — ending, dispassion — discovered by the Sakyan Sage in concentration: There is nothing to equal that Dhamma. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Dhamma. By this truth may there be well-being. What the excellent Awakened One extolled as pure and called the concentration of unmediated knowing: No equal to that concentration can be found. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Dhamma. By this truth may there be well-being. The eight persons — the four pairs — praised by those at peace: They, disciples of the One Well-Gone, deserve offerings. What is given to them bears great fruit. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being. Those who, devoted, firm-minded, apply themselves to Gotama's message, on attaining their goal, plunge into the Deathless, freely enjoying the Liberation they've gained. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being. An Indra pillar,[1] planted in the earth, that even the four winds cannot shake: that, I tell you, is like the person of integrity, who — having comprehended the noble truths — sees. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being. Those who have seen clearly the noble truths well-taught by the one of deep discernment — regardless of what [later] might make them heedless — will come to no eighth state of becoming. [2] This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being. At the moment of attaining sight, one abandons three things: identity-views, uncertainty, & any attachment to precepts & practices. [3] One is completely released from the four states of deprivation, [4] and incapable of committing the six great wrongs. [5] This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being. Whatever bad deed one may do — in body, speech, or in mind — one cannot hide it: an incapability ascribed to one who has seen the Way. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being. Like a forest grove with flowering tops in the first month of the heat of the summer, so is the foremost Dhamma he taught, for the highest benefit, leading to Unbinding. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Buddha. By this truth may there be well-being. Foremost, foremost-knowing, foremost-giving, foremost-bringing, unexcelled, he taught the foremost Dhamma. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Buddha. By this truth may there be well-being. Ended the old, there is no new taking birth. dispassioned their minds toward further becoming, they, with no seed, no desire for growth, the prudent, go out like this flame. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being. Whatever spirits have gathered here, — on the earth, in the sky — let us pay homage to the Buddha, the Tathagata worshipped by beings human & divine. May there be well-being. Whatever spirits have gathered here, — on the earth, in the sky — let us pay homage to the Dhamma & the Tathagata worshipped by beings human & divine. May there be well-being. Whatever spirits have gathered here, — on the earth, in the sky — let us pay homage to the Sangha & the Tathagata worshipped by beings human & divine. May there be well-being.

Outside the walls they stand, & at crossroads. At door posts they stand, returning to their old homes. But when a meal with plentiful food & drink is served, no one remembers them: Such is the kamma of living beings. Thus those who feel sympathy for their dead relatives give timely donations of proper food & drink — exquisite, clean — [thinking:] "May this be for our relatives. May our relatives be happy!" And those who have gathered there, the assembled shades of the relatives, with appreciation give their blessing for the plentiful food & drink: "May our relatives live long because of whom we have gained [this gift]. We have been honored, and the donors are not without reward!" For there [in their realm] there's no farming, no herding of cattle, no commerce, no trading with money. They live on what is given here, hungry shades whose time here is done. As water raining on a hill flows down to the valley, even so does what is given here benefit the dead. As rivers full of water fill the ocean full, even so does what is given here benefit the dead. "He gave to me, she acted on my behalf, they were my relatives, companions, friends": Offerings should be given for the dead when one reflects thus on things done in the past. For no weeping, no sorrowing no other lamentation benefits the dead whose relatives persist in that way. But when this offering is given, well-placed in the Sangha, it works for their long-term benefit and they profit immediately. In this way the proper duty to relatives has been shown, great honor has been done to the dead, and monks have been given strength: The merit you've acquired isn't small.

A person stashes a fund away, deep underground, at the water line: "When a need or duty arises, this will provide for my needs, for my release if I'm denounced by the king, molested by thieves, in case of debt, famine, or accidents." With aims like this in the world a reserve fund is stashed away. But no matter how well it's stored, deep underground, at the water line, it won't all always serve one's need. The fund gets shifted from its place, or one's memory gets confused; or — unseen — water serpents make off with it, spirits steal it, or hateful heirs run off with it. When one's merit's ended, it's totally destroyed. But when a man or woman has laid aside a well-stored fund of giving, virtue, restraint, & self-control, with regard to a shrine, the Sangha, a fine individual, guests, mother, father, or elder sibling: That's a well-stored fund. It can't be wrested away. It follows you along. When, having left this world, for wherever you must go, you take it with you. This fund is not held in common with others, & cannot be stolen by thieves. So, prudent, you should make merit, the fund that will follow you along. This is the fund that gives all they want to beings human, divine. Whatever devas aspire to, all that is gained by this. A fine complexion, fine voice, a body well-built, well-formed, lordship, a following: all that is gained by this. Earthly kingship, supremacy, the bliss of an emperor, kingship over devas in the heavens: all that is gained by this. The attainment of the human state, any delight in heaven, the attainment of Unbinding: all that is gained by this. Excellent friends, appropriate application, [1] mastery of clear knowing & release: [2] all that is gained by this. Acumen, [3] emancipations, [4] the perfection of disciplehood: all that is gained by this. Private Awakening, [5] Buddhahood: all that is gained by this. So powerful is this, the accomplishment of merit. Thus the wise, the prudent, praise the fund of merit already made.

This is to be done by one skilled in aims who wants to break through to the state of peace: Be capable, upright, & straightforward, easy to instruct, gentle, & not conceited, content & easy to support, with few duties, living lightly, with peaceful faculties, masterful, modest, & no greed for supporters. Do not do the slightest thing that the wise would later censure. Think: Happy, at rest, may all beings be happy at heart. Whatever beings there may be, weak or strong, without exception, long, large, middling, short, subtle, blatant, seen & unseen, near & far, born & seeking birth: May all beings be happy at heart. Let no one deceive another or despise anyone anywhere, or through anger or resistance wish for another to suffer. As a mother would risk her life to protect her child, her only child, even so should one cultivate a limitless heart with regard to all beings. With good will for the entire cosmos, cultivate a limitless heart: Above, below, & all around, unobstructed, without hostility or hate. Whether standing, walking, sitting, or lying down, as long as one is alert, one should be resolved on this mindfulness. This is called a sublime abiding here & now. Not taken with views, but virtuous & consummate in vision, having subdued desire for sensual pleasures, one never again will lie in the womb.