ධම්මපදට්ඨකථා (Dhammapada Commentary — Sri Lankan Palm-Leaf MS)

Hail! Success. The Omniscient One, who has great compassion for all beings, fulfilled the perfections paramitas and, having attained Buddhahood, preached the nine supramundane True Dhammas Saddharma. The Dhamma points that must be known by virtuous people who engage in these meritorious deeds with faith and devotion are these: these are the noble Sutta-teachings that exist to end the suffering of existence. One should strive to cross over the ocean of Samsara by maintaining unwavering devotion to the Triple Gem Trividha Ratna Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, keeping the five precepts, and engaging in the ten meritorious deeds. One should achieve the benefit of this world and the next by remembering the biographies of the Bodhisattvas who fulfilled perfections like giving dana, as preached by the Buddha in the five hundred and fifty Jataka stories.

Considering the matters contained in the Dhamma collection described in this way, the great compassion of our teacher, the Buddha, is well expressed. By realizing the Four Noble Truths Chaturarya Satya Truth of Suffering, Truth of the Cause, Truth of Cessation, Truth of the Path—namely, the Noble Truth of Suffering, the Noble Truth of the Cause, the Noble Truth of Cessation, and the Noble Truth of the Path—the path is prepared to end suffering such as birth, aging, and death, and to arrive at the noble, deathless great Nirvana. Therefore, one should read this Dhamma book, hold its meaning in the mind, and live without delay in meritorious deeds. May this merit be the cause to see the deathless great Nirvana at the end of divine and human happiness. May it be successful. May it be auspicious. May it be auspicious.