Piṅgiya's Praises - Patterson, Graham

"A devotional setting of the "Verses extolling the Way to the Beyond", from the Buddhist scripture, the Sutta Nipāta. Composed in 1995 for SATB, viola, cello and percussion. Written for Triratna Buddhist choirs, including non-readers."

◈ Genre / Form Cantatas

♬ Voicing → SATB ¶ Language → English

Parts 4

Pages 33

CPDL # 82999

Editor Graham Patterson

Posted 2024-12-05

License CPDL License

¶Lyrics / Text

''(The opening line, Pārāyana thuti gāthā, means "Verses that praise the way to the beyond".)'' This is what the Master said when the sixteen brahmins came to the Rock Temple in Magadha to ask him to answer their questions: "If you know what each question means, see what each question implies and live in accordance with the Way Things Are, then you will go beyond. You will cross the ocean of death and ageing and reach the other shore. These things lead to that other shore. That is why this teaching is called Pārāyana, 'The Way to the Beyond'." There were sixteen of them who came to see the Buddha that time. There was Ajita, Tissametteyya, Puṇṇaka, Mettagū, Dhotaka, Upasīva, Nanda and Hemaka; Todeyya, Kappa and Jatukaṇṇī the scholar; Bhadrāvudha, Udaya, Posāla, Mogharāja the learned, and the great Piṅgiya the wise. These were the men who came to see the Buddha, the man of perfect action. They came to the Buddha to put their complex questions to this paragon of understanding. The Buddha answered the questions with the exactness of truth, just as things are; the brahmins were pleased to hear the words of this wise man. And so, filled with pleasure by the clear goodness, spent in the shelter of the precious wisdom of the Buddha. Any one whose life accords with what the Buddha taught in these answers goes across the ocean. From here to the beyond, from this shore to the other: this is crossing the ocean, this is travelling on the highest path. It is a path that leads to that other shore; that is why it is called Pārāyana, 'The Way to the Beyond'. Piṅgiya's Praises of the Way to the Beyond. "I will sing you the praises of the Way to the Beyond." said Piṅgiya (when he returned to where the brahmin Bāvarī lives on the banks of the River Godhāvarī.) "It was described to us by this man exactly as he saw it. But then, there isn't any reason why a man like him should lie, a mammoth of knowledge and completely pure, a man without desire. When a voice has none of the glib

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