Thilowata Thilakawu Lyrics by Sanuka Wickramasinghe

I go to the Buddha for refuge
I go to the Dhamma for refuge
I go to the Sangha for refuge
I go to the Triple Refuge for refuge

The adornment of the three worlds, the peerless and serene one,
the great sage who knew all things,
a mine of loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy,
the Lord who brings welfare to the world

Fulfilling the perfections, the paramita,
destroying the defilements, he attained Buddhahood,
dispelling the darkness of delusion and the thick dark of existence,
he made the nectar-rain of the Dhamma fall
he made the nectar-rain of the Dhamma fall

On the thrice-blessed day, consecrated for your sake,
to uproot the five sins,
longing for the bliss of deathless Nibbana, I bow
at the lotus feet of the sage supreme in the three worlds
at the lotus feet of the sage supreme in the three worlds

The adornment of the three worlds, the peerless and serene one,
the great sage who knew all things,
a mine of loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy,
the Lord who brings welfare to the world

This is a Buddhist devotional song, a hymn of veneration to the Buddha, and it opens with the words every Sri Lankan Buddhist knows by heart, the Three Refuges: I go to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha for refuge. From the first line it sets the listener in an attitude of worship.

It then praises the Buddha in the traditional language of the texts. He is the thilaka, the adornment, of all three worlds, peerless and serene, the great sage who understood everything, a mine of metta, karuna, and mudita, loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy. Having fulfilled the paramita, the great perfections, and destroyed the defilements, he reached Buddhahood, and the song pictures him scattering the darkness of delusion and letting the Dhamma fall like a rain of amrita, the nectar of deathlessness.

The closing verse is the singer’s own act of devotion. Remembering the thrice-blessed day and longing for the bliss of Nibbana, and asking that the five sins be uprooted, he bows at the lotus feet of the sage supreme in the three worlds. It is a piece of sung worship rather than a story or a love song, the kind of bhakti gee played in Sri Lankan homes on Poya and Vesak days, and its whole beauty lies in its reverence.