The Three Chapters " A Hymn of Praise to the Buddha's Good Qualities," "Consecrating the Buddha," and "Sutra on the Merit of Bathing the Buddha, are descriptions of the lifestyle and practices of the Buddha. Here, the three texts work well together, acting as a brief overview of Buddha and his characteristics, as well as how Buddhism has been practiced over the years and now. They also share the common characteristic of being part of the verbal practice and expression of Buddhism exhibited in some sort of ritualistic context. Text one allows us to understand why Buddha has been an object of devotion from the beginning of Buddhist history by translating this hymn of praise and showing the reader, or listener as it may be, detailed pictures of Buddha's good qualities and why the Buddha is worthy of praise. Text two takes our understanding to yet another level by recounting the story of Prince Siddhartha and his journey towards enlightenment and how this story is chanted or sung in a ritual context thus "infusing these elements into the Buddha image, a material object representing the story, wisdom, and the power of the person of the Buddha". 1 Once the material Buddha image is infused with the life, history, and elements of Buddha good qualities such as seen in text one and acted out in ritual as read in text two, text three describes one of the many ways in which Buddhists cultivate their foundation of devotion through the ritual of bathing the Buddha, and the merits accrued by performing this reverential act.
             Since Buddha's have existed throughout history in a variety of forms and acting in many different worlds, texts have been written in order to make light of common traits categorizing all Buddha's. A "Hymn of Praise to the Buddha's Good Qualities" is one such text, a poetic summary of sorts, it praises the good qualities of Buddha. Althoug...