The stage direction opening the single-candidate ordination, describing where everyone stands and kneels before the homage.
- When chanted
- Read before an ordination begins, as the instruction for setting the ceremony up.
A note on this chant. The book prints this chant in Pali only, with no Thai translation. The English here is a working translation prepared for this edition — it is not the book's own, and has not yet been checked by a teacher.
Historical background
Almost nothing in this book describes what people do with their bodies, and this entry is one of the exceptions. It is a stage direction, printed in Thai, with only the homage in Pali after it.
The two monks who chant the formal act are named as a pair, because the act requires two: one to put the motion and one to make the announcements.
Meaning and purpose
The instruction sets the scene precisely: when the one seeking ordination has gone out and is standing ready outside, the kammavācā teachers kneel with palms joined. Position, posture and hands, all specified.
Only then the homage, said three times, which every formal act in this tradition opens with. The Pali begins after the room is in order.
The entry is short because everything that follows it is printed elsewhere. What it contributes is the thing a reader working from the text alone would not know — that the candidate is outside the room when the ceremony starts, and has to be sent for.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 293 →
page 293เมื่อผู้มุ่งอุปสมบทออกไปยืนข้างนอกเรียบร้อยแล้ว พระกรรมวาจาจารย์ (คู่สวด) จึงนั่งคุกเข่าประนมมือ กราบพระ 3 ครั้ง แล้วเปล่งคำนมัสการพระรัตนตรัยว่า
When the one seeking ordination has gone out and is standing ready outside, the kammavācā teachers (the pair who chant) kneel with palms together, bow three times, and pronounce the homage to the Triple Gem thus:
นะโม ตัสสะ ภะคะวะโต อะระหะโต สัมมาสัมพุทธัสสะ. (ว่า 3 ครั้ง)
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammāsambuddhassa.
Homage to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Fully Enlightened One. (say 3 times)