Four lines on what the giver of food gives, and what returns to them.
- When chanted
- Chanted in the anumodanā after a meal has been offered.
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
The shortest of the anumodanā verses and among the most used, because a meal is the commonest gift a monastery receives.
Its whole method is to answer one question: what has actually been given, when somebody hands over a bowl of rice.
Meaning and purpose
The answer is a list of five, and none of them is food. The steadfast giver of life, of strength, of beauty, of ready wit; the wise giver of happiness. What passes across is described by its effects rather than by its substance.
ปะฏิภาณะโท — giver of ready wit — is the one that surprises, and it is exact. A person who has not eaten does not think quickly, and the verse counts that among the things a donor has provided.
Then the return, in the same terms: having given life, strength, beauty, happiness and ready wit, he is long-lived and renowned wherever he is reborn. The giver receives the same list they gave, which is the tidiest statement of the tradition's economics anywhere in this book.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 273 →
page 273อายุโท พะละโท ธีโร วัณณะโท ปะฏิภาณะโท
Āyudo balado dhīro vaṇṇado paṭibhāṇado
The steadfast giver of life, of strength, of beauty, of ready wit,
สุขัสสะ ทาตา เมธาวี สุขัง โส อะธิคัจฉะติ
Sukhassa dātā medhāvī sukhaṃ so adhigacchati
the wise giver of happiness, himself attains happiness.
อายุง ทัต๎วา พะลัง วัณณัง สุขัญจะ ปะฏิภาณะโท
Āyuṃ datvā balaṃ vaṇṇaṃ sukhañca paṭibhāṇado
Having given life, strength, beauty, happiness and ready wit,
ทีฆายุ ยะสะวา โหติ ยัตถะ ยัตถูปะปัชชะตีติ.
Dīghāyu yasavā hoti yattha yatthūpapajjatīti.
he is long-lived and renowned wherever he is reborn.