The introductory verse to the passage on the four immeasurables, naming what each of them abandons.
- When chanted
- Chanted immediately before the Caturappamaññā passage, introducing it.
Historical background
อัปปะมัญญา means immeasurable, and the verse explains the name in its first two lines: beings without measure are the range of these developments, and so the developments are called immeasurable.
The book gives this printing no English title of its own, so the name used in the app is supplied.
Meaning and purpose
What the introduction adds to the passage is a list of what each of the four is for: for ill will, for cruelty, for discontent and for aversion, they lead to right abandoning, each in its own order.
The pairing is exact and is not stated in the passage itself. Loving-kindness answers ill will, compassion answers cruelty, gladness answers discontent, equanimity answers aversion. Four practices, four specific ailments.
That turns the four from a devotional exercise into something diagnostic. A person who knows which of the four states they are in knows which of the four to develop, and the introduction supplies the key the passage leaves out.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 118 →
page 118ยาสาปะมาณะกา สัตตา ภาวะนานัง หิ โคจะโร
Yāsāpamāṇakā sattā bhāvanānaṃ hi gocaro
Beings without measure are the range of these developments;
ตัพพาหะสาปะมัญญาติ ตา ภาวะนา สุวิสสุตา.
Tabbāhasāpamaññāti tā bhāvanā suvissutā.
and so those developments are well known as the immeasurables.
วิยาปาทะวิเหสานัง อะรัต๎ยา ปะฏิฆัสสะ จะ
Viyāpādavihesānaṃ aratyā paṭighassa ca
For ill will, for cruelty, for discontent and for aversion,
สัมมะเทวะ ปะหานายะ สังวัตตันติ ยะถากะมัง.
Sammadeva pahānāya saṃvattanti yathākamaṃ.
they lead to right abandoning, each in its own order.
ตาสัมปะกาสะกัง ธัมมะ- ปะริยายัง ภะณามะ เส
Tāsampakāsakaṃ dhamma- pariyāyaṃ bhaṇāma se
Let us recite the exposition of the Dhamma that makes them known.