The introductory verse to the ten training rules, setting out how the Buddha came to allow them for novices.
- When chanted
- Chanted immediately before the ten training rules, as the piece that introduces them.
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
บทขัด is an introductory verse: a short piece in metre set before a chant to say what it is and why it exists. The book prints three of them in a row on these pages, each followed by the passage it introduces.
They all end the same way, with ภะณามะ เส — let us now recite — handing the assembly over to the chant itself. The form is a hinge, and it exists because a bare list of rules arrives without any context of its own.
Meaning and purpose
It gives a compressed history before the rules. The Perfectly Awakened One arose in the world; he set rolling the Wheel of Dhamma that none can turn back; and to show kindness to the world he walked it on his journeys, setting the threefold true Dhamma rightly going.
Then it narrows, in two lines, to one place and one reason: coming in due course to Sāvatthī and dwelling in the Jeta Grove, and having regard for the novices' minds and for how they were to train. Only then are the ten allowed.
That narrowing is what the introduction is for. It makes the rules an answer to a situation rather than a code handed down from nowhere — somebody young needed training, and ten rules were permitted for them. The verse then steps aside and invites the assembly to recite what was allowed.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 57 →
สัมพุทโธ โลเก อุปปันโน มะหาการุณิโก มุน,
Sambuddho loke uppanno mahākāruṇiko mun,
The Perfectly Awakened One, the greatly compassionate Sage, arose in the world,
ธัมมะจักกัง ปะวัตเตต๎วา โลเก อัปปะฏิวัตติยัง.
Dhammacakkaṃ pavattetvā loke appaṭivattiyaṃ.
and set rolling in the world the Wheel of Dhamma that none can turn back.
โลกัสสะ สังคะหัง กาตุง จะริต๎วา โลกะจาริกัง,
Lokassa saṅgahaṃ kātuṃ caritvā lokacārikaṃ,
To show kindness to the world he walked the world on his journeys,
ติวิธัง โลเก สัทธัมมัง สัมมะเทวะ ปะวัตติยัง.
Tividhaṃ loke saddhammaṃ sammadeva pavattiyaṃ.
setting the threefold true Dhamma rightly going in the world.
อะนุปุพเพนะ สาวัตถิง ปัต๎วา เชตะวะเน วะสัง,
Anupubbena sāvatthiṃ patvā jetavane vasaṃ,
Coming in due course to Sāvatthī and dwelling in the Jeta Grove,
สามะเณรานัง นิสสายะ จิตตัง กะถานุสิกขิตุง.
Sāmaṇerānaṃ nissāya cittaṃ kathānusikkhituṃ.
and having regard for the novices' minds, and for how they were to train,
อะนุญญาสิ ทะสะ สิกขา สามะเณเรหิ สิกขิตุง,
Anuññāsi dasa sikkhā sāmaṇerehi sikkhituṃ,
he allowed ten trainings for novices to train in;
สามะเณรานัง ทะสังคัง สิกขาปะทัง ภะณามะ เส.
Sāmaṇerānaṃ dasaṅgaṃ sikkhāpadaṃ bhaṇāma se.
let us now recite the tenfold training rule of the novices.