The introductory verse to the penalties, on novices who were without respect towards the monks.
- When chanted
- Chanted immediately before the five grounds for imposing a penalty on a novice.
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 third and last of the introductory verses, following the same shape as the one before it: an occasion, the Blessed One learning of it, and an allowance made in response.
What differs is the scale of the trouble. The previous verse answered a grave offence with expulsion. This one answers something a great deal smaller, and the pair is printed together so the difference is visible.
Meaning and purpose
The occasion is given in a single line and is strikingly ordinary: the novices were without respect, undeferential towards the monks, and behaving unbecomingly towards them. No incident, no names, no offence — just a general deterioration in how a group of young people were carrying themselves.
What was allowed in answer is a ทัณฑะกัมมัง, a penalty: a corrective imposed on someone who stays, not a removal. That single distinction is the reason these two verses sit side by side in the book.
Read as a pair they set out a graded response, which is easy to miss when either is read alone. Ten grounds end a novice's standing. Five grounds earn a penalty. Printing both, with their occasions, keeps a reader from mistaking the second sort of failing for the first.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 58 and page 59 →
เตนะ โข ปะนะ สะมะเยนะ สามะเณรา อะคาระวา,
Tena kho pana samayena sāmaṇerā agāravā,
Now at that time the novices were without respect,
ภิกขูสุ อัปปะติสสา เจวะ อะสะภาคะวุตติกา.
Bhikkhūsu appatissā ceva asabhāgavuttikā.
undeferential towards the monks, and behaving unbecomingly towards them.
ญัต๎วา ตะมัตถัง ภะคะวา ภิกขูนัญเญวะ สันติกา,
Ñatvā tamatthaṃ bhagavā bhikkhūnaññeva santikā,
The Blessed One, having learnt of that matter from the monks themselves,
อะนุญญาสิ ทัณฑะกัมมัง กาตุง ปัญจังคิกัสสะ จะ.
Anuññāsi daṇḍakammaṃ kātuṃ pañcaṅgikassa ca.
allowed a penalty to be imposed on one having the five factors;
สามะเณรานัง ทัณฑะกัมมะการะณังคัง ภะณามะ เส.
Sāmaṇerānaṃ daṇḍakammakāraṇaṅgaṃ bhaṇāma se.
let us now recite the grounds that cause a novice's penalty.