Verses on giving at the right time, and on how those who rejoice in a gift or help with it share its merit without lessening it.
- When chanted
- Chanted at ceremonies of giving, particularly where many people have had a hand in one offering.
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
กาละทานะ is timely giving, and the title names the discourse the verses are taken from. The book prints the verses only, without the prose that would have framed them.
They are short, and their argument is almost entirely about other people — which is unusual in a text about giving, where the giver is normally the subject.
Meaning and purpose
The first claim concerns timing. The wise give at the right time, responsive and free from meanness; and a gift given at the right time to those who are upright becomes abundant. What makes a gift large is not its size but its moment and its recipient.
The second is the reason these verses are chanted at all. Those who rejoice in the gift, or who lend their service to it, do not thereby lessen it — they too share in the merit. Merit is explicitly not divided by being shared, and nothing is taken from the giver by others joining in.
That is a practical doctrine in a practical place. At a ceremony where one household has paid and a dozen have carried, cooked and arranged, or where many have contributed and one hands the thing over, this is the text that says nobody in the room is a spectator. It ends by making the point plainly — so let one give with an unhesitating mind.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 47 →
กาเล ทะทันติ สะปัญญา วะทัญญู วีตะมัจฉะรา
kāle dadanti sapaññā vadaññū vītamaccharā
The wise give at the right time — responsive, free from meanness.
กาเลนะ ทินนัง อะริเยสุ อุชุภูเตสุ ตาทิสุ.
kālena dinnaṃ ariyesu ujubhūtesu tādisu.
Given at the right time to the noble ones, upright and unshaken,
วิปปะสันนะมะนา ตัสสะ วิปุลา โหติ ทักขิณา
vippasannamanā tassa vipulā hoti dakkhiṇā
the gift of one whose mind is clear and bright becomes abundant.
เย ตัตถะ อะนุโมทันติ เวยยาวัจจัง กะโรนติ วา.
ye tattha anumodanti veyyāvaccaṃ karonti vā.
Those who rejoice in it there, or who lend their service,
นะ เตนะ ทักขิณา โอนา เตปิ ปุญญัสสะ ภาคิโน
na tena dakkhiṇā onā tepi puññassa bhāgino
do not thereby lessen the gift; they too share in the merit.
ตัส๎มา ทะเท อัปปะฏิวานะจิตโต ยัตถะ ทินนัง มะหัปผะลัง
tasmā dade appaṭivānacitto yattha dinnaṃ mahapphalaṃ
So let one give with an unhesitating mind, where what is given bears great fruit.
ปุญญานิ ปะระโลกัส๎มิง ปะติฏฐา โหนติ ปาณินันติ.
puññāni paralokasmiṃ patiṭṭhā honti pāṇinanti.
Merits are a support for living beings in the world beyond.
กาละทานะสุตตะคาถา นิฏฐิตา
kāladānasuttagāthā niṭṭhitā
Here end the verses from the Kāladāna Sutta.