The single sentence by which a monk commits himself to one monastery for the three months of the rains.
- When chanted
- Spoken at the start of the rains retreat, three times, in the monastery where the three months will be spent.
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
One line, said three times, and it begins the most fixed period in the monastic year. The rains residence is the reason a monastic's seniority is counted in rains rather than in years.
Its brevity is the point. Everything that follows for three months rests on a sentence a person can say in a breath.
Meaning and purpose
Every word in it is doing work. อิมัส๎มิง อาวาเส — in this monastery — fixes the place and rules out everywhere else. อิมัง เตมาสัง — these three months — fixes the term.
วัสสัง อุเปมิ is I enter upon the rains, in the present tense. Nothing is promised for the future and nothing is asked of anyone else. The sentence takes effect as it is said.
What it produces is a commitment with an address. For three months this person can be found in this place, and the two chants printed immediately after it — the seven-day absence and the invitation at the end of the rains — exist because of what that commitment makes possible and what it costs.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 303 →
page 303อิมัส๎มิง อาวาเส อิมัง เตมาสัง วัสสัง อุเปมิ. (ว่า ๓ ครั้ง)
Imasmiṃ āvāse imaṃ temāsaṃ vassaṃ upemi.
In this monastery I enter upon the rains for these three months. (say 3 times)