The leader's invitation for the evening: refuge and going forth recalled, the offering made, and the assembly called on to the salutation.
- When chanted
- Spoken by the leader at the opening of the evening service, after the salutation and its bows.
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
This is the evening counterpart of the invitation near the front of the book, and its clauses are the same ones. As there, it is a line belonging to whoever leads rather than to the assembly, and it is phrased for people who have gone forth.
Its title is much longer than the morning one, and the extra length is doing a job. It names not only this line but the two things it leads into — the Namo, and the qualities of the Buddha — because from here on the book stops printing titles for the pieces of the evening service.
Meaning and purpose
The clauses are those of the morning invitation. The Blessed One gone to for refuge, for whose sake the reciters went forth, who is their teacher and under whom the holy life is lived; then the offering made with these gifts and the respects paid; then หันทะทานิ, now then, and the handover to what follows.
Because the words are unchanged, what the evening printing actually adds is a signpost. A reader meeting an untitled run of short passages needs to know where they are going, and this heading tells them before the run begins.
It is a small piece of editing rather than of doctrine, but it is the sort of thing that makes a chanting book usable in a hall. The leader speaks one line, and everyone knows which three things come next without turning a page to find out.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 51 and page 52 →
ยะมัมหะ โข มะยัง ภะคะวันตัง สะระณัง คะตา, อุททิสสะ ปัพพะชิตา
Yamamha kho mayaṃ bhagavantaṃ saraṇaṃ gatā, uddissa pabbajitā
That Blessed One to whom we have gone for refuge, for whose sake we have gone forth,
โย โน ภะคะวา สัตถา, ยัส๎มิง ภะคะวะติ พ๎รัห๎มะจะริยัง จะรามะ,
Yo no bhagavā satthā, yasmiṃ bhagavati brahmacariyaṃ carāma,
who is our Blessed Teacher, under whom we live the holy life,
ตัมมะยัง ภะคะวันตัง สะธัมมัง สะสังฆัง,
Tammayaṃ bhagavantaṃ sadhammaṃ sasaṅghaṃ,
to that Blessed One, with his Dhamma and his Sangha,
อิเมหิ สักกาเรหิ ยะถาระหัง อาโรปิเตหิ อะภิปูชะยิต๎วา
Imehi sakkārehi yathārahaṃ āropitehi abhipūjayitvā
having made offering with these gifts, set out as befits them,
อะภิวาทะนัง กะริมหา.
Abhivādanaṃ karimhā.
and having paid our respects,
หันทะทานิ มะยัง ตัง ภะคะวันตัง วาจายะ อะภิถุตุง,
Handadāni mayaṃ taṃ bhagavantaṃ vācāya abhithutuṃ,
let us now, in words, extol that Blessed One,
ปุพพะภาคะนะมะการัง กะโรมะ เส.
Pubbabhāga-namakāraṃ karoma se.
and make the preliminary salutation.