The formula for asking pardon of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha for every disrespect shown since birth.
- When chanted
- Spoken by lay people or monastics before a ceremony, or wherever a period of practice is about to begin.
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 same shape as the pardon asked of a Great Elder, redirected. Where that named a person who could reply, this is addressed to the Three Jewels, which cannot.
It is the widest of the pardon formulas in scope, and the phrase that widens it is ชาติโต ปัฏฐายะ — from birth onwards.
Meaning and purpose
The self-description is the same unsparing one used to a Great Elder: as fools, as deluded, as unskilful. Nothing is adjusted for the fact that the hearer is a teaching and a community rather than a man.
The offence is named as disrespect — towards the Buddha, or the Dhamma, or the Sangha — done by body, by speech, or by mind. Three objects and three doors, which between them exhaust the possibilities.
And the request is the same as everywhere else in this book: that the transgression be accepted as a transgression, for the sake of restraint in future. Since nothing here can answer, what the formula actually produces is the statement itself — which is all the other pardon formulas produce too, said aloud in front of somebody who then agrees.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 252 →
page 252อัจจะโย โน ภันเต อัจจัคคะมา,
Accayo no bhante accaggamā,
Venerable sirs, a transgression has overcome us,
ยะถาพาเล ยะถามุฬเห ยะถาอะกุสะเล,
yathābāle yathāmuḷhe yathāakusale,
as fools, as deluded, as unskilful,
เย มะยัง ภันเต ชาติโต ปัฏฐายะ ปะมาทัง วา อาคัมมะ,
ye mayaṃ bhante jātito paṭṭhāya pamādaṃ vā āgamma,
in that we, venerable sirs, from birth onwards, having come under the sway of heedlessness,
อะโยนิโสมะนะสิการัง วา อาคัมมะ,
ayonisomanasikāraṃ vā āgamma,
or having come under the sway of unwise attention,
พุทเธ วา ธัมเม วา สังเฆ วา อะคาระวัง อะกะริมหา,
buddhe vā dhamme vā saṅghe vā agāravaṃ akarimhā,
have shown disrespect towards the Buddha, or the Dhamma, or the Saṅgha,
กาเยนะ วา วาจายะ วา มะนะสา วา,
kāyena vā vācāya vā manasā vā,
by body, by speech, or by mind,
สัมมุขาปิ ปะรัมมุขาปิ,
sammukhāpi parammukhāpi,
whether face to face or out of sight —
เตสัง โน ภันเต,
tesaṃ no bhante,
of these, venerable sirs,
อัจจะยัง อัจจะยะโต ปะฏิคคัณหาตุ อายะติง สังวะรายะ,
accayaṃ accayato paṭiggaṇhātu āyatiṃ saṃvarāya,
may our transgression be accepted as a transgression, for the sake of restraint in future,