The formal request for permission to bring the ordination candidates before the assembly, ending in the call to come forward.
- When chanted
- Spoken at an ordination, after the candidates have been instructed outside the assembly.
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
An ordination is conducted as a sequence of formal acts, each opened by the same words — let the Sangha, venerable sirs, hear me — and this is the first of them. The candidates wait outside until the assembly has agreed to see them.
The English of this passage, and of most of the ordination material, is printed once at the head of each unit; the continuation lines carry a marker rather than a translation.
Meaning and purpose
What is being asked is permission, and the reason is given as a report of work already done: the candidates have been instructed. Nobody is brought before the assembly unprepared, and the request says so.
The candidates are named. Throughout the ordination material the book uses specimen names rather than blanks, so the forms read as though a particular ceremony were being described.
It ends with two words spoken outward rather than to the assembly — come forward. After the formality of the motion, the actual instruction to the people waiting is as plain as it could be.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 297 →
page 297สุณาตุ เม ภันเต สังโฆ,
Suṇātu me bhante saṅgho,
Let the Saṅgha, venerable sirs, hear me. Puṇṇa and Subha, candidates for ordination under the venerable Manussanāga, have been instructed by me. If the Saṅgha is ready, let Puṇṇa and Subha come forward.
ปุณโณ จะ สุโภ จะ อายัส๎มะโต มะนุสสะนาคัสสะ อุปะสัมปะทาเปกขา,
Puṇṇo ca subho ca āyasmato manussanāgassa upasampadāpekkhā,
…continues.
อะนุสิฏฐา เต มะยา,
Anusiṭṭhā te mayā,
…continues.
ยะทิ สังฆัสสะ ปัตตะกัลลัง,
Yadi saṅghassa pattakallaṃ,
…continues.
ปุณโณ จะ สุโภ จะ อาคัจเฉยยุง.
Puṇṇo ca subho ca āgaccheyyuṃ.
…continues.
(คำเรียก) อาคัจฉะถะ
Āgacchatha
(The call:) Come forward.