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คำนมัสการพระรัตนตรัย kam ná-mát-sà-gaan prá-rát-dtà-ná-dtrai Words of Salutation to the Triple Gem Chanted at the opening of the evening service, as its counterpart opens the morning. page 51 3 verses

The threefold salutation to the Triple Gem, each line followed by a bow, opening the evening service.

When chanted
Chanted at the opening of the evening service, as its counterpart opens the morning.

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 book prints this under the same title as the chant at the very front of the book, and the three salutations are the same three. What makes this the evening service is where it stands, not what it says. The rubric (กราบพร้อมกัน), bow together, follows each line here exactly as it does there.

One small difference is worth recording, because it is the kind that decides a question. This printing has ส๎วากขาโต in the second line where the page-1 printing has สวากขาโต, without the mark.

Meaning and purpose

The three lines work as they do in the morning. Each opens with a statement in the third person about one of the Three Jewels, closes with a first-person act of homage, and is answered by a prostration made by everyone at once.

What differs is the hour, and what the salutation opens onto. In the morning it leads into praise and then into reflection on what has been undertaken. In the evening it leads into praise and then, at the quietest point of the service, into asking pardon.

That the words are identical is the point rather than an economy. The tradition distinguishes its two daily services by what they contain, not by how they begin, so a person arriving at either does the same thing first — states what the Three Jewels are, and bows three times.

The chant

As the book prints it: page 51 →

1

อะระหัง สัมมาสัมพุทโธ ภะคะวา, พุทธัง ภะคะวันตัง อะภิวาเทมิ,

Arahaṃ sammāsambuddho bhagavā, buddhaṃ bhagavantaṃ abhivādemi,

The Blessed One is Worthy and perfectly enlightened by himself; I bow to the Buddha, the Blessed One.

2

ส๎วากขาโต ภะคะวะตา ธัมโม, ธัมมัง นะมัสสามิ,

Svākkhāto bhagavatā dhammo, dhammaṃ namassāmi,

The Dhamma is well proclaimed by the Blessed One; I pay homage to the Dhamma.

3

สุปะฏิปันโน ภะคะวะโต สาวะกะสังโฆ, สังฆัง นะมามิ ฯ

Supaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho, saṅghaṃ namāmi.

The Sangha of the Blessed One's disciples has practised well; I bow to the Sangha.

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