The threefold salutation for the evening service, in the translated printing, each line followed by a bow.
- When chanted
- Chanted at the opening of the evening service after the offering; this is the translated printing.
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
From page 193 the book prints its material a second time with a Thai rendering beneath each Pali line. This is one of those second printings, and the Pali is unchanged from the first.
Three lines and three prostrations. The rubric telling the assembly to bow together is printed after each, as in every other printing of this chant.
Meaning and purpose
Each line has two halves and they are grammatically unlike. The first states something in the third person — the Blessed One is worthy and perfectly enlightened; the Dhamma is well proclaimed; the Sangha has practised well. Nothing is asked and nothing claimed.
Only in the second half does a speaker appear, and then only to say what they are doing. The three verbs are not one word three times, and the Thai keeps them apart — the salutation made to a person, the homage paid to what is revered, and the plain act of bowing.
The chant is short because it is not principally words. Its purpose is the three bows, and the lines exist to give each bow something to be about, stated immediately before the body performs it.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 225 →
page 225อะระหัง สัมมาสัมพุทโธ ภะคะวา,
Arahaṃ sammāsambuddho bhagavā,
พระผู้มีพระภาคเจ้า, เป็นพระอรหันต์, ดับเพลิงกิเลส เพลิงทุกข์สิ้นเชิง, ตรัสรู้ชอบได้โดยพระองค์เอง,
The Blessed One is an arahant, who has quenched the fires of defilement and of suffering utterly, and who awakened rightly by himself,
พุทธัง ภะคะวันตัง อะภิวาเทมิ.
Buddhaṃ bhagavantaṃ abhivādemi.
ข้าพเจ้าอภิวาทพระผู้มีพระภาคเจ้า, ผู้รู้ ผู้ตื่น ผู้เบิกบาน.
I bow low to the Blessed One, the one who knows, who is awake, who has blossomed.
(กราบ)
(bow)
ส๎วากขาโต ภะคะวะตา ธัมโม,
Svākkhāto bhagavatā dhammo,
พระธรรม เป็นธรรมที่พระผู้มีพระภาคเจ้า, ตรัสไว้ดีแล้ว,
The Dhamma is the teaching well proclaimed by the Blessed One,
ธัมมัง นะมัสสามิ.
Dhammaṃ namassāmi.
ข้าพเจ้านมัสการพระธรรม.
I pay homage to the Dhamma.
(กราบ)
(bow)
สุปะฏิปันโน ภะคะวะโต สาวะกะสังโฆ,
Supaṭipanno bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho,
พระสงฆ์สาวกของพระผู้มีพระภาคเจ้า, ปฏิบัติดีแล้ว,
The Sangha of the Blessed One's disciples has practised well,
สังฆัง นะมามิ.
Saṅghaṃ namāmi.
ข้าพเจ้านอบน้อมพระสงฆ์.
I bow to the Sangha.
(กราบ)
(bow)