The sentence by which a monk leaves the rains residence for up to seven days without breaking it.
- When chanted
- Spoken before leaving the monastery during the rains, when business requires an absence.
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 rains residence binds a monk to one place for three months, and this is the provision that makes it liveable. สัตตาหะ means a period of seven days.
Printed on the same page as the determination and the invitation, it completes the set: how the rains are entered, how they can be left briefly, and how they end.
Meaning and purpose
The sentence gives a reason, an obligation and a promise, in that order. I have business to be done within seven days; therefore I must go; within these seven days I shall return.
The middle clause is the interesting one. ตัส๎มา มะยา คันตัพพัง — therefore I must go — states the departure as a necessity following from the business, not as a wish. The allowance is for what cannot be avoided.
And the return is stated as fact rather than intention. The rains are not suspended by the absence and no permission is being sought; what is being done is putting on record that the residence continues, with a gap of a known length in the middle of it.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 303 →
page 303สัตตาหะกะระณียัง กิจจัง เม อัตถิ ตัส๎มา มะยา คันตัพพัง อิมัส๎มิง สัตตาหัพภันตะเร นิวัตติสสามิ.
Sattāhakaraṇīyaṃ kiccaṃ me atthi tasmā mayā gantabbaṃ imasmiṃ sattāhabbhantare nivattissāmi.
I have business to be done within seven days; therefore I must go. Within these seven days I shall return.