The offering to the Triple Gem, printed a second time under a different title, and set here to be used on its own rather than to open a service.
- When chanted
- Chanted when an offering is made to the Triple Gem outside the daily services, where the opening of the morning service is not being used.
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
This is the same text as the offering printed at the very beginning of the book — the same nine clauses, word for word in seven of them. Two differ, and only in small marks: the book prints ส๎วากขาโต here where page 1 prints สวากขาโต, and this printing closes on a full stop where page 1 uses ฯ.
The titles differ too, and the difference is the point of the second printing. Page 1 calls it คำบูชา, the words of offering; here it is คาถาบูชา, the verse of offering. It is set out with no service around it, which is what makes it usable by itself.
Meaning and purpose
The reading is the reading of page 1, because the words are the same. Three clauses identify the Three Jewels by the epithet belonging to each; a fourth gathers them; a fifth makes the offering with these gifts, set out as befits them. Then the request — that the Blessed One, though long since gone to final nibbāna, accept these poor gifts out of compassion for later generations, for our lasting welfare and happiness.
What changes is the setting, and it changes the weight. At page 1 this text opens a whole morning service and everything else follows it. Here nothing follows. The closing line about lasting welfare is the last thing said rather than the first, and a reader who meets the chant in this second place is meeting a complete act rather than an opening.
That the book prints it twice, in two places and under two titles, is worth knowing rather than puzzling over. A book of this kind is arranged by occasion, not by text, and a chant needed on two different occasions is simply printed twice.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 51 →
โย โส ภะคะวา อะระหัง สัมมาสัมพุทโธ,
Yo so bhagavā arahaṃ sammāsambuddho,
That Blessed One, the Worthy One, perfectly enlightened by himself,
ส๎วากขาโต เยนะ ภะคะวะตา ธัมโม,
Svākkhāto yena bhagavatā dhammo,
the Dhamma well proclaimed by that Blessed One,
สุปะฏิปันโน ยัสสะ ภะคะวะโต สาวะกะสังโฆ,
Supaṭipanno yassa bhagavato sāvakasaṅgho,
the Sangha of that Blessed One's disciples who have practised well,
ตัมมะยัง ภะคะวันตัง สะธัมมัง สะสังฆัง,
Tammayaṃ bhagavantaṃ sadhammaṃ sasaṅghaṃ,
to that Blessed One, with his Dhamma and his Sangha,
อิเมหิ สักกาเรหิ ยะถาระหัง อาโรปิเตหิ อะภิปูชะยามะ,
Imehi sakkārehi yathārahaṃ āropitehi abhipūjayāma,
we make offering with these gifts, set out as befits them.
สาธุ โน ภันเต ภะคะวา สุจิระปะรินิพพุโตปิ,
Sādhu no bhante bhagavā sucira-parinibbutopi,
Venerable sir, though the Blessed One long ago attained final nibbāna,
ปัจฉิมาชะนะตานุกัมปะมานะสา,
Pacchimā-janatānukampa-mānasā,
out of compassion in mind for later generations,
อิเม สักกาเร ทุคคะตะปัณณาการะภูเต ปะฏิคคัณหาตุ,
Ime sakkāre duggata-paṇṇākāra-bhūte paṭiggaṇhātu,
may he accept these offerings, poor gifts though they are,
อัมหากัง ทีฆะรัตตัง หิตายะ สุขายะ.
Amhākaṃ dīgharattaṃ hitāya sukhāya.
for our lasting welfare and happiness.