The opening of the first book of the Abhidhamma: the threefold division of states into wholesome, unwholesome and indeterminate.
- When chanted
- Chanted at a funeral, in the Suat Jaeng service, where the Vinaya, the Suttas and the seven books of the Abhidhamma are each represented in turn.
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 Abhidhamma is the third division of the canon, and where the Suttas teach in narrative and dialogue it restates the same material analytically, in lists. Its seven books are each represented here by their opening lines, and this is the first of them.
The extract is one sentence. The book prints a single full stop in the whole passage, at the very end, and this edition follows the page.
Meaning and purpose
It opens on the triad the entire book is built from: กุสะลา ธัมมา, wholesome states; อะกุสะลา ธัมมา, unwholesome; อัพ๎ยากะตา ธัมมา, indeterminate, which is neither. ธัมมา here does not mean the teaching. It means states — the constituents of experience, taken one at a time.
Then comes the method, and it is worth watching. The question is which states are wholesome, and the answer does not define anything. It describes an occasion: when a wholesome consciousness of the sense sphere has arisen, accompanied by gladness and associated with knowledge, having as its object a form or a sound or an odour or a taste or a tangible or a mental object — on that occasion there is contact, there is feeling. Only after all the conditions are laid out does it conclude: these are wholesome states.
None of this consoles, and that is close to the reason it is recited at a death. The Abhidhamma sets out what a person consists of, in categories that do not include the person. Chanting it over a body is a way of stating, in the tradition's most exact language, what has actually ended.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 39 →
กุสะลา ธัมมา,
kusalā dhammā,
Wholesome states,
อะกุสะลา ธัมมา,
akusalā dhammā,
unwholesome states,
อัพ๎ยากะตา ธัมมา,
abyākatā dhammā,
indeterminate states.
กะตะเม ธัมมา กุสะลา,
katame dhammā kusalā,
Which states are wholesome?
ยัส๎มิง สะมะเย กามาวะจะรัง กุสะลัง จิตตัง อุปปันนัง โหติ โสมะนัสสะสะหะคะตัง ญาณะสัมปะยุตตัง,
yasmiṃ samaye kāmāvacaraṃ kusalaṃ cittaṃ uppannaṃ hoti somanassasahagataṃ ñāṇasampayuttaṃ,
On an occasion when a wholesome state of consciousness of the sense sphere has arisen, accompanied by gladness and associated with knowledge,
รูปารัมมะณัง วา สัททารัมมะณัง วา คันธารัมมะณัง วา ระสารัมมะณัง วา โผฏฐัพพารัมมะณัง วา ธัมมารัมมะณัง วา ยัง ยัง วา ปะนารัพภะ ตัส๎มิง สะมะเย ผัสโส โหติ อะวิกเขโป โหติ เย วา ปะนะ ตัส๎มิง สะมะเย,
rūpārammaṇaṃ vā saddārammaṇaṃ vā gandhārammaṇaṃ vā rasārammaṇaṃ vā phoṭṭhabbārammaṇaṃ vā dhammārammaṇaṃ vā yaṃ yaṃ vā panārabbha tasmiṃ samaye phasso hoti avikkhepo hoti ye vā pana tasmiṃ samaye,
having as its object a form, or a sound, or an odour, or a taste, or a tangible, or a mental object, or whatever else it may be — on that occasion there is contact, there is undistractedness, and whatever else there is on that occasion,
อัญเญปิ อัตถิ ปะฏิจจะสะมุปปันนา, อะรูปิโน ธัมมา,
aññepi atthi paṭiccasamuppannā, arūpino dhammā,
other dependently arisen immaterial states —
อิเม ธัมมา กุสะลา.
ime dhammā kusalā.
these are wholesome states.
จบพระสังคะณี
jòp prá-sǎŋ-ká-nii
Here ends the Dhammasaṅgaṇī.