The preliminary homage for the evening service, in the translated printing, said three times.
- When chanted
- Chanted three times at the opening of the evening service; 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.
The fourth printing of this single line in the book. It is set out three times in full every time, rather than once with a note to repeat, because the page has to be usable in a dim hall without turning back.
Meaning and purpose
The line contains no request, no doctrine and no promise: homage, and then the Blessed One under three epithets — the fortunate one, the worthy one, the one perfectly enlightened by himself.
The grammar keeps its distance. ตัสสะ means that one; the Buddha is spoken about, not spoken to. Nothing supposes a presence in the room or expects an answer, which is why the same words serve at a funeral, before a lesson and at the start of an ordinary evening.
Its work is to mark a threshold. Said three times, it separates ordinary speech from chanting, so that whatever follows begins already inside the act rather than drifting into it.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 225 →
หันทะ มะยัง พุทธัสสะ ภะคะวะโต ปุพพะภาคะนะมะการัง กะโรมะ เส.
Handa mayaṃ buddhassa bhagavato pubbabhāganamakāraṃ karoma se.
Now let us make the preliminary homage to the Buddha, the Blessed One.
นะโม ตัสสะ ภะคะวะโต,
Namo tassa bhagavato,
ขอนอบน้อมแด่พระผู้มีพระภาคเจ้า พระองค์นั้น,
Homage to the Blessed One,
อะระหะโต,
Arahato,
ซึ่งเป็นผู้ไกลจากกิเลส,
the worthy one,
สัมมาสัมพุทธัสสะ.
Sammāsambuddhassa.
ตรัสรู้ชอบได้โดยพระองค์เอง.
perfectly enlightened by himself.
(๓ ครั้ง)
(three times)