A long passage stating what the Buddha taught about suffering and impermanence, and why those reciting it have taken up the training.
- When chanted
- Chanted in the morning service directly after the verses of salutation, with which it shares a single invitation.
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
สังเวคะ, saṃvega, has no comfortable English equivalent. It names the jolt of recognising that the situation is serious and that time is limited — not despair, which stops a person, but the thing that starts one. The title says the passage exists to bring that about, which is unusual: most chants say what they are about rather than what they are for.
The passage shares its invitation with the verses before it — one line on page 3 covers both — so the two are chanted as a single unbroken stretch, and this chant's own invitation is left empty in the file rather than duplicated.
Much of the wording is canonical and will be recognised: the statement of the first noble truth, the list of the five aggregates, and the formulas of impermanence and not-self. What the liturgy has done is set them in the first person plural and close them with a statement of the reciters' own position.
Meaning and purpose
The passage moves in three stages. First it establishes the situation: a Tathāgata has arisen and a Dhamma has been taught that leads out. Then it states what has been learned from it — birth, ageing and death are ทุกขา, suffering, and so is being joined to what is disliked, parted from what is liked, and not getting what one wants; in short, the five aggregates of clinging are suffering. The five are then named one by one, unhurried.
The second stage repeats those same five twice more, first as อะนิจจัง, impermanent, then as อะนัตตา, not-self — not one's own, not a self, not something a person finally is. The repetition is deliberate and slow. The passage is not arguing the point; it goes through the list item by item, in a way that gives the recognition time to land.
The third stage brings it home to the people chanting. เต มะยัง — all of us — are beset by birth, ageing and death and overcome by suffering; and then comes the line that turns the whole passage: perhaps an end to this whole mass of suffering might be found. Everything after it is consequence. It is because that possibility exists that the reciters have gone forth, live the holy life and have taken up the training, and the closing line asks that the life so taken up should lead where it was undertaken to lead.
It is chanted daily rather than studied because its work is not to establish anything new. It is a statement of position, made aloud every morning, that keeps the reason for the day's practice from quietly going missing.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 4 and page 5 →
อิธะ ตะถาคะโต โลเก อุปปันโน อะระหัง สัมมาสัมพุทโธ,
Idha tathāgato loke uppanno arahaṃ sammāsambuddho,
Here a Tathāgata has arisen in the world, worthy and perfectly enlightened by himself,
ธัมโม จะ เทสิโต นิยยานิโก อุปะสะมิโก ปะรินิพพานิโก สัมโพธะคามี สุคะตัปปะเวทิโต,
Dhammo ca desito niyyāniko upasamiko parinibbāniko sambodhagāmī sugatappavedito,
and a Dhamma has been taught that leads out, brings peace, leads to final Nibbāna and to awakening, made known by the Well-Gone One.
มะยันตัง ธัมมัง สุต๎วา เอวัง ชานามะ,
Mayantaṃ dhammaṃ sutvā evaṃ jānāma,
Having heard that Dhamma, we know this:
ชาติปิ ทุกขา ชะราปิ ทุกขา มะระณัมปิ ทุกขัง,
Jātipi dukkhā jarāpi dukkhā maraṇampi dukkhaṃ,
birth is suffering, ageing is suffering, death is suffering,
โสกะปะริเทวะทุกขะโทมะนัสสุปายาสาปิ ทุกขา,
Soka-parideva-dukkha-domanassupāyāsāpi dukkhā,
sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering,
อัปปิเยหิ สัมปะโยโค ทุกโข ปิเยหิ วิปปะโยโค ทุกโข ยัมปิจฉัง นะ ละภะติ ตัมปิ ทุกขัง,
Appiyehi sampayogo dukkho piyehi vippayogo dukkho yampicchaṃ na labhati tampi dukkhaṃ,
union with what is disliked is suffering, separation from what is liked is suffering, not getting what one wants is suffering,
สังขิตเตนะ ปัญจุปาทานักขันธา ทุกขา,
Saṅkhittena pañcupādānakkhandhā dukkhā,
in short, the five aggregates of clinging are suffering,
เสยยะถีทัง,
Seyyathīdaṃ,
namely:
รูปูปาทานักขันโธ,
Rūpūpādānakkhandho,
the form aggregate of clinging,
เวทะนูปาทานักขันโธ,
Vedanūpādānakkhandho,
the feeling aggregate of clinging,
สัญญูปาทานักขันโธ,
Saññūpādānakkhandho,
the perception aggregate of clinging,
สังขารูปาทานักขันโธ,
Saṅkhārūpādānakkhandho,
the formations aggregate of clinging,
วิญญาณูปาทานักขันโธ,
Viññāṇūpādānakkhandho,
the consciousness aggregate of clinging.
เยสัง ปะริญญายะ,
Yesaṃ pariññāya,
For the full understanding of these,
ธะระมาโน โส ภะคะวา,
Dharamāno so bhagavā,
the Blessed One, while still living,
เอวัง พะหุลัง สาวะเก วิเนติ,
Evaṃ bahulaṃ sāvake vineti,
often instructed his disciples in this way,
เอวัง ภาคา จะ ปะนัสสะ ภะคะวะโต สาวะเกสุ อะนุสาสะนี, พะหุลา ปะวัตตะติ,
Evaṃ bhāgā ca panassa bhagavato sāvakesu anusāsanī, bahulā pavattati,
and this was the greater part of his teaching among his disciples:
รูปัง อะนิจจัง,
Rūpaṃ aniccaṃ,
form is impermanent,
เวทะนา อะนิจจา,
Vedanā aniccā,
feeling is impermanent,
สัญญา อะนิจจา,
Saññā aniccā,
perception is impermanent,
สังขารา อะนิจจา,
Saṅkhārā aniccā,
formations are impermanent,
วิญญาณัง อะนิจจัง,
Viññāṇaṃ aniccaṃ,
consciousness is impermanent;
รูปัง อะนัตตา,
Rūpaṃ anattā,
form is not-self,
เวทะนา อะนัตตา,
Vedanā anattā,
feeling is not-self,
สัญญา อะนัตตา,
Saññā anattā,
perception is not-self,
สังขารา อะนัตตา,
Saṅkhārā anattā,
formations are not-self,
วิญญาณัง อะนัตตา,
Viññāṇaṃ anattā,
consciousness is not-self;
สัพเพ สังขารา อะนิจจา,
Sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā,
all formations are impermanent,
สัพเพ ธัมมา อะนัตตาติ,
Sabbe dhammā anattāti,
all things are not-self.
เต มะยัง,
Te mayaṃ,
All of us,
โอติณณาม๎หะ ชาติยา ชะรามะระเณนะ,
Otiṇṇāmha jātiyā jarāmaraṇena,
are beset by birth, by ageing and death,
โสเกหิ ปะริเทเวหิ ทุกเขหิ โทมะนัสเสหิ อุปายาเสหิ,
Sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domanassehi upāyāsehi,
by sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair,
ทุกโขติณณา ทุกขะปะเรตา,
Dukkhotiṇṇā dukkhaparetā,
beset by suffering, overcome by suffering.
อัปเปวะ นามิมัสสะ เกวะลัสสะ ทุกขักขันธัสสะ อันตะกิริยา ปัญญาเยถาติ,
Appeva nāmimassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa antakiriyā paññāyethāti,
Perhaps an end to this whole mass of suffering might be found.
จิระปะรินิพพุตัมปิ ตัง ภะคะวันตัง อุททิสสะ อะระหันตัง สัมมาสัมพุทธัง,
Cira-parinibbutampi taṃ bhagavantaṃ uddissa arahantaṃ sammāsambuddhaṃ,
Dedicated to that Blessed One, worthy and perfectly enlightened, though long since attained to final Nibbāna,
สัทธา อะคารัส๎มา อะนะคาริยัง ปัพพะชิตา,
Saddhā agārasmā anagāriyaṃ pabbajitā,
we have gone forth in faith from home into homelessness,
ตัส๎มิง ภะคะวะติ พ๎รัห๎มะจะริยัง จะรามะ,
Tasmiṃ bhagavati brahmacariyaṃ carāma,
and live the holy life under that Blessed One,
ภิกขูนัง สิกขาสาชีวะสะมาปันนา,
Bhikkhūnaṃ sikkhāsājīva-samāpannā,
having taken up the training and livelihood of the bhikkhus.
ตัง โน พ๎รัห๎มะจะริยัง,
Taṃ no brahmacariyaṃ,
May this holy life of ours
อิมัสสะ เกวะลัสสะ ทุกขักขันธัสสะ อันตะกิริยายะ สังวัตตะตูติ.
Imassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa antakiriyāya saṃvattatūti.
lead to the ending of this whole mass of suffering.