Four grounds of kindness — giving, kindly speech, helpful conduct and treating others as equals — called the linchpin that holds the world together.
- When chanted
- Chanted in thanksgiving at occasions of communal giving; the book prints a Thai line beneath the title naming when it is 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
สังคะหะวัตถุ are the grounds of kindness, or the bases of drawing people together. There are four of them, and they are among the most quoted lists in Thai Buddhism for lay life — the part of the teaching that is about living with others rather than about the mind.
Beneath the title the book prints a Thai line naming the occasion the verses belong to, which is recorded in the file with the chant.
Meaning and purpose
The four are named at once and without elaboration. ทานัญจะ, giving. เปยยะวัชญัจะ, kindly speech. อัตถะจะริยา, conduct that is for the good of others. And สะมานัตตะตา, treating all alike, each as is fitting — the least obvious of the four and the one that does the most work, since it means making no exception of oneself.
The image given for them is mechanical and exact: they are the grounds of kindness in the world as the linchpin is to a moving chariot. A linchpin is small and unremarkable, and without it the wheel comes off while the chariot is still going.
Then an argument that is startling for a devotional text. Were these four not to be, no mother would gain honour for her child's sake, nor a father for his. Even the bond usually treated as the most natural in the world is said to rest on them. Kindness is made structural rather than sentimental — not a decoration on human life but the thing without which none of it holds — and that is why the wise, considering them well, attain greatness.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 48 →
ทานัญจะ เปยยะวัชชัญจะ อัตถะจะริยา จะ ยา อิธะ
dānañca peyyavajjañca atthacariyā ca yā idha
Giving, and kindly speech, and whatever conduct is for others' good,
สะมานัตตะตา จะ ธัมเมสุ ตัตถะ ตัตถะ ยะถาระหัง.
samānattatā ca dhammesu tattha tattha yathārahaṃ.
and treating all alike in these things, each as is fitting.
เอเต โข สังคะหา โลเก ระถัสสาณีวะ ยายะโต
ete kho saṅgahā loke rathassāṇīva yāyato
These are the grounds of kindness in the world, like the linchpin of a moving chariot.
เอเต จะ สังคะหา นาสสุ นะ มาตา ปุตตะการะณา
ete ca saṅgahā nāssu na mātā puttakāraṇā
And were these grounds of kindness not to be, no mother, for her child's sake,
ละเภถะ มานัง ปูชัง วา ปิตา วา ปุตตะการะณา
labhetha mānaṃ pūjaṃ vā pitā vā puttakāraṇā
would gain honour or respect, nor a father for his child's sake.
ยัส๎มา จะ สังคะหา เอเต สะมะเวกขันติ ปัณฑิตา
yasmā ca saṅgahā ete samavekkhanti paṇḍitā
Because the wise consider these grounds of kindness well,
ตัส๎มา มะหัตตัง ปัปโปนติ ปาสังสา จะ ภะวันติ เตติ.
tasmā mahattaṃ papponti pāsaṃsā ca bhavanti teti.
therefore they attain greatness and become worthy of praise.
สังคะหะวัตถุคาถา นิฏฐิตา
saṅgahavatthugāthā niṭṭhitā
Here end the Verses on the grounds of kindness.