The eight precepts undertaken for a single night and day of the observance, with the closing line that binds them to that period.
- When chanted
- Undertaken on the observance day after the refuges, repeated line by line after the monk who administers them.
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
Lay people ordinarily keep five precepts. อุโบสถศีล is the eight kept on the observance day instead, and the difference is not simply three more rules. The third is changed rather than added to — abstaining from unchastity altogether, in place of the usual rule against misconduct — and the three that follow are new.
Every line has the same ending: เวระมะณี สิกขาปะทัง สะมาทิยามิ, I undertake the training rule to abstain from. A สิกขาปะทัง is a training rule, not a commandment, and สะมาทิยามิ means I take it up. Nobody imposes these; they are picked up by the person keeping them and put down again at the end of the day.
Meaning and purpose
The first five are the familiar ones: not taking life, not taking what is not given, not unchastity, not false speech, no intoxicants. The three that follow are of a different kind altogether — no eating at the wrong time, no dancing, singing, music, shows, garlands, scents or adornment, and no high or large bed. Nobody is harmed by a soft mattress, and that is precisely the point of including it.
These three are there to make the day feel unlike other days. Take away the afternoon meal, the entertainment and the comfortable bed, and what is left is a great deal of time and very little to fill it with, which is the condition the observance is arranged to produce. It is a narrowing for a purpose, not a verdict on ordinary comforts.
The ninth line is what keeps the whole thing honest. It names what is being undertaken — this Uposatha endowed with eight factors and appointed by the Buddha — and then bounds it: for this night and this day. The undertaking has its ending written into it, which is what makes it something a person with a household can actually promise.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 12 →
ปาณาติปาตา เวระมะณี สิกขาปะทัง สะมาทิยามิ.
pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life.
อะทินนาทานา เวระมะณี สิกขาปะทัง สะมาทิยามิ.
adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given.
อะพ๎รัห๎มะจะริยา เวระมะณี สิกขาปะทัง สะมาทิยามิ.
abrahmacariyā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
I undertake the training rule to abstain from unchastity.
มุสาวาทา เวระมะณี สิกขาปะทัง สะมาทิยามิ.
musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
I undertake the training rule to abstain from false speech.
สุราเมระยะมัชชะปะมาทัฏฐานา เวระมะณี สิกขาปะทัง สะมาทิยามิ.
surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
I undertake the training rule to abstain from distilled and fermented drink, which is the basis of heedlessness.
วิกาละโภชะนา เวระมะณี สิกขาปะทัง สะมาทิยามิ.
vikālabhojanā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
I undertake the training rule to abstain from eating at the wrong time.
นัจจะคีตะวาทิตะวิสูกะทัสสะนะมาลาคันธะวิเลปะนะธาระณะมัณฑะนะวิภูสะนัฏฐานา เวระมะณี สิกขาปะทัง สะมาทิยามิ.
naccagītavāditavisūkadassanamālāgandhavilepanadhāraṇamaṇḍanavibhūsanaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
I undertake the training rule to abstain from dancing, singing, music and unseemly shows, and from wearing garlands, scents and cosmetics, and from adornment and beautifying.
อุจจาสะยะนะมะหาสะยะนา เวระมะณี สิกขาปะทัง สะมาทิยามิ.
uccāsayanamahāsayanā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
I undertake the training rule to abstain from a high bed and a large bed.
อิมัง อัฏฐังคะสะมันนาคะตัง, พุทธะปัญญัตตัง อุโปสะถัง, อิมัญจะ รัตติง อิมัญจะ ทิวะสัง, สัมมะเทวะ อะภิรักขิตุง สะมาทิยามิ.
imaṃ aṭṭhaṅgasamannāgataṃ, buddhapaññattaṃ uposathaṃ, imañca rattiṃ imañca divasaṃ, sammadeva abhirakkhituṃ samādiyāmi.
I undertake to guard well, for this night and this day, this Uposatha endowed with eight factors and appointed by the Buddha.