A Chanting Guide

Now let us chant the preliminary passage in homage to the Awakened One, the Blessed One:

Homage to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Rightly Self-awakened One.

The Blessed One to whom we have gone for refuge, who is our Teacher, & in whose Dhamma we delight:

was born in the Middle Country, the Ariyaka race, the noble warrior class, & the Gotama lineage.

A member of the Sakyan clan, he left his Sakyan family, went forth into the homeless life, & attained Right Self-Awakening unsurpassed in the cosmos with its Devas, Maras, & Brahmas, its generations with their contemplatives & priests, their rulers & common people.

There is no doubt that the Blessed One is worthy and rightly self-awakened, consummate in knowledge & conduct, one who has gone the good way, a knower of the cosmos, unexcelled as a trainer for those who can be taught, the teacher for human & divine beings; awakened & blessed.

And that the Dhamma is well-taught by the Blessed One, to be seen here & now, timeless, inviting all to come & see, pertinent, to be realized by the wise for themselves.

And that the Community of the Blessed One's disciples — the four pairs, the eight types of Noble Ones — have practiced well, have practiced straightforwardly, have practiced methodically, have practiced masterfully.

This image dedicated to the Blessed One has been fashioned & placed here so that, in seeing it, we will remember him and gain a sense of inspiration & chastened dispassion.

This stupa dedicated to the Blessed One has been fashioned & placed here so that, in seeing it, we will remember him and gain a sense of inspiration & chastened dispassion.]

Now, on this full moon day of Visakha — recognized as the date of the Blessed One's birth, Awakening, & total Liberation — we have gathered together in this place.

We take these offerings — candles, incense, & so forth — and make our bodies a vessel for them.

Reflecting on the Blessed One's virtues as they actually are, we will circumambulate this image-shelter [stupa] three times, paying homage to him with the offerings we hold.

Although the Blessed One long ago attained total Liberation, he is still discernible through our remembrance of his perceivable virtues.

May he accept the offerings we hold, for the sake of our long-term welfare & happiness.

Now let us chant the preliminary passage in homage to the Awakened One, the Blessed One:

Homage to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Rightly Self-awakened One.

The Blessed One to whom we have gone for refuge, who is our Teacher, & in whose Dhamma we delight:

was born in the Middle Country, the Ariyaka race, the noble warrior class & the Gotama lineage.

A member of the Sakyan clan, he left his Sakyan family, went forth into the homeless life & attained Right Self-Awakening unsurpassed in the cosmos with its Devas, Maras & Brahmas, its generations with their contemplatives & priests, their rulers & common people.

There is no doubt that the Blessed One is worthy and Rightly Self-Awakened, consummate in knowledge & conduct, one who has gone the good way, a knower of the cosmos, unexcelled as a trainer for those who can be taught, the teacher for human & divine beings; awakened & blessed.

And that the Dhamma is well-taught by the Blessed One, to be seen here & now, timeless, inviting all to come & see, pertinent, to be realized by the wise for themselves.

And that the Community of the Blessed One's disciples — the four pairs, the eight types of Noble Ones — have practiced well, have practiced straightforwardly, have practiced methodically, have practiced masterfully.

This image dedicated to the Blessed One has been fashioned & placed here so that, in seeing it, we will remember him and gain a sense of inspiration & chastened dispassion.

This stupa dedicated to the Blessed One has been fashioned & placed here so that, in seeing it, we will remember him and gain a sense of inspiration & chastened dispassion.]

Now, on this eighth day after the full moon day of Visakha — recognized as the date of the Blessed One's cremation — we have gathered together in this place.

We take these offerings — candles, incense, & so forth — and make our bodies a vessel for them.

Reflecting on the Blessed One's virtues as they actually are, we will circumambulate this image-shelter [stupa] three times, paying homage to him with the offerings we hold.

Although the Blessed One long ago attained total Liberation, he is still discernible through our remembrance of his perceivable virtues.

May he accept the offerings we hold, for the sake of our long-term welfare & happiness.

Now let us chant the preliminary passage in homage to the Awakened One, the Blessed One:

Homage to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Rightly Self-awakened One.

The Blessed One to whom we have gone for refuge, who is our Teacher, & in whose Dhamma we delight:

is a Worthy One, Rightly Self-awakened. Through his compassion & sympathy for living beings, compassionately desiring their welfare, he first set the unexcelled Wheel of Dhamma in motion on the full moon night of the month of Asalha, in the Deer Refuge at the Meeting Place of the Seers near Varanasi, and proclaimed the Four Noble Truths to the Group of Five Monks.

At that time, the leader of the Group of Five Monks — Venerable Añña-Kondañña — having listened to the Blessed One's teaching, gained the vision of Dhamma that, "Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation."

Having asked for ordination, he gained the Come-Bhikkhu ordination in the Blessed One's very presence, and so became the world's first noble disciple in the Blessed One's doctrine & discipline.

And at that time the Gem of the Sangha first appeared in the world, making the Triple Gem — the Gem of the Buddha, the Gem of the Dhamma, & the Gem of the Sangha — complete.

Now, on this full moon day of Asalha — recognized as the date of the Blessed One's setting the Wheel of Dhamma in motion, the date of the arising of the Community of the Noble Disciples, and of the completion of the Triple Gem — we have gathered together in this place.

We take these offerings — candles, incense, & so forth — and make our bodies a vessel for them.

Reflecting on the Blessed One's virtues as they actually are, we will circumambulate this image shelter [stupa] three times, paying homage to him with the offerings we hold.

Although the Blessed One long ago attained total Liberation, he is still discernible through our remembrance of his perceivable virtues.

May he accept the offerings we hold, for the sake of our long-term welfare & happiness.

Now let us chant the preliminary passage in homage to the Awakened One, the Blessed One:

Homage to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Rightly Self-awakened One.

Today is the full moon day in the month of Magha, the date on which the Tathagata — the Worthy One, Rightly Self- awakened — held the four-factored meeting of his disciples and gave the Patimokkha Exhortation.

At that time, 1,250 monks — all entirely free of defilements, all recipients of the Come-Bhikkhu ordination, all unnotified of the meeting — came to the Blessed One's presence in the Squirrels' Feeding Ground in the Bamboo Forest on the afternoon of the full moon day in Magha.

In that meeting, the Blessed One led an utterly pure full moon observance and gave the Patimokkha Exhortation.

This was the only time our Blessed One held a four-factored meeting with his disciples, 1,250 monks, all entirely free of defilement.

Now, on this same date — the full moon day in Magha — remembering the Blessed One, even though he long ago gained Total Liberation, we have come to this memorial to him.

We take these offerings — candles, incense, & so forth — and make our bodies a vessel for them.

Reflecting on the Blessed One's virtues as they actually are, we will circumambulate this image shelter [stupa] three times, paying homage to him with the offerings we hold.

Although the Blessed One, together with that Community of his Noble Disciples, long ago attained total Liberation, they are remembered through their virtues.

May he accept the offerings we hold, for the sake of our long- term welfare & happiness.

We (I) ask your leave. We (I) ask you to forgive us (me) for whatever wrong we (I) have done with the three doors (of body, speech, & mind).

I revere every stupa established in every place, every Relic of the Buddha's body, every Great Bodhi tree, every Buddha image that is an object of veneration.

I revere the relics. I revere them everywhere. I always revere the Triple Gem.

Homage to the Buddha brings great glory. Homage to the Dhamma, great discernment. Homage to the Sa"ngha, great wealth.

I go to the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sa"ngha as my life & refuge until reaching Liberation.

I am morally pure. May the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sa"ngha recognize me as morally pure.

May all living beings always live happily, free from enmity.

May all share in the blessings springing from the good I have done.

Let us now repeat the footprint passage.

I revere the Buddha, who has crossed over becoming,
The banner of the threefold cosmos,
The sole protector of the three levels of becoming,
The foremost in the world
Who, having destroyed the entirety of defilement,
Has led countless people to Awakening.

I pay homage with my head to the footprints
That the Sage left in the sands by the Nammada River,
On Saccabandha Mountain, on Sumana's unshakeable summit,
& in Yonaka-pura.

I revere from afar the places of the five foremost footprints:
On Suvannamalika Mountain, on Gold Mount,
On Sumana's Peak, in Yonakapura,
& by the Nammada River.

In paying homage thus to the Triple Gem,
worthy of the highest homage,
A vast amount of merit is accumulated:
By its power, may danger be destroyed.

I address you, monks,
I inform you, monks:

Processes are subject to passing away.
Become consummate
Through heedfulness.