บทสวดมนต์ สรภัญญะ
A chant to the Triple Gem in the Sarapannya Style - The “Buddha Prayer Song”
Foreword
Every day at Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Thailand this song is chanted in three sections to give praise to the virtues of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, respectively. It is sung in the
Sarapannya style
[1]. The title of this chant is abbreviated as:
บทสวดมนต์ สรภัญญะ and referred to as the “Buddha Prayer Song”. The chant is broadcast through DMC, the Dhamma Media Channel, as a panoramic video together with phonetic subtitles. It is widely available, for example through YouTube:
Quite a few people have asked about a translation of the chant into English, but so far none appears to have been made available online. So we present here one attempt at a translation, seeking mainly just to gain a sense of the meaning, without undertaking the still greater challenge of rendering it as poetry. The translation was carried out by Paul Trafford assisted by Wilaiporn Sucharittammakul and Mananya Pattamasoontorn, who provided much of the background information. This is not an official translation and none of us are professional translators, so we apologise in advance for any errors and welcome suggestions for improvement.
About the Song and the Translation
The song is an example of prosody, a stylised rhythmic song
[2] whose form was popularised during the reign of King Rama IV
[3]. This particular
Sarapannya was composed by Phraya Sri Soontorn Voharn (Noi Ajariyangkol)
[4] , who was assigned by King Rama V to provide instruction to the Crown Prince
[5], the future King Rama VI
. His influence is particularly significant as the succeeding king’s own distinguished literary contributions earned him the title, Phra Maha Theraraj, indicating that he was a king of writing.
The poetic verse form presents particular challenges for the translator: some of the vocabulary is distinct from prose and/or the meanings of words in this context may sometimes be unique to this form. Also in order to satisfy certain metrical constraints, words are occasionally abbreviated or hyphenated. In terms of language, especially because of the royal connections, quite a lot of the vocabulary derives from Pali and in some cases Thai alternatives are direct replacements for the Pali.
The structure of the chant is regular, being presented in three parts:
- บทสวดสรรเสริญพระพุทธคุณทำนองสรภัญญะ
A chant to give praise to the virtues of the Buddha, sung in the Sarapannya Style
- บทสวดสรรเสริญพระธรรมคุณทำนองสรภัญญะ
A chant to give praise to the virtues of the Dhamma, sung in the Sarapannya Style
- บทสวดสรรเสริญพระสังฆคุณทำนองสรภัญญะ
A chant to give praise to the virtues of the Sangha, sung in the Sarapannya Style
The composition of the poetry in each of its sections is exceedingly refined. For example, the section on the Buddha is oriented around three 3 qualities:
พระบริสุทธิคุณ (purity),
พระมหากรุณาธิคุณ (compassion) and
พระปัญญาธิคุณ (wisdom). To do justice to the beauty of the poetry would need any translation to be similarly artfully composed.
The following tools and services were used to assist in the translation:
Just one further note about the Thai: there are in fact slight variations in spelling found in modern publications of the song. Ideally we should locate the original. Here we have drawn on the Thai provided both at the YouTube site and also a Dhamma forum
[7]; where discrepancies have arisen a version has been chosen after considering the context and in consultation with a Thai dictionary as provided by LongDo.
We now present the verse line by line with the Thai followed by its Roman phonetics and underneath the translation into English.
(1. Buddha: บทสวดสรรเสริญพระพุทธคุณทำนองสรภัญญะ )
องค์ใดพระสัมพุทธ
Ong dai Phra Sambuddh
To The Fully Enlightened Buddhas[8]
องค์ใดพระสัมพุทธ สุวิสุทธสันดาน
Ong dai Phra Sambuddh Suvisudha sandarn
To the fully Enlightened Buddhas who are surpassingly pure in nature,
ตัดมูลเกลศ[9]มาร บ[10] มิหม่นมิหมองมัว
Tat moon galet samarn bor mi mon mi mong mua
Who have cut the roots of defilements and are not sorrowful, not dark and gloomy.
หนึ่งในพระทัยท่าน ก็เบิกบานคือดอกบัว
Neung nai phra tai tan ko berk baan keu dok bua
In their hearts alone do they find joy, like lotuses
ราคี บ พันพัว สุวคนธกำจร
Ragee bor pan pua suvan kon ta kamjorn
with which flaws can't get engaged, dispersing blossom.[11]
องค์ใดประกอบด้วย พระกรุณาดังสาคร
Ong dai prakorb duay phra karuna dang sakorn
All these beings who embody compassion as great as the ocean
โปรดหมู่ประชากร มละโอฆกันดาร
Broat moo prachakorn Ma la oaka gandarn
Who beseech that the world’s[12] population abandons the round of rebirth.
ชี้ทางบรรเทาทุกข์ และชี้สุขเกษมสานต์[13]
Chee tang bantao dukkh lae chee suk kasem sarn
Who show the way to the release from dukkha, and [show] how to be happy and peaceful.
ชี้ทางพระนฤพาน อันพ้นโศกวิโยคภัย
Chee tang phra naruparn an pon soak viyok pai
Who show the way to nibbāna[14] that passes beyond sadness, estrangement and danger.
พร้อมเบญจพิธจัก- ษุจรัสวิมลใส
Prom benjapita jak-su jarat vimon sai
Complete with the five eyes[15] brilliant, pure and clear,
เห็นเหตุที่ใกล้ไกล ก็เจนจบประจักษ์จริง
Hen hate tee klay klai ko jane jop prajak jing
They see the root factors whether near or far – they see them all as they really are.
กำจัดน้ำใจหยาบ สันดานบาปทั้งชายหญิง
Kamjat nam jai yarp sandarn barp tang chai ying
They have eradicated the coarseness of the heart, every sinful nature of men and women.
สัตว์โลกได้พึ่งพิง มละบาปบำเพ็ญบุญ
Sat loak dai peung ping mala barp bampen boon
On whom all living creatures must rely and live abandoning sin and making merit.
ข้าขอประณตน้อม ศิระเกล้าบังคมคุณ
Ka kor pranot norm sira klao[16] bangkom Kuhn
I humbly request that I may bow to pay respects forever, paying homage with the top of my head to Thee –
สัมพุทธการุญ- ญภาพนั้นนิรันดร
Sambuddh karun- ya parp nan nirandorn
O Fully-Enlightened Buddhas of compassion.
(2. Dhamma: บทสวดสรรเสริญพระธรรมคุณทำนองสรภัญญะ)
(นำ) ธรรมะคือคุณากร (รับพร้อมกัน) ส่วนชอบ[17]สาทร[18]
Dhamma keu kunakorn[19] suan chorp satorn
Dhamma is the heart of goodness, that which most upholds the Buddha’s teaching
ดุจดวงประทีปชัชวาล
Dut ja duang prateep chachawarn
Just like the brilliant lamp
แห่งองค์พระศาสดาจารย์ ส่องสัตว์สันดาน
Haeng ong pra sas-sa-da-jan song sat sandarn
of the Buddha, the noble teacher, illuminates the nature of creatures,
สว่างกระจ่างใจมล
Sawang krajang jai mon
bright and clearing the mind of impurities,
ธรรมใดนับโดยมรรคผล เป็นแปดพึงยล
Dhamm dai nap doi mag phol ben baet peung yon
the Dhamma should be regarded as [amounting to] the means of the eightfold path and fruit,
และเก้านับทั้งนฤพาน
Lae kao kap tang naruparn
and of the ninth across all nibbāna,
สมญาโลกอุดรพิสดาร อันลึกโอฬาร
Som ya loak udorn pisadarn an leuk oh-larn
[the Dhamma] which knows most accurately the supramundane world – comprehensive, profound, and vast –
พิสุทธิ์พิเศษสุกใส
Pisuth piset suk sai
is pure, extraordinary, and radiant.
อีกธรรมต้นทางครรไล[20] นามขนานขานไข
Eek dhamm ton tang kan lai nam kanarn kan kai
This same Dhamma is the start of the way to shedding the old,
which has the twin title of revealing
[21]
ปฏิบัติปริยัติเป็นสอง
Patipat pariyat ben song
the twofold practice and doctrine,
คือทางดำเนินดุจครอง ให้ล่วงลุปอง
Keu tang damnern dut ja krong hai luang lu bong
and this twofold way is the path of Enlightenment
[22] Yang loak udorn doi drong
leading right through to the supramundane world.
Ka kor oan orn uttamong[26] nop dhamm jamnong
I humbly give my assent and wish to pay respects to the Dhamma
with top of my head
[27]
ด้วยจิตและกายวาจาฯ (กราบ)
Doi jit lae kai vaja
and also in my mind, body and speech.
(3. Sangha บทสวดสรรเสริญพระสังฆคุณทำนองสรภัญญะ)
สงฆ์ใดสาวกศาสดา รับปฏิบัติมา
Song dai savok sasada rap patipat ma
To any Sangha disciples who have accepted and undertaken practice
แต่องค์สมเด็จภควันต์
Tae ong[28] somdej bhagavan
solely with the Lord Buddha as Teacher
เห็นแจ้ง จตุสัจ[29]เสร็จบรร[30]- ลุทางที่อัน
Hen jaeng jatusat set ban-lu tang tee an
who are fully Enlightened in the Four Noble Truths, having attained the path in each stage -
ระงับและดับทุกข์ภัย
Rangap lae dap dukkh pai
the path that restrains and extinguishes whatever risks suffering.
โดยเสด็จพระผู้ตรัสไตร ปัญญาผ่องใส
Doy sadet phra poo trat trai panya pong sai
Who nobly follow the threefold illuminating wisdom of the Buddha.[31]
สะอาดและปราศมัวหมอง
Sa-art lae prart mua mong
Who are clean and absorbed in getting rid of sadness.
เหินห่างทางข้าศึกปอง บ มิลำพอง
Hern hang tang ka seuk bong bor mi lam pong
Who seek to go far away from the path of the enemy; they conduct themselves without false pride[32]
ด้วยกายและวาจาใจ
Duay kai lae vaja jai
in body, speech and mind.
เป็นเนื้อนาบุญอันไพ- ศาลแด่โลกัย
Ben nuea nah boon an pai-sarn dae lokai
Who are at the heart of a vast field of merit for the world.
และเกิดพิบูลย์[33]พูนผล
Lae kert piboom poon pon
And that abundant merit grows and heaps up good fruit.
สมญาเอารส[34]ทศพล มีคุณอนนต์
Som ya ow rot tossapon mee khun anon
They are the ones designated as children of the Buddha – they are anointed with virtue,
อเนกจะนับเหลือตรา
Anek ja nap leua tra
so many, they cannot be counted.
ข้าขอนบหมู่พระศรา- พกทรงคุณา-
Ka kor nop moo phra sara-pok song kuna-
I humbly bow and pay respects to the Sangha
นุคุณ[35]ประดุจ[36]รำพัน[37]
nukhun pradut ja lam pan
whose every virtue is greater than words can say.
ด้วยเดชบุญข้าอภิวันท์ พระไตรรัตน์อัน
Duay det boon ka abhivan Phra trai rat an
May the power of merits of the Triple Gem that are
อุดมดิเรกนิรัติศัย
Udom direk nirat tisai
abundant and prospering, full of excellence and most splendid,
จงช่วยขจัดโพยภัย อันตรายใดใด
Jong chuay grajat poay pai antarai dai dai
help me to get rid of the array of dangers, each and every one of them –
จงดับและกลับเสื่อมสูญ (กราบ)
Jong dap lae glap seum soon
may they be erased and disappear[38].
.......................................................
[1] Sarapannya is a phonetic transcription of
สรภัญญะ , which is from 2 words:
สร (
sara), which can be read as
สะระ or
สอระ , means ‘sound’; and
ภัญญะ (
pannya) is from
ภณ ธาตุ which means broadly the same as
พูด (speak, talk), but in this context more specifically
สวด (pray). Hence the term “prayer song.”
[
ภัญญะ is not to be confused with
ปัญญา, which means ‘wisdom’.]
[4] A monument to Phraya Sri Soonthorn Voharn stands in Chachoengsao, an Eastern province in Thailand.
[5] Formal title:
สมเด็จพระบรมโอรสาธิราช เจ้าฟ้ามหาวชิราวุธ สยามมกุฎราชกุมาร [8] Ong dai literally means “any body”, so here we are paying respects to The Buddha who ...... it is to that Buddha that we pay respects. Stylistically each line is adding a qualification: [That Buddha] who … who …] and we don’t therefore include a comma before who. For a more natural-sounding rendering in English we can simplify and then compile each line more as a list of attributes without repeating “who”, but it loses something as the original formula is a specification of qualities that we look for rather than a description of a Buddha [who happens to have these qualities].
We may refer to Buddha (singular) or Buddhas (plural). Either will make sense.
[9] This spelling (
เกลศ) follows that given in the Thai dictionary of the Royal Thai Institute, 2542. It is the Thai transcription of the Pali
kilesa. [source: royin.go.th]
[10] This is short for
บมิ a poetic form meaning “not”.
[11] In the Middle Way meditation inner bodies bloom from within, as described by Kapilavaddho Bhikkhu in Life as a Siamese Monk, “
Again my mind turned to the pinpoint of light and from it bloomed forth like a flower a figure of the Buddha.”
[12] Literally group or band
[13] เกษมสานต์ also means cheerful; given the context we choose ‘peaceful’ (as a sense of deep happiness).
[14] Note how the Thais give this the Phra prefix; this is a Thai variant on Phra nibbarn, which corresponds more directly to the Pali form, nibbāna.
[15] The Five Eyes of the Blessed One: physical eye (
mamsacakkhu), angelic eye (
dibbacakkhu], the eye of wisdom (
paññācakkhu], the Buddha-eye (
buddhacakkhu] and, the eye of omniscience (
samantacakkhu)
[16] เกล้า can mean head or hair tied up in a bun [17] Here
ชอบ is used as a static verb adjective to describe the following words (
สาธร) and has the meaning of the Pali word
samma, which means ‘highest’ or ‘most’.
[18] In general,
ธร means
ทรง ตั้ง รับ วาง and hence
สาทร means to take care of. Normally in this context
ธร mean
ธรเต สตฺถุ สาสนํ ทรงไว้ซึ่งคำสอนของพระศาสดา Dhamma is the part that ensures the Buddha’s teaching is rightly kept.
[20] Dict.Longdo.com gives “
ครรไล [คัน-] ก. ไคล,
ไป. (แผลงมาจาก ไคล).”
[21] i.e. in shedding the old, the new is revealed (or more literally turned over, like a leaf).
[22] More literally, it has the property of enabling one to go beyond.
[23] โลกอุดร = lokuttara, i.e. the supramundane, the world beyond, the transcendent
[24] This word
ข้า has also the meaning of servant or slave, which is indicative of our status in Samsara.
[26] From the Pali uttamaṅga = the most important part, i.e. = head
[27] Lit. the most important part
[28] means literally “the body of”, but it’s not needed in translation.
[29] This appears to be an abbreviated form of
จตุสัจจัง of four truths
[30] Here the word
บรรลุ is split by a hyphen, a technique used elsewhere in this song to retain the metrical form.
[31] พระผู้ตรัสไตร means the Buddha who has expounded the Triple Gem.
[32] The Thai literally says not wildly or not impetuously.
[33] พิบูลย์ is an alternative spelling of
ไพบูลย์, where
ไอ is changed to
อิ, hence
ไพ = พิ [35] คุณานุคุณ is a
คำสมาส, i.e. a
compound word (
คุณ +
อนุคุณ), where
คุณ here means virtue, benefit, goodness; and
อนุ means a little, so the sense is great and small, or every little bit.
[36] ประดุ is another poetic form – a comparative
as,
like [37] รำพัน = a lot more than one can say
[38] A more literal translation would be to “switch off”
