Chanting › The seven books of the Abhidhamma — the funeral chant
The seven books of the Abhidhamma — the funeral chant
Suttas often chanted

The seven books of the Abhidhamma — the funeral chant

Sattappakaraṇābhidhamma

The opening passages of all seven books of the Abhidhamma, chanted by monks at Thai funerals and memorial services.

When it is chanted

Chanted at funerals, especially on the nights when merit is made for the deceased. In Thai custom four monks chant it as a set, one book at a time or all seven in sequence, and it is used again at anniversary services.

Family and guests are not expected to chant along. Sitting and listening quietly, then dedicating the merit afterwards, is the usual way to take part. There is nothing stopping a lay person from chanting it at home.

The text says nothing about the person who has died. It reviews body and mind as processes that arise and cease — which is exactly what a funeral makes hard to ignore.

Background

The Abhidhamma Piṭaka has seven books — Dhammasaṅgaṇī, Vibhaṅga, Dhātukathā, Puggalapaññatti, Kathāvatthu, Yamaka and Paṭṭhāna — filling volumes 34 to 45. This chant strings together the opening passage of each one. Thai people name it after its first two words: kusalā dhammā.

What is quoted is pure listing, not narrative or exhortation. The first book asks what counts as wholesome; the second breaks a person down into five aggregates; the last recites the twenty-four kinds of condition by which one thing depends on another. They all point the same way: look closely at what we call a person and you find processes leaning on each other, arising and ceasing.

The chanted version abridges in places, as tradition allows. In the first book it jumps from "there is contact" straight to "there is non-distraction", where the canon has a long list of mental factors in between. That is an old convention, not an error.

The reason this text is used at funerals is not that it works as a spell. It is the plainest statement in the canon of what body and mind actually are. Hearing it on the day of a loss brings the mind back to the same truth everyone in the room is already facing.

Pali

  1. Kusalā dhammā akusalā dhammā abyākatā dhammā States that are wholesome, states that are unwholesome, states that are neither.
  2. Katame dhammā kusalā Which states are wholesome?
  3. Yasmiṃ samaye kāmāvacaraṃ kusalaṃ cittaṃ uppannaṃ hoti On an occasion when a wholesome state of mind of the sense sphere has arisen,
  4. Somanassasahagataṃ ñāṇasampayuttaṃ accompanied by gladness and joined with knowledge,
  5. Rūpārammaṇaṃ vā saddārammaṇaṃ vā gandhārammaṇaṃ vā having a form as its object, or a sound, or a smell,
  6. Rasārammaṇaṃ vā phoṭṭhabbārammaṇaṃ vā dhammārammaṇaṃ vā or a taste, or a touch, or a mental object,
  7. Yaṃ yaṃ vā panārabbha tasmiṃ samaye phasso hoti avikkhepo hoti or whatever else it takes up — then there is contact, and so on down to non-distraction.
  8. Ime dhammā kusalā These are the wholesome states.
  9. Pañcakkhandhā rūpakkhandho vedanākkhandho The five aggregates are form, feeling,
  10. Saññākkhandho saṅkhārakkhandho viññāṇakkhandho perception, volitional formations and consciousness.
  11. Tattha katamo rūpakkhandho Among them, what is the aggregate of form?
  12. Yaṅkiñci rūpaṃ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṃ Any form at all, past, future or present,
  13. Ajjhattaṃ vā bahiddhā vā oḷārikaṃ vā sukhumaṃ vā internal or external, coarse or subtle,
  14. Hīnaṃ vā paṇītaṃ vā yaṃ dūre santike vā inferior or refined, far or near,
  15. Tadekajjhaṃ abhisaññūhitvā abhisaṅkhipitvā gathered together and summed up as one:
  16. Ayaṃ vuccati rūpakkhandho this is called the aggregate of form.
  17. Saṅgaho asaṅgaho Inclusion and non-inclusion;
  18. Saṅgahitena asaṅgahitaṃ asaṅgahitena saṅgahitaṃ what is not included by what is included, what is included by what is not included;
  19. Saṅgahitena saṅgahitaṃ asaṅgahitena asaṅgahitaṃ what is included by what is included, what is not included by what is not included;
  20. Sampayogo vippayogo association and dissociation;
  21. Sampayuttena vippayuttaṃ vippayuttena sampayuttaṃ what is dissociated from what is associated, what is associated with what is dissociated;
  22. Asaṅgahitaṃ and what is not included.
  23. Cha paññattiyo khandhapaññatti āyatanapaññatti Six kinds of designation: of aggregates, of sense bases,
  24. Dhātupaññatti saccapaññatti of elements, of truths,
  25. Indriyapaññatti puggalapaññatti of faculties, and of persons.
  26. Kittāvatā puggalānaṃ puggalapaññatti In how many ways are persons designated?
  27. Samayavimutto asamayavimutto One liberated at times, one liberated independently of time;
  28. Kuppadhammo akuppadhammo parihānadhammo aparihānadhammo one whose attainment can be shaken, one whose cannot, one liable to fall away, one not liable to;
  29. Cetanābhabbo anurakkhanābhabbo one capable through resolve, one capable through guarding;
  30. Puthujjano gotrabhū bhayūparato abhayūparato an ordinary person, one at the threshold of the noble path, one who refrains out of fear, one who refrains without fear;
  31. Bhabbāgamano abhabbāgamano niyato aniyato one who can still reach the path, one who cannot, one whose course is fixed, one whose course is not;
  32. Paṭipannako phaleṭṭhito arahā arahattāya paṭipanno one practising, one established in a fruit, an arahant, and one practising for arahantship.
  33. Puggalo upalabbhati sacchikaṭṭhaparamaṭṭhenāti Is a person to be found as a real and ultimate fact?
  34. Āmantā Yes.
  35. Yo sacchikaṭṭho paramaṭṭho Whatever is real and ultimate —
  36. Tato so puggalo upalabbhati sacchikaṭṭhaparamaṭṭhenāti is the person to be found in that same way?
  37. Na hevaṃ vattabbe That should not be said.
  38. Ājānāhi niggahaṃ Acknowledge your refutation.
  39. Hañci puggalo upalabbhati sacchikaṭṭhaparamaṭṭhena If a person is to be found as a real and ultimate fact,
  40. Tena vata re vattabbe then you must also say
  41. Yo sacchikaṭṭho paramaṭṭho that whatever is real and ultimate,
  42. Tato so puggalo upalabbhati sacchikaṭṭhaparamaṭṭhenāti micchā the person is found in that very way. So what you said is wrong.
  43. Ye keci kusalā dhammā sabbe te kusalamūlā Are all states that are wholesome roots of the wholesome?
  44. Ye vā pana kusalamūlā sabbe te dhammā kusalā Or are all states that are roots of the wholesome themselves wholesome?
  45. Ye keci kusalā dhammā sabbe te kusalamūlena ekamūlā Do all wholesome states share one root with the roots of the wholesome?
  46. Ye vā pana kusalamūlena ekamūlā sabbe te dhammā kusalā Or are all states sharing one root with the roots of the wholesome themselves wholesome?
  47. Hetupaccayo ārammaṇapaccayo adhipatipaccayo Root condition, object condition, predominance condition,
  48. Anantarapaccayo samanantarapaccayo sahajātapaccayo proximity condition, contiguity condition, conascence condition,
  49. Aññamaññapaccayo nissayapaccayo upanissayapaccayo mutuality condition, support condition, decisive support condition,
  50. Purejātapaccayo pacchājātapaccayo āsevanapaccayo prenascence condition, postnascence condition, repetition condition,
  51. Kammapaccayo vipākapaccayo āhārapaccayo kamma condition, result condition, nutriment condition,
  52. Indriyapaccayo jhānapaccayo maggapaccayo faculty condition, jhāna condition, path condition,
  53. Sampayuttapaccayo vippayuttapaccayo association condition, dissociation condition,
  54. Atthipaccayo natthipaccayo vigatapaccayo avigatapaccayo presence condition, absence condition, disappearance condition, non-disappearance condition.
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