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Requesting and undertaking the five precepts
Daily chants

Requesting and undertaking the five precepts

Pañcasīlasamādānaṃ

The request for the precepts from a monk, followed by the undertaking of the five training rules one by one — used at ceremonies and equally usable at home.

When it is chanted

At a merit-making ceremony one person leads the request and everyone repeats it. The monk then gives the refuges and leads the precepts one at a time.

At home, with no monk present, skip the request and simply chant the five undertakings after the refuges. This is the ordinary way people take the precepts on their own.

Some take them again every morning, on the understanding that a precept is an intention rather than a certificate: renew the intention and the day starts again at one.

Background

The five precepts are not rules imposed from outside. The Pali verb samādiyāmi means "I undertake" — I take this on myself. The full line reads: I undertake the training rule of refraining from this. The emphasis is on training, not on punishment.

The Pali of the training rules comes from the Khuddakapāṭha, volume 25, where they are recorded as the ten rules for novices. The third rule there is abrahmacariyā, refraining from sexual activity altogether, while the lay five precepts use kāmesu micchācārā, refraining from sexual misconduct — a phrase that appears throughout the suttas.

The request beginning mayaṃ bhante is a long-standing Thai ceremonial formula rather than a canonical text. It means: we ask for the five precepts together with the threefold refuge, to keep each one separately.

Pali

  1. Mayaṃ bhante visuṃ visuṃ rakkhaṇatthāya Venerable sir, for the sake of keeping them one by one,
  2. Tisaraṇena saha pañca sīlāni yācāma we ask for the five precepts together with the threefold refuge.
  3. Dutiyampi mayaṃ bhante visuṃ visuṃ rakkhaṇatthāya A second time, venerable sir, for the sake of keeping them one by one,
  4. Tisaraṇena saha pañca sīlāni yācāma we ask for the five precepts together with the threefold refuge.
  5. Tatiyampi mayaṃ bhante visuṃ visuṃ rakkhaṇatthāya A third time, venerable sir, for the sake of keeping them one by one,
  6. Tisaraṇena saha pañca sīlāni yācāma we ask for the five precepts together with the threefold refuge.
  7. Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi I undertake the training rule of refraining from killing living beings.
  8. Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi I undertake the training rule of refraining from taking what is not given.
  9. Kāmesu micchācārā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi I undertake the training rule of refraining from sexual misconduct.
  10. Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi I undertake the training rule of refraining from false speech.
  11. Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi I undertake the training rule of refraining from intoxicants, which are a cause of heedlessness.
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