Chanting › Sabbapattidāna Gāthā — giving a share of merit to all beings
Sabbapattidāna Gāthā — giving a share of merit to all beings
Daily chants

Sabbapattidāna Gāthā — giving a share of merit to all beings

Sabbapattidānagāthā

Eleven verses handing on the merit just made — to parents, relatives, people one is neutral towards, even those one is at odds with — and then to every living being.

When it is chanted

Chanted after making merit or after a chanting session, following the dedication of merit by pouring water. At temples it is used at house blessings, funerals, annual memorial services and at the close of evening chanting.

When a group chants it, a leader usually gives out one line at a time and everyone repeats it. Alone at home you can simply chant it straight through. Go slowly enough to actually bring to mind the people the verses name, group by group.

Note for the reviewer: in line 6 some chanting books print pañca eka catu-vokārā as separate words rather than the joined pañcekacatuvokārā used here. In line 9 some read mayhaṃ dinnāna puññānaṃ instead of mayā dinnāna puññānaṃ. In the last line some books print tesaṃ āsā siddhataṃ subhā, which is the same wording as tesāsā sijjhataṃ subhā used here, only without the elision.

Background

These verses are not in the Tipiṭaka. They are a later Pali composition written for ceremonial use; the author is not known, but the chant has been in use long enough to be standard in Thai temples.

The ideas behind it are canonical. The Tirokuḍḍa Kaṇḍa in volume 25 says that giving and then dedicating the gift is something that can really be done for the departed, and that they can rejoice in it. The four kinds of birth named in line 5 — from an egg, from a womb, from moisture, and spontaneously — are listed in the Mahāsīhanāda Sutta in volume 12. The five, one and four aggregates in line 6 come from the commentarial tradition rather than from the suttas.

The last two lines, sabbe sattā sadā hontu averā sukhajīvino, are the same wording as the short verse for sharing merit with all beings. What is worth noticing in this chant is the order: those who are dear and have been good to us first, then people we feel nothing much about, and last those we are still at odds with. Being able to mean it for that last group takes some work, and that work belongs to the chanter — it is not something the words do on their own.

Pali

  1. Puññassidāni katassa yānaññāni katāni me The merit I have made just now, and whatever other merit I have made —
  2. Tesañca bhāgino hontu sattānantāppamāṇakā may beings beyond counting and beyond measure have a share in it.
  3. Ye piyā guṇavantā ca mayhaṃ mātāpitādayo Those who are dear to me and have been good to me, my parents first among them,
  4. Diṭṭhā me cāpyadiṭṭhā vā aññe majjhattaverino those I have seen and those I have not, others I feel neutral towards, and those I am at odds with,
  5. Sattā tiṭṭhanti lokasmiṃ tebhummā catuyonikā beings standing anywhere in the world, in the three realms, born in any of the four ways,
  6. Pañcekacatuvokārā saṃsarantā bhavābhave with five aggregates, with one, or with four, still wandering from one existence to another —
  7. Ñātaṃ ye pattidānamme anumodantu te sayaṃ whoever knows that I am giving this share of merit, may they rejoice in it themselves,
  8. Ye cimaṃ nappajānanti devā tesaṃ nivedayuṃ and whoever does not know of it, may the devas let them know.
  9. Mayā dinnāna puññānaṃ anumodanahetunā Through their rejoicing in the merit I have given,
  10. Sabbe sattā sadā hontu averā sukhajīvino may all beings always live free from enmity and at ease,
  11. Khemappadañca pappontu tesāsā sijjhataṃ subhā may they reach the place of safety, and may their good hopes come true.
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Where it comes from in the Tipiṭaka

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