When chanted

Chanted in the paritta service, and used where protection from unseen harm is wanted.

Historical background

The book prints its own reference. The chant opens by naming the seven Buddhas of the past in order — Vipassī, Sikhī, Vessabhū, Kakusandha, Koṇāgamana, and so on to Gotama — each with an epithet of his own.

Naming is the method of the whole chant. Where other parittas declare loving-kindness or state a truth, this one establishes authority by reciting who holds it.

Meaning and purpose

The epithets given to the seven are short and each is different: possessed of vision and of glory; compassionate to all beings; cleansed and ardent; crusher of Māra's army; the brahmin who has lived the life. They are not interchangeable, and the chant takes care to distinguish beings most people will never think about again.

What follows is protective in the most literal sense — a formula asserting that these names are known, that the beings addressed are subject to them, and that harm should therefore not come. It is the least meditative text in the collection and does not pretend otherwise.

The closing verses turn domestic and almost gentle: may no obstacle be yours, be happy and long-lived. And then a proverb — for one whose habit is to salute, who constantly honours the elders, four things increase: long life, beauty, happiness and strength. After ninety verses of naming powers, it ends by recommending good manners.

The chant

As the book prints it: page 92, page 93, page 94, page 95 and page 96 →

page 92 page 93 page 94 page 95 page 96