When chanted

Chanted immediately before the Chāsarāṇīyadhamma Sutta, introducing it.

Historical background

The introduction names the Buddha by an epithet used nowhere else in this book: maker of concord, who yokes people to harmony. What follows is a text about living together.

The list of benefits it gives is unusually social — affection, respect, cohesion, freedom from dispute, unity — and none of them is about an individual's progress.

Meaning and purpose

The verse states the purpose before the content, as these introductions do: for affection one for another, and for respect that brings success, for cohesion, for freedom from dispute, and for concord and unity.

Then a qualification worth noticing: they lead onward for monks who practise by the Dhamma. The six work for people already trying, which is a limit the verse states rather than implies.

And the reason for reciting is given as action rather than merit: having heard it, so as to act as the Buddha taught. The introduction is asking the assembly to change how they behave towards each other, which is a large thing for eight lines to attempt.

The chant

As the book prints it: page 114 →

page 114 page 114 page 114 page 114 page 114 page 114 page 114 page 114