 | Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand |  |
Chants frequently memorized and recited by novices (`neen')
and monks (`phraa')
The language of the chants is Pali, written in the past in Tham script
and today increasingly in Thai. The following are the collections of
chants that a monk or novice is required to memorize, and which comprise
the repertoire adequate for everyday purposes.
1. Tham watr: this is a collection of chants recited by monks in the
temple in their morning and evening worship of Lord Buddha. This
worship is part of the monk's religious discipline and régime, quite
apart from his parish role vis-à-vis the laity.
2. Suad mon: these are chants recited by monks at collective merit-making
rites at the temple (gnan bun) in which the laity participate, or
at the houses of laymen or other locations outside the temple (e.g. cemetery)
where ceremonial is held. The chants are divided into two groups:
avamangala and mangala. Avamangala refers to inauspicious occasions
or occasions which, being charged with danger, have to be `desacralized',
or `charging' with blessing takes place. For example:
(a) Suad kusala is an avamangala chant, which is recited in a funeral
house immediately after a person dies;
(b) Suad mongkhon are an important and frequently recited collection
of paritta verses which give protection from misfortune as well as positive
blessing.
The suad mongkhon are also referred to as suad mon yen and suad mon
chaw (evening and morning chants). At any merit-making festival at the
temple, for example Bunkathin (collective village offerings to monks at
the end of Lent), or at home, or after the completion of cremation, monks
will first recite at night and then on the following morning chant the
blessing, during which laymen fill their bowls with food and give them
gifts. The sequence is `protection' followed by `blessing' and `gift-giving'.
In the case of post-cremation sacralization, monks chant for three consecutive
nights in the funeral house and are feasted on the fourth morning.
The following are an example of the collection of paritta that comprise
suad mon yen (evening chants):
(i) either namo pad or sum putte;
(ii) mangala sutta (asevana), usually in abbreviated form;
(iii) ratana sutta, usually in abbreviated form;
(iv) karaniya metra sutta (suad karanee), either in full or in abbreviated
form;
(v) vipassis (atanatiya sutta).
The concluding suad mon chaw (morning chant), which transfers
blessings to the laity, is usually referred to as suad pahung; the best known
is the victory blessing chayamangala katha. The morning chant (suad
pahung) is also chanted by monks at the wat on wan sil (Buddhist sabbath)
during the presentation of food to the monks (sai bart/tak bart).
The technique of learning chants is as follows. The tham watr are
not memorized from printed texts. Since they are chanted by monks
daily in the early morning and at night, a newcomer repeats what he
hears and memorizes them fairly quickly. But essentially the suad mon
chants and the Patimokkha confessional are learnt by the pupils not only
collectively in school but also privately, with the aid of printed texts.
The abbot gives each student the task of learning a set of chants. After
about five days, at a common class, each student is asked to recite in
turn. The task in question is not merely a matter of learning words but
of chanting them according to certain tunes. Early morning before school,
or after school in the afternoon, novices and monks practise chants
individually in their cubicles (khuti).
The fact that Buddhism is aesthetically a musical religion, and that
the memorizing of words is closely linked to musical rhythms, gives us
a clue to the technique and the way in which novices and monks are in
fact capable of memorizing an impressive amount of words in their
correct order.
There are essentially three musical rhythms employed in chanting. The
Magadha form breaks up the chant into phrases. The Samyoka style, on
the other hand, is somewhat staccato; stops are made irrespective of
meaning in those places where words are joined by certain consonants
like k, c, t, p, d. Both these styles are employed in the chanting of mangala
(auspicious) chants. A third style is Sarabhanna, which employs a higher
pitch of voice and also slows down the speed of chanting, again breaking
the chant into phrases; the Sanghaha is a similar mode of `lengthened'
chanting. Sarabhanna chanting is employed on avamangala (inauspicious)
occasions, such as immediately after death, when its slow and mournful
grandeur suits the occasion.
The verbal structure of the verses (gatha, sutta) has discernible implications
for facilitating memorization. The chants use the method of
repetitions in stylized form. As Rhys Davids wrote:
Two methods were adopted in India to aid this power of memory. One adopted
chiefly by the grammarians, was to clothe the rules to be remembered in very
short enigmatical phrases (called suttas or threads), which taxed the memory
but little, while they required elaborate commentaries to render them intelligible.
The other, the method adopted in the Buddhist writings (both Sutta and
Vinaya), was, firstly, the use of stock phrases, of which the commencement
once given, the remainder followed as a matter of course and secondly, the
habit of repeating whole sentences, or even paragraphs, which in our modern
books would be understood or inferred, instead of being expressed (1881,
p. xxiii).
belonged to the oral tradition and were designed in a particular form to
facilitate transmission. Committing them to writing came later.
In village religion the Buddhist chants present a problem for interpretation.
The language of the chants is Pali. Traditionally, they were
written in Tham script; today they are available in printed books in the
Thai alphabet, which is one reason the study of Tham is declining. Yet
whether written in Tham or Thai alphabet, the Pali language itself is
alien to most village novices and monks; some who stay in robes for
a length of time may actually learn Pali, but this is infrequent. In effect,
most village novices and monks do not understand the chants, or at best
understand them imperfectly. The lay congregation, all the women and
of chants. However, many of them can recognize particular chants
(especially those recited frequently), and often know which chant is
appropriate for which occasion; some men who were previously novices
have a somewhat better idea of the content.
If this is the actual situation, there are two questions we may ask. To
what extent does the knowledge of chants which are in Pali (and to
a lesser extent, the ability to read nansy Tham) constitute an esoteric and
exclusive body of knowledge confined to the clergy? Secondly, if Pali
chants are essential at rituals performed by monks and novices and if
at the same time they are largely unintelligible to the laity, what, then, is
communicated in the rites? The first I shall answer in this chapter; the
second in a subsequent chapter.
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