Most of what is chanted at a Buddhist centre is not in English, and the handouts rarely translate it. These are the phrases a newcomer meets first, with a plain rendering and a note on where each one comes from.
A caveat before the list: chanting traditions differ. Theravada centres in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Myanmar share the Pali texts but not always the melodies or the order. What follows is the common core.
The homage
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammāsambuddhassa
Homage to the Blessed One, the Perfected One, the fully awakened Buddha.
Said three times at the start of most Theravada chanting. It is an act of respect rather than a prayer: nothing is being asked for.
The three refuges
Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi Dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi Saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi
I go to the Buddha for refuge. I go to the teaching for refuge. I go to the community for refuge.
The formula that formally marks becoming a Buddhist in the Theravada tradition, and the one line most lay people know by heart. Saraṇa means shelter or protection — the metaphor is going somewhere safe, not swearing allegiance.
The five precepts
Recited as undertakings rather than commandments, and usually given in short form:
- Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi — I undertake the training to abstain from taking life.
- Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi — …from taking what is not given.
- Kāmesu micchācārā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi — …from sexual misconduct.
- Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi — …from false speech.
- Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi — …from intoxicants that cause heedlessness.
The wording matters: each is a sikkhāpada, a training rule, not a vow before a judge.
Metta lines
Sabbe sattā sukhitā hontu
May all beings be happy.
The most common metta phrase, and the one that opens most loving-kindness chanting. Longer versions extend it — may all beings be free from hostility, free from affliction, free from anxiety.
In the Metta Sutta the instruction is given as a posture rather than a sentence: cultivate the mind toward all beings the way a mother would protect her only child with her own life. The metta page collects the Dhammapada verses that carry the same vocabulary, and metta meditation covers the practice.
Verses you will hear chanted
Some of the most familiar chanting lines are Dhammapada verses, and this site has them in Pali with a translation:
“For never is hatred laid to rest by hate, it’s laid to rest by love: this is an ancient teaching.”
Na hi verena verāni, sammantīdha kudācanaṁ; Averena ca sammanti, esa dhammo sanantano.
“Not to do any evil; to embrace the good; to purify one’s mind: this is the instruction of the Buddhas.”
Sabbapāpassa akaraṇaṁ, kusalassa upasampadā; Sacittapariyodapanaṁ, etaṁ buddhāna sāsanaṁ.
“Defeat anger with kindness, villainy with virtue, stinginess with giving, and lies with truth.”
Akkodhena jine kodhaṁ, asādhuṁ sādhunā jine; Jine kadariyaṁ dānena, saccenālikavādinaṁ.
“All conditions are impermanent— when this is seen with wisdom, one grows disillusioned with suffering: this is the path to purity.”
“Sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā”ti, yadā paññāya passati; Atha nibbindati dukkhe, esa maggo visuddhiyā.
Verse 277 is the one recited at funerals and at the end of meditation sittings: sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā — all conditions are impermanent. Verse 183 is the three-clause summary: not to do any evil, to embrace the good, to purify one’s mind.
The Buddha’s last words, as the Pali canon records them, are close to this — aniccā vata saṅkhārā, “impermanent indeed are conditions” — and they are chanted far more often than they are explained.
Small words worth knowing
Sādhu. Good; well said. Said after someone finishes chanting, or in agreement. One word, used constantly.
Nibbāna. Extinguishment. Not a place and not annihilation; the image is a fire going out.
Dhamma. The teaching — and also a thing, a phenomenon. Context decides which. See the glossary.
Bhikkhu / bhikkhunī. A monastic, literally “one who lives on alms”.
Mettā. Goodwill. The metta page has the Dhammapada’s side of it.
Why the Pali is kept
Because the words are the shared vocabulary across countries that do not share a language. A Thai monk, a Sri Lankan laywoman and a Western convert can chant the same line because it is the same Pali, and translations differ enough that chanting an English version would mean chanting different texts. The translations above are for understanding, not for chanting.