Suttas often chanted
The Buddha’s final words
PacchimabuddhovādapāṭhaThe Buddha’s last words before his passing: all conditioned things wear away — complete your work with diligen…
Suttas often chanted
The first words of the Buddha
Paṭhamabuddhabhāsitagāthā
The verses traditionally held to be the Buddha’s first utterance after awakening, comparing craving to a house-builder who has raised this house life after life.
When it is chanted
Chanted on Visākha Pūjā and on occasions recalling the awakening, and used before sitting as a reminder of what is being looked for.
It is short — about a minute to chant.
Background
These two verses stand in the Old Age chapter of the Dhammapada, and tradition holds them to be what the Buddha said just after his awakening.
The image is a house. The house is this existence, built again and again; the builder is craving; the rafters are the other defilements; the ridgepole is ignorance. Through a long round of births he looked for whoever was building it, and when he finally saw the builder he spoke to him directly: you are seen, you will not build again.
The verses are not a rejection of being alive. They name what keeps the cycle turning — wanting that is never satisfied — and point out that once it is seen, the next round stops being built.
Pali
- Anekajātisaṃsāraṃ sandhāvissaṃ anibbisaṃ Through many births in the round I ran, and did not find what I sought,
- Gahakārakaṃ gavesanto dukkhā jāti punappunaṃ looking for the builder of this house; birth again and again is suffering.
- Gahakāraka diṭṭhosi puna gehaṃ na kāhasi House-builder, you are seen. You will not build this house again.
- Sabbā te phāsukā bhaggā gahakūṭaṃ visaṅkhataṃ All your rafters are broken, the ridgepole is dismantled.
- Visaṅkhāragataṃ cittaṃ taṇhānaṃ khayamajjhagā The mind has come to the unconstructed; craving has been brought to an end.
Where it comes from in the Tipiṭaka
Click to read the actual page it refers to
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