One of the most famous blessings given after a meal donation is from Dhammapada verse 109. It is well known across all traditions and in all countries—Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Dhammapada Pāḷi Verse 109 Abhivādanasīlissa, niccaṃ vuḍḍhāpacāyino, Cattāro dhammā vaḍḍhanti, āyu vaṇṇo sukhaṃ balaṃ. Translation For one who is respectful and constantly venerates the elders, four qualities increase: long life, beauty, happiness, and strength. This is one of the most famous blessings given by monks to laypeople after food is offered to the Saṅgha. It is chanted across all traditions and countries.

Introduction: Today we will have a short and brief introduction into the meaning of “Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammāsambuddhassa”. We could easily say it is the most frequently chanted stanza of all Buddhist Pāḷi because this is said before any other type of chant. It is also chanted before every proper Theravāda dhamma talk. We will discuss the word by word meaning and the basic grammar. In short, the phrase means “Reverence to the Buddha.” Namo means reverence while the other words represent The Buddha. A video of this lesson can be found here.

Multi purpose hall at IIT After 3 years in Myanmar, I have moved to The International Institute of Theravāda. What is this place and why did I come here and what is mission? What is IIT? The International Institute of Theravāda (IIT) is a comprehensive training institute aimed at facilitating spiritual and academic development of Buddhist monks, based on Theravada teachings. It is inclusive and accommodative, irrespective of sects (Nikaya) and other differences within the Theravada Buddhist clergy. The IIT would disseminate the teachings of the Buddha as per the ancient Theravada texts, to Buddhist practitioners across the globe.

Tiptkata Pali Reader A new beautiful app written in Flutter for all Desktops and Mobile Devices. Download: (Windows Store) (Mac OS Store) (Flathub Store) TPR-AppImage sudo apt install libfuse2 libsqlite3-dev (Android Store) (iOS Store) What is new? Build 85+ Release — May 2025 for Linux AppImage, Android, and Windows: This release includes AI integration. You will need an AI API key from OpenRouter , but you can get one without a credit card and use the free API engines, which work reasonably well. However, GPT-4o or GPT-4.1 offer better performance.

Copyright notice.. picture by Kim Traynor cc-by-sa Note: This post is not for everyone. Those who claim to be bhikkhunis and supporters of the movement, and monks and nuns in general will find this interesting. Did you know that bhikkhunis (nuns) are not allowed to sleep alone or travel alone and if they do, they are sentenced to 2 weeks of rehabilitation and lose their full status as bhikkhunis during this period? In my last article Are Theravāda Bhikkhuni Ordinations Valid?, we discussed whether or not the bhikkhuni ordinations are valid. In this article, we will assume that today’s bhikkhuni ordinations are valid and then explore the heavy rules and consequences that are at stake. You will learn that bhikkhunis who claim to be serious about the rules are likely to be already breaking some of the heavy rules of the bhikkhuni vinaya.

Title Page In America, the Rote Method of learning is belittled as “learning like a parrot” and rarely or never taught in the Western school systems. However, it is a useful brute force method for memorizing Pali texts and the only way to memorize longer word for word Pāḷi texts such as the Pātimokkha. This system is used extensively in Myanmar schools and Myanmar study monasteries. If you hear lots of noise in the classrooms, rote learning is what they are doing. This video explains both passive and aggressive Rote Methods for memorizing Pāḷi. May you be successful in your learning and practice!

Burmese Pāḷi I have made a list of the most basic Pāḷi terms which will help you in your Theravāda Buddhist Readings and listening to Dhamma Talks. I could have added more, but there are already 165+ terms. I have decided to sort the words in alphabetical order so I would not have to decide which were the most important. Grouping the words would have also given me the same dilemma. If you learn 10 words per day, it should not take long to master. You will likely know many of these terms already.

Myanmar Pali Script (credit at bottom link.. cc-sa-attrib) There are many different Pāḷi chants to learn, yet I wanted to list the absolute basic chants that one should learn. If you are interested in Pāḷi chanting, these are the first to learn. The most basic and essential chants for beginning lay people should know are listed in order of importance: Namo Tassa, Triple Gem with the 5 precepts, Bare bones Triple Gem chant of the 24 qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha. Loving-Kindness sutta Namo Tassa Before any chanting or dhamma discourse, the monk and the group will chant “Namo tassa” together as a group. It is one line repeated 3 times and easy to remember.

A little while ago, I was asked what was the most important lesson learned and what was the most important thing that I taught. The answer spans two different videos and they are listed below: The first video gives a very technical answer, yet in very simple English that everyone can understand. However those who are into the deepest Dhamma and Abhidhamma will still appreciate what is said and how it is said.