Paritta: A Historical and Religious Study of the Buddhist Ceremony for Peace and Prosperity in Sri Lanka > This ceremony centres on the recitation—usually by Buddhist monks—of extracts fron the Pali Canon, collected in a text called the *Gatubhāṇavārapāli*, *Paritta* or in Siahala *Piruvānāpotvahanse*. Its objective is to ward off danger, ensure protection and bless the sponsors. It is prevalent in other Theravada Buddhist countries such as Burma and Thailand as well, but this work is confined to a study of the tradition preserved in Sri Lanka.

📰 A Historical and Religious Study of the Buddhist Ceremony for Peace and Prosperity in Sri Lanka (A free, 51-page article from 1981)

Tags: #TheravadaChanting #Buddhist #SriLanka #Theravada

A Chant Has Nine Lives > Translators of short Buddhist chants in Southeast Asia, including Hộ Tông and his Siamese and Khmer predecessors, tend to follow three unstated principles: > 1. the translation may be longer than its source, but rarely vice versa > 2. even when translated into the vernacular, the Pali source ought to be retained, and > 3. the resulting bilingual Pali-vernacular chant should bring its performance practices—gestures, melodies, and rhythms—into harmony.

📰 A Chant Has Nine Lives (A free, 43-page article from 2020)

Tags: #TheravadaChanting #Theravada #Vietnamese

Living Phonologies: Khmer Pronunciations of Pali at the Nexus of Writing and Orality > To give a precise account of how the living complexity of Pali unfolds, the findings in this article are based on the phonetic transcription and analysis of fifteen multimedia recordings of Pali liturgical chants in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Cambodia. > The range of major and minor variations in Pali pronunciation witnessed during this period, and the contentious debates behind these divergencies, open new paths for understanding the past and present of Pali as a Buddhist language.

📰 Khmer Pronunciations of Pali at the Nexus of Writing and Orality (A ✨NEW✨, free, 33-page article)

Tags: #Cambodia #Pali #TheravadaChanting

Material Evidence for Ritual Chant in Early Modern Siam: Leporello Manuscripts as Affordances for Deathbed Rites > deathbed practices in nineteenth-century Siam were structured to flow seamlessly from chanting for the dying to chanting for the dead, a sequence reflected in the physical layout of the manuscripts themselves.

📰 Leporello Manuscripts as Affordances for Deathbed Rites (A ✨NEW✨, free, 41-page article)

Tags: #ThaiArt #Death #TheravadaChanting #Paper #History #Buddhastatue

Buddhist Militarism Beyond Texts: The Importance of Ritual During the Sri Lankan Civil War > What happens to the meaning of Buddhist rituals in military spaces? Do the military confines and the political context alter the meaning of “non-violent” rituals? Can they become “violent” rituals?

📰 The Importance of Ritual During the Sri Lankan Civil War (A free, 22-page article from 2017)

Tags: #Extremism #TheravadaChanting #SriLanka #War #MonasticTheravada #Vinaya

The Dhammakāya texts and their ritual usages in Cambodia and northern Thailand Dhammakāya texts in Cambodia and northern Thailand are a genre of Pāli text that list and explain the physical and metaphysical characteristics of the Buddha. These texts are frequently chanted to consecrate Buddha images.

📰 The Dhammakāya texts and their ritual usages in Cambodia and northern Thailand (A free, 6-page article from 2021)

Tags: #TheravadaChanting #Cambodia

Tigumbacetiyathomanā: Praise of the Tigumba Shrine A line-by-line Pāli and English version of a chanting text from Myanmar praises the Shwedagon Pagoda, showcasing the variations in the Siloka metre.

📖 Praise of the Tigumba Shrine (A free, 5-page book from 2013)

Tags: #BurmeseBuddhism #TheravadaChanting #PaliMetre

Vandana Book: Homage to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha in Pali, Sinhala, and English A trilingual compilation of devotional hymns, vows, and meditations for chanting from the Sri Lankan tradition.

🆓 Homage to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha in Pali, Sinhala, and English (A free, 32-page resource from 2020)

Tags: #TheravadaChanting #SriLanka

Namakkārapāḷi saha Saṅkhepayojanā: The Reverence Text with the Short Word-Commentary This is a translation by Bhikkhu Anandajoti of The Namakkārapāli, a revered Buddhist text from Myanmar that consists of 28 verses, each written in different meters, praising the Buddha.

📖 The Reverence Text with the Short Word-Commentary (A free, 29-page book of #poetry from 2013)

Tags: #Buddha #TheravadaChanting #PaliReaders #BurmeseBuddhism

Mettabhāvanā: Friendliness Meditation (A Sri Lankan Chant) A Pāli and English line by line (interlinear) version of a short chant wishing well to all beings based on the Visuddhimagga: starting close and working out.

📖 Friendliness Meditation (A Sri Lankan Chant) (A free, 2-page book from 2008)

Tags: #TheravadaChanting #Love #SriLanka