Chant Traditional
Homage to the Buddha
Namo tassa
The homage that opens nearly every chanting session: to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Self-Awakened One.
Theme
Foundations
Where the path begins: the Triple Gem, the precepts, and the Buddha’s first teaching.
Texts
Chant Traditional · Khp 1
The Three Refuges
Tisaraṇa
Going for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha — the step that sets one on the Buddha's way.
Chant Traditional
The Five Precepts
Pañcasīla
The five training rules at the heart of a lay Buddhist life: not harming, not stealing, restraint, truthfulness, and a clear mind.
Chant Traditional · e.g. AN 11.11
Recollection of the Triple Gem
Buddhānussati · Dhammānussati · Saṅghānussati
The qualities of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha, chanted every morning and evening in the monasteries — and a meditation in its own right.
Verse Dhp 1–2
Mind Goes Before All Things
Yamakavagga
The Dhammapada's first two verses: everything we do is led by the mind, and what follows depends on the state it's in.
Verse Dhp 183–185
The Teaching of the Buddhas
Ovāda Pāṭimokkha
The whole of the teaching in three verses — not doing evil, doing good, purifying the mind — remembered each year on Māgha Pūjā.
Sutta SN 56.11
Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta
The Buddha's first teaching: the middle way between indulgence and self-torment, and the four noble truths. Remembered each year on Āsāḷha Pūjā.
Sutta AN 3.65
Know for Yourselves
Kālāma Sutta
The Buddha's advice to the Kālāmas, visited by one teacher after another: how to tell for yourself which teachings to take up.
In the library
Texts
Sutta translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (on dhammatalks.org)
dhammatalks.org
Close to a thousand suttas from the Pāli Canon in careful, readable English — the Dhammapada, the Sutta Nipāta, and much of the four great collections — with introductions and notes. Free, without advertising.
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Texts
SuttaCentral (on suttacentral.net)
suttacentral.net · SuttaCentral
The early Buddhist texts in Pāli and the other ancient languages, laid alongside their parallels, with modern translations in many languages.
Texts
Access to Insight (on accesstoinsight.org)
accesstoinsight.org · Access to Insight
One of the first great libraries of Theravāda texts online: over a thousand suttas and a wealth of study material, arranged by collection, theme, and translator. No longer updated, but kept online as an archive.