The gift of truth excels all other gifts.
The flavor of truth excels all other flavors.
The pleasure in truth excels all other pleasures.
DH. 354

Ans likes to share this little gem of a Buddhist Chantingbook.  The book is based upon the standard Thai chantingbook used in Wat Pacharoenrat, a Buddhist temple in Thailand.  This version adds the English translation of the chants and transliterates the Pali and Thai into readable English.

By clicking on the front-page you can see for yourself and browse through the book. You ‘ll find more information on the benefits of chanting, the meditation practice, the rules and regulations in a temple, the daily schedule and the eight precepts.  The chants themselves are grouped in the morning, evening and special chant section.  Every chant is in Pali followed by the Thai and English translation.

The daily schedule in a Thai temple has often a morning and evening chanting.  The monks, nuns and laypeople chant the teachings of the Buddha in Pali and Thai.  The purpose of this book is to encourage the foreign students of the temple to join the chanting sessions. While chanting in itself can be useful to calm the mind, it is much more encouraging to do so when you know what you are chanting.

While staying in a Buddhist temple a couple years ago, Ans experienced the benefits of chanting for himself.  He truly enjoyed the (short version) of the morning and evening chants. That’s why he happily provided technical support to his friend Dani to create the English version of this book.  As a long term foreign student of Wat Pacharoenrat, she understands firsthand the need for an English version.  That’s why she compiled the different chantings, searched for English translations and corrected the previous version. Now she is looking for resources to publish the second version of the book.  Donations are warmly welcome.

May this gift of Dhamma help to find truth in our own lives.
Many blessings!

An updated version of this chantingbook is available thanks to my friend Phra Adhicitto (aka Frank Newbold). Thank you for the hard work.

~~ Click here for a Flickr slideshow of the rooms. ~~

Ans lives now already for a couple of months in a room close to Wat Sanghatan (1, 2), a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand.

He rent this room from his friend Kun Puky. She is responsible for the ‘Buddha Raksa rooms’. Ans recommends these rooms to anybody who is interested in learning about the temple life, without having to follow all the strict rules involved.

The temple offers an inspiring environment and strong energy. Some great spiritual teachers like Long Po Sanong Katapunyo are readily available to answer questions when asked for. He is the abbot of the temple and when he is in the temple you can visit him while he is eating.

The ‘Buddha Raksa rooms’ are also convenient if you only want some quite time for yourself in a green area just outside downtown Bangkok. Banglampu, the place where many foreigners connect, is easily accessible through a 30 minutes taxi boatride.

Kun Puky offers three newly build, private rooms for rent. Every room has its own private bathroom, terrace and balcony. There is no kitchen, but delicious food is cheap and easily available in the local restaurant. ‘Buddha Raksa’ is Thai and means something like ‘under the proctection of the Buddha’. In these rooms the Buddha will take care for you. Everbody is welcome!

For information about the price, checking vacancy or booking a room please call Kun Puky at +66 (0) 890 5000 52 or +66 (0) 8400 660 80. You also can email her at vimokkha@hotmail.com

People who know this area and the ‘Buddha Raksa rooms’ are invited to share their own experiences with potential guests through the comment section of this blog.