Prayer · Buddhist practice
The Five Precepts
I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life; from taking what is not given; from misconduct in sensual pleasures; from false speech; from drink and drugs that occasion heedlessness
បាណាតិបាតា វេរមណីសិក្ខាបទំ សមាទិយាមិ អទិន្នាទានា វេរមណីសិក្ខាបទំ សមាទិយាមិ កាមេសុ មិច្ឆាចារា វេរមណីសិក្ខាបទំ សមាទិយាមិ មុសាវាទា វេរមណីសិក្ខាបទំ សមាទិយាមិ សុរាមេរយមជ្ជប្បមាទដ្ឋានា វេរមណីសិក្ខាបទំ សមាទិយាមិ
Pāṇātipātā veramaṇīsikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi Adinnādānā veramaṇīsikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi Kāmesu micchācārā veramaṇīsikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi Musāvādā veramaṇīsikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi Surāmerayamajjappamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇīsikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi
The five precepts a lay Buddhist undertakes. They are phrased as training rules taken on voluntarily, not as commandments issued — the repeated words are samādiyāmi, 'I undertake', and the undertaking is renewed rather than sworn once.
Source: Khuddakapāṭha 2 (Dasasikkhāpada); standard lay undertaking formula
Traditionally said once, rather than counted on beads.
Not counted on beads
How many times
Traditionally said once.
Japa counts this one without a mala: a plain daily number rather than a ring of beads, with the words kept in view while you say them. Counting is unlimited and free.
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What the words say
Each line names what is abstained from, then closes with veramaṇī-sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi — 'I undertake the training rule of abstention'. Pāṇātipātā is killing a living being; adinnādānā, taking what is not given; kāmesu micchācārā, wrong conduct in sensual pleasures; musāvādā, false speech; the last names fermented and distilled drink as a basis for heedlessness.
Where it comes from
The five are canonical and recur through the Nikāyas; the recitation formula is the standard one used when lay people request the precepts from a monastic. The script here is Khmer, as they are read in Cambodia.
How it is practised
Requested and repeated line by line after a monastic, often following the refuges, at the start of an observance day or a visit to a temple. One recitation is all five.
References
- Khuddakapāṭha 2
- Aṅguttara Nikāya 8.39 on the five as gifts
Keep it, and count it every day.
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