Sambuddhe

The Sambuddhe chant (Sambuddhe = "the Perfectly Self-Awakened Buddhas") is a verse of praise and homage to the vast host of Buddhas of the past, numbering in the millions, arranged in 3 verses that count upward in a doubling progression, so as to gather the whole power of the Buddhas' virtues into a driving force for the chanting of the paritta and to destroy all misfortunes and dangers.

In the chanting of the Seven Discourses (Chet Tamnan), Sambuddhe is a verse of praise recited before entering the principal suttas. The heart of this verse is the invocation of "the power of the millions of Buddhas of the past" to form a protective armor all around the reciter — much like the second verse of the Chinabanchon, which invokes the 28 Buddhas onto the crown of the head, but here expanded to the order of millions.

Full Recitation Text

A continuous recitation of all 3 verses, counting the Buddhas up from about 500,000 to 1 million and then 2 million — ready to chant straight through.

Translation and Explanation

The following is the translation and explanation, verse by verse. The original Pali of each verse has its own copy button. All three verses share the same structure — "count and pay homage to the Triple Gem → resolve that all misfortunes and dangers be destroyed" — differing only in the number of Buddhas, which rises in a doubling progression.

Verse 1 — Homage to about 500,000 Buddhas

This first verse lays the foundation of the whole chant: stating the number of the Buddhas of the past and paying homage to the whole Triple Gem before resolving to summon their power for protection. The verse divides into 2 parts.

1. The part of counting and homage — "Sambuddhe [number] namāmi sirasā ahaṃ / tesaṃ dhammañca saṅghañca ādarena namāmihaṃ": it states the number of Buddhas, then pays homage to the Dhamma and the Sangha of those Buddhas as well, completing all three of the Triple Gem — not homage to the Buddhas alone.

2. The part of resolve — "Namakārānubhāvena hantvā sabbe upaddave / anekā antarāyāpi vinassantu asesato": it uses the power of the homage to destroy misfortunes (upaddava — obstacles, perils) and all dangers, "without remainder" (asesato).

The number 28 (aṭṭhavīsañca) in this verse is no random figure — it means the 28 Buddhas of past aeons whose names are recorded in the Buddhavaṃsa, from Taṇhaṅkara, Medhaṅkara, Saraṇaṅkara, and Dīpaṅkara onward, down to Kassapa and Gotama (the present Buddha) — the very same set invoked in the second verse of the Chinabanchon.

Two key words in the part of resolve are upaddava (misfortune), meaning a peril that strikes suddenly, such as grave illness, accident, or ill omen; and antarāyā (danger), meaning that which obstructs the way of goodness, such as Māra hindering one's practice of the Dhamma — this verse therefore seeks protection complete against both bodily and mental perils.

Verse 2 — Doubling to about 1 million Buddhas

Verse 2 uses the part of homage and the part of resolve exactly as verse 1, differing only in the number of Buddhas, which rises in a doubling progression from about 500,000 (verse 1) to about 1 million Buddhas.

This upward-doubling count is the essential mechanism of the Sambuddhe chant, reflecting the ideal of "accumulating the perfection of homage" — the more Buddhas one recollects and honors, the more one accumulates, in order, the power of the Buddhas' virtues.

Verse 3 — Doubling to about 2 million Buddhas

The final verse counts the number of Buddhas up to the highest point of the chant, about 2 million Buddhas (doubling from verse 2). Having recited all three verses, the reciter has invoked the combined power of the millions of Buddhas of the past, together with the Dhamma and the Sangha of those Buddhas, to be a protective armor all around.

The Sambuddhe chant is thus the use of the power of the millions of Buddhas of the past as a wall of protection all around the reciter, before beginning to recite the principal suttas in the order that follows.

Appendix — The Structure of the Sambuddhe Chant

All 3 verses of the Sambuddhe chant share the same structure, differing only in the number of Buddhas, which rises in a doubling progression, as follows:

• Verse 1: 28 + 12,000 + 500,000 ≈ 500,000 Buddhas

• Verse 2: 55 + 24,000 + 1,000,000 ≈ 1 million Buddhas (doubling verse 1)

• Verse 3: 109 + 48,000 + 2,000,000 ≈ 2 million Buddhas (doubling verse 2)

Each verse always consists of 2 parts: the part of counting and homage (stating the number of Buddhas + paying homage to the Dhamma and the Sangha of those Buddhas as well, completing the Triple Gem) and the part of resolve (seeking, by the power of the homage, to destroy misfortunes and dangers without remainder).