MY OWN WALKING - Spring Journal 2026

It is not uncommon for religions to use an archaic or even totally extinct language in their chants, liturgy and rituals. An example would be Latin in Roman Catholicism, but other denominations have there own sacred languages such as Coptic, or Church Slavonic. Ancient Aramaic in Judaism, Classical Arabic in Islam. With the chanting of Pali or Sanskrit texts, Buddhism is not then that unusual. These languages are worth preserving, because they serve what is really a rather vital function, that is not solely one of academic interest, for linguistic diversity or historical origins.

These old languages in religious contexts are important primarily for spiritual reasons. Such ancient words embody all the poetic metaphors, experiences, aspirations and insights, encountered over countless generations of practitioners. These can sometimes span from non-historical through historical time, right up to today. They form a bridge, via their sound and lyricism, to present day practitioners with the religious emotions and expressions of past disciples. Giving cogent form to the idea that we are the present day torch bearers for an entire religious lineage, maintaining this language and traditions intact, into the future. And this duty of care, as a disciple, is the case whatever that religious tradition is. It could be said that the Christian Protestant Reformation, with perhaps the iconoclastic excess only a reformers zeal might execute, expunged ,and hence impoverished itself, by destroying this link through language to the past. Which may be why it can often feel, even today, a little spiritually unmoored. There is nothing like an extinct language to ground you in the vale of impermanence.

( In Pali )

"Sangham jivitaparyantam saranam gacchami.

Ye ca Sangha atita ca

Ye ca Sangha anagata

Paccuppannq ca ye Sangha

Aham vandami sabbada."

( English Translation )

"All my life I go for refuge to the Fellowship.

To all the Fellowships that were

To all the Fellowships to be

To all the Fellowships that are

My worship flows unceasingly '

These five lines are from the penultimate verses of the Buddhist Triratna Vandana, or Salutation to the Three Jewels. Verses of praise, respect and dedication ,to the Buddha, the Dharma ( his teachings) and the Sangha ( the fellowship of practitioners ). Often chanted at the beginning of each day, they act as a reminder of what you are dedicating your life to, depending upon and 'taking refuge in ' as a Buddhist. Certainly in the early days of my involvement in Buddhism, they were just something we recited.  I never quite grasped why we were saying these verses in a semi-extinct language like Pali. In a modern Western context this could appear to be a bit anachronistic. Similarly the Pali/Sanskrit names of Buddhist Order Members. Were these an unnecessary bit of exotic cultural appropriation on the part of Western Buddhist practitioners? In holding such views I was completely mistaking the purpose of their use of Pali / Sanskrit , and these verses of the Triratna Vandana point you in the direction as to why.

In Buddhism single words or phrases can become spiritual messengers, referred to as dharani. These conjure a resonant relationship through sound with the truth, not just with the Buddha's teachings, but with that small essence being awoken within us, with that of true reality. Chanting short texts in Pali/Sanskrit in a context of spiritual fellowship can, at its best, be like tuning into the fully functioning life force of Enlightenment. Even if we feel we are just mindlessly chanting these words that are incomprehensible to us, they nonetheless plug us into the spirit of this interconnected essence to all reality - across all time and space - past, present and future.

In my early morning practice period, I have generally just meditated. Though of late I've found myself gravitating towards chanting the Triratna Vandana. After many years of not doing so. I immediately found myself feeling something within my being was woken up and plugged in to a relationship far bigger than just myself. It felt like coming home, for these verses are extraordinarily familiar to me. I've chanted them in many different contexts, hundreds of times. They also reconnect me with those years of involvement with Triratna and 'the Fellowships that were' then. And even though I rarely meet any of these people these days, they are still with me when I chant these verses. Forming part of a personal lineage of practice, which I am still grateful to have received. So, when I find myself bemoaning the lack of 'spiritual fellowship' in my current spiritual path, I need to remember what this spiritual fellowship can be. Well, it is broad, it is multi-dimensional, it is an all encompassing event. 

Reciting the Triratna Vandana, draws a similar map, one that spans time and space. A known lineage of practitioners traced directly back through two and a half millennia to the Buddha, is important for Buddhists to maintain an active and live relationship with. A Sangha, in its idealised form, is a fellowship composed of all the practitioners whoever were, are or are to be. - the Unenlightened and Enlightened human beings, the Arya ( noble or illustrious ) Sangha, and imaginatively outward to realms of archetypal and cosmic Buddhas. Not just the local practitioners you meet in your Buddhist Centre ( or Church if you are Christian). These Fellowships that were, become vaster in scope once you add in ' The Fellowships that are, or are yet to be'. And these make it clear, if you have no yet cottoned on, that you are your own traditions next step. Without the effectiveness of your practice and spiritual life, there will be no future for it. And a sense of gratefulness and appreciation for the many levels via which spiritual fellowship through practice is handed down to us, is important to sustaining our practice now. Through the language and texts that we chant, we atune and orient the spirit of our lineage of practice to underpin whatever we subsequently do.

Whether Buddhist or Christian, there were always turbulent epochs in the past, the distant rumblings of this being' The End of Times'. And its very easy for us to bemoan the 'self evident failings' of our present institutions and some of our spiritual fellow travellers, and go passive to it. Significant Buddhist figures and sages, often appeared in periods of apparent decline, such as ours. But we cannot just sit back and depend on someone else turning up to save us. Chant these last words of the Triratna Vandana written on this page and don't allow any feelings of despair we may hold, be our final coda. The revolution can start any moment, it may have started already, so be ready to respond. 

'Etena saccavajjena, hotu me jayamangalam'

'Oh by the virtue of this truth, may grace abound, and victory!'