Daniel
Schwörer

แดน สุคะโต · Daen Sukhato

Translator of Theravāda Buddhist texts: Pali and Thai into English and German, and back into Akhara Khom, the script in which the Dhamma was written across Siam for centuries. Twenty-seven published works, all free to read.

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Nunquam cede.

About this work

Not translated in passing, but traced to the root.

These texts come out of twenty years of living with the tradition in Thailand: studying Thai and Pali, learning from monks the supplementary marks that let Pali be written correctly in Thai script, and finally carrying the texts back into Akhara Khom, the Khmer-derived script built for Pali, in which the teaching was written across Siam until the early twentieth century.

The method is the same throughout: never translate a word in passing, but lay its etymology open. Bhagavā is not simply "the Blessed One"; the entry explains bhaga, fortune, and how the suttas use the word. Arahaṁ is traced back to its pre-Buddhist Sanskrit use as a title for wanderers and ascetics. The compilations give every text in parallel — Thai script, Pali transliteration, English or German — so a practitioner can chant, read and understand in the same breath.

Many of these pages were written by hand in a stilt house on Koh Phangan. They are offered freely, as the teaching itself was.

Library · ห้องสมุด

Twenty-seven published works. All free to read.

Every document is hosted on academia.edu and opens in full from the links below. The collection covers Theravāda Buddhist chanting and sutta translation in up to four parallel languages (Pali, Thai, English, German), transcription into the Akhara Khom script of old Siam, and essays on happiness, ownership and money.

Practice compilations — the core works

Consolidated Theravāda Practice: Thai · Pali · EnglishFifty-page chanting book and practice manual: salutation to the Triple Gem, Itipiso recollection, the five precepts, the sublime attitudes (mettā, karuṇā, muditā, upekkhā), Buddha-Jaya-Maṅgala Gāthā, Maṅgala Sutta, Karaniya Metta Sutta, Khaggavisana Sutta, Anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing, the sixteen steps), dependent origination, the customs of the noble ones, and the thudong forest-monk tradition of Southeast Asia.TH · PALI · EN
Angewandte Theravada Praxis: ไทย · Pali · DeutschDas deutschsprachige Gegenstück: Rezitationstexte und Suttas des Theravāda in Thai-Schrift, Pali-Umschrift und deutscher Übersetzung mit etymologischen Kommentaren — Ratanattaya Vandana, Itipiso, Brahmavihāra, Mahagaruniko Jaya Gāthā, Maha-Mangala Sutta, Karaniya Metta Sutta, Paṭicca-samuppāda und die 16 Methoden der Anapanasati.TH · PALI · DE

Sutta translations and chants

ขคฺควิสาณสุตฺตํ — Khaggavisana Sutta, four languagesThe Rhinoceros Sutta of the Sutta Nipāta in Pali, Thai, English and German, verse by verse.PALI · TH · EN · DE
Khaggavisana Sutta — «Wandere allein wie ein Nashorn»German translation of the Rhinoceros Sutta on solitude and the wanderer's path.DE
บทอิติปิโส — Itipiso: Besinnung auf Buddha, Dhamma und SanghaThe central Theravāda recollection chant with German translation and word-by-word etymology.TH · PALI · DE
The 38 Factors of Auspiciousness — Maṅgala SuttaThe Buddha's discourse on good fortune, translated with commentary.PALI · EN
Deutsche Bedeutung der Kata «Mongkut Pra Putta Jao»Meaning and use of the Crown-of-the-Buddha kata, from Thai amulet and protection tradition.TH · DE
Clarification for English translations of the word "Dhamma"Etymological analysis of dhamma/dharma via Thai Pali loanwords, against flattening translations.EN

Listen — สวดสังโยคชินบัญชร (Kata Chinabanchon)

The Jinapañjara recitation, chanted — the sound behind the texts above.

Player not loading? Listen directly on SoundCloud: kata chinabanchon.

Thai originals and Akhara Khom manuscripts

ปรกเทพนิมิตร อ.ชุม ไชยคีรี ปี ๒๔๙๗ (1954)Historic Thai Buddhist text by Ajahn Chum Chaikhiri, preserved and annotated.TH · KHOM
บทสวดกะระณียะเมตตะสุตตังแปล — Karaniya Metta chant, translatedThe loving-kindness sutta as chanted in Thailand, with translation.TH · PALI
หลวงพ่อดำวัดกุฎี ปราจีนบุรี — Luang Por Dam, Wat Kudi, PrachinburiDocumentation of a Thai monastery tradition and its master.TH
คาถาชินบัญชร สมเด็จพระพุฒาจารย์ (โต พรหมรังสี) — Kata Chinabanchon, with translationThe Jinapañjara Gāthā of Somdet Phra Phutthachan (To Phrommarangsi), text and translation — the chant you can listen to above.TH · PALI
พระยอดไตรปิฎก — Phra Yod Traipidok in Akhara Khom, with Thai translationThe Crown-of-the-Tipiṭaka kata written in Khom Thai script, translated into Thai.KHOM · TH
อักขระขอมไทยและอักษรพม่า — Khom Thai and Burmese scripts, supplementary editionComparative notes on the Akhara Khom of Siam and the Burmese script.KHOM · MY
ปฏิจจสมุปบาท — PaṭiccasamuppādaDependent origination, the twelve links, in Thai and Pali.TH · PALI
ผ้ายันต์นวหรคุณ (อิติปิโส เก้าห้อง) — Pha Yant Navahorakhun, Wat Rat Charoen, Koh Phangan, BE 2542A yantra cloth of the nine Buddha virtues (the nine-chamber Itipiso), documented and transcribed.TH · KHOM
พระผงว่านรุ่นแรกพิมพ์ใหญ่ พ่อทวดไกร ๒๕๐๕ — Phra Pong Wan amulet, Por Thuad Krai, BE 2505 (I)Documentation of the first-batch large-mould amulet of 1962.TH
พระผงว่านรุ่นแรกพิมพ์ใหญ่ พ่อทวดไกร ๒๕๐๕ — Phra Pong Wan amulet, Por Thuad Krai, BE 2505 (II)Second part of the documentation.TH
พระหลวงพ่อเข่ง วัดพระพิเรนทร์ กรุงเทพ ๒๔๘๐ — Phra Luang Por Kheng, Wat Phra Phiren, Bangkok, BE 2480Documentation of the 1937 amulet and its temple tradition.TH
ผงอิทธิเจ — Phong ItthijeThe Itthije sacred powder: composition, kata and use.TH · KHOM

Essays on happiness, ownership and money

Der Stuhl ist frei — Neun Kapitel über Glück und BesitzWas besitzen wir wirklich? Neun Kapitel über Eigentum, Sprache und Glück, im Gespräch mit Fromm, Schopenhauer und der buddhistischen Analyse.DE
What Owns Us — Six Chapters on HappinessThe English companion essay: desire, possession and well-being.EN
The Art of Appropriate AnalysisThe Kālāma Sutta's ten principles as a guard against intellectual dependence, advertising and propaganda.EN
A possible SolutionA proposal for a zero-interest redesign of the global economy.EN
Thoughts and ClarificationsNotes on translating Buddhist scripture without distortion.EN
A Constitution for Living (P.A. Payutto)Preserved edition of Bhikkhu P.A. Payutto's classic on the lay Buddhist life.EN
A Collection of Royal Wisdom (2006)Sayings of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, collected from the 2006 Bangkok Times.EN

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