Chanting is actually reciting the Suttas. When the monks and nuns do chanting, everything they chant is something from the Suttas. This morning in the meditation, I'm going to do one in English, a chant called "The Five Daily Recollections." These are basically direct words from the Buddha. So when the monks and nuns chant, they're reciting the words of the Buddha.
What is this in a different way? It's a type of reflective practice. We teach you to reflect on death, "Verily also, my own body is of the same nature, such it will become and will not escape it." Those are the Buddha's words for reflecting on death. The more you say that over and over to yourself, the more you are going to develop that as wisdom deep within yourself.
Chanting is reciting the teachings over and over and over. It drives them deeper and deeper into people's minds and hearts. That's one of the reasons why we get our assistants to memorize the Suttas. One by one, they're going through the "20 Suttas" that I edited, and memorizing them, so that it gets in there, and stays in there. Then they walk around for their whole life with teachings from the Buddha in their minds, which can pop up any time.
The chanting is very similar. If you've memorized it and you know what it means, then it can pop up, anywhere, any time. In Thailand, it's almost amazing to talk to, especially monks and nuns, but also a lot of lay people who also know chanting. At times, as you're talking, if the conversation gets a little deep, they will immediately say something in Pali and then say it in Thai, which is directly from the Suttas. "Oh, everything's impermanent," "Dukkha exists," little things like that. They will know the Pali word for it, and kind of go, "Oh, yeah, yeah, Dukkha exists." It's interesting that it just pops up in an average conversation. That's an example of what the chanting does, the benefits of it. You're putting the Buddha's words into your own head and you're memorizing them. Then you when you travel, you go everywhere with them.