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itipi so bhagavā: araham; sammāsambuddho; vijjācaranasampanno; sugato; lokavidū; anuttaro purisadammasārathi; satthā devamanussānam; buddho; bhagavā’ti.
Thus is he 'the Blessed One' : he is worthy; he is perfectly enlightened; he is perfected in wisdom and ethics; he is the Well-Farer; he is a knower of the worlds; he is the unrivaled guide of those who can be tamed; he is the teacher of gods & men; he is enlightened; and he is blessed.
This chant is found frequently throughout the Pāli Canon, in many different contexts; using SuttaCentral, I found at least 161 instances of the gāthā! The verse is, ultimately, a list of nine qualities for which the Buddha should be celebrated. Beyond the canon, the chant is featured in elaborative texts that expand on each of the nine qualities, as well as in magical "yantra" designs which abbreviate the Buddha's nine virtues into nine initial characters.
The formula commonly appears as a simple piece of dialogue in stories involving people who had learned about the Buddha’s arrival at some place. In these texts (ex: AN 3.63), word of the Buddha being nearby would have reached an individual or a crowd, and along with that news would come discussions of the Buddha’s reputation, expressed using the pericope of his nine virtues. Often, this serves as a narrative device to introduce people involved in the body of the text, who usually felt inspired to go and visit the Buddha, establishing the occasion for that particular sermon. This context is quite common throughout the Pāli Canon, though more doctrinally-significant instances of the formula relate to the idea of faith.