Ratana Sutta With English Subtitles – English meaning and the origin of Ratana Sutta

Ratana sutta with English subtitles - Live chanting of Ratana sutta with Pali and English subtitles by Sri Lankan monks of Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery.

The Ratana Sutta is a Buddhist discourse (Pali:sutta) found in the Pali Canon's Sutta Nipata (Snp 2.1). The Ratana Sutta is chanted daily throughout Theravada Buddhist countries as a protective chant and blessing.

We decided to chant this paritta to bless all who are affected by the coronavirus pandemic and all who face any form of evil, negativity, sickness or fear of death.

The occasion for this discourse, in brief: The city of Vesali was afflicted by a famine, causing many deaths. Due to the presence of decaying corpses the evil spirits began to haunt the city; this was followed by a pestilence. Plagued by these three fears of famine, non-human beings and pestilence, the citizens sought the help of the Buddha who was then living at Rajagaha.

Followed by a large number of monks including the Venerable Ananda, his attendant disciple, the Buddha came to the city of Vesali. The moment Buddha set foot in the city of Vesali, there were torrential rains which swept away the putrefying corpses. The atmosphere became purified, the city was clean.

Thereupon the Buddha delivered this Jewel Discourse (Ratana sutta[1]) to the Venerable Ananda, and gave him instructions as to how he should tour the city with the Licchavi citizens reciting the discourse as a mark of protection to the people of Vesali. The Venerable Ananda followed the instructions, and sprinkled the sanctified water from the Buddha's own alms bowl. As a consequence the evil spirits were exorcised, the pestilence subsided. Thereafter the Venerable Ananda returned with the citizens of Vesali to the Public hall where the Buddha and his disciples had assembled awaiting his arrival. There the Buddha recited the same Jewel Discourse to the gathering.