Listen & Chant Along
Meaning & Translation
Sanskrit
बुद्धं शरणं गच्छामि । धम्मं शरणं गच्छामि । सङ्घं शरणं गच्छामि ॥
Transliteration
Bud-dham Sha-ra-nam Gac-cha-mi, Dham-mam Sha-ra-nam Gac-cha-mi, San-gham Sha-ra-nam Gac-cha-mi
Deity / Quality Invoked
Buddha
Pronunciation
BOOD-dahm SHAH-rah-nahm gah-CHAH-mee, DAHM-mahm SHAH-rah-nahm gah-CHAH-mee, SAHN-gahm SHAH-rah-nahm gah-CHAH-mee
Full Translation
This is the Triple Refuge (Tisarana), the oldest and most universal Buddhist chant: "I go for refuge to the Buddha (the awakened one); I go for refuge to the Dhamma (the teaching); I go for refuge to the Sangha (the community of practitioners)." Reciting it three times is how one formally becomes — and daily renews being — a Buddhist.
Spiritual Significance
Taking refuge is not an escape but an orientation: turning toward awakening, truth, and community as the reliable ground of one's life. The three refuges are called the Three Jewels, and chanting them settles the practitioner in confidence and humility at once.
Cultural Context & History
Composed in Pali, the liturgical language of early Buddhism, the Tisarana has been chanted continuously for some 2,500 years across Theravada Asia and beyond. Deva Premal's "Buddham Sharanam" (on the album "Deva" and revisited with Nicki Wells as "The Three Jewels") brought the refuge chant into Western mantra music.
Terms in the Glossary
Words from this page, explained in our A–Z reference.