Aṅgulimāla's Words of Truth (Aṅgulimāla Paritta)
The words of truth Aṅgulimāla spoke to a woman in a difficult labour, from the Aṅgulimāla Sutta, with meaning and the story
The verse
Yatohaṁ bhagini, ariyāya jātiyā jāto,
nābhijānāmi sañcicca pāṇaṁ jīvitā voropetā,
tena saccena sotthi te hotu, sotthi gabbhassa.
Meaning
Sister, since I was born in the noble birth, I do not know of ever having deliberately taken the life of a living being. By this truth, may you be safe, and may your baby be safe.
Why the verse was spoken
Tena hi tvaṁ, aṅgulimāla, yena sā itthī tenupasaṅkama.
Meaning
The Aṅgulimāla Sutta tells how one morning Aṅgulimāla, walking for alms in Sāvatthī, saw a woman in a difficult, obstructed labour and thought, 'How beings suffer!' He told the Buddha, who said: 'Well then, Aṅgulimāla, go to that woman' (the Pali line above) 'and tell her: since I was born, I do not know of ever having deliberately taken a life.' Aṅgulimāla answered that this would be a lie, for he had killed many. So the Buddha had him say instead, 'since I was born in the noble birth'. He went and said it, and the sutta says the woman and her baby were safe. Not long after, living alone and practising hard, he became an arahant.
Machine translation from: Aṅgulimāla Sutta (MN 86), Pali text, SuttaCentral · The Thai paritta chanting book of 1966, chapter 9, Thai Wikisource
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