Therigatha

Intoxicated with my complexion
figure, beauty, & fame;
haughty with youth,
    I despised other women.
Adorning this body
embellished to delude foolish men,
I stood at the door to the brothel:
    a hunter with snare laid out.
I showed off my ornaments,
and revealed many a private part.
I worked my manifold magic,
laughing out loud at the crowd.

Today, wrapped in a double cloak,
    my head shaven,
    having wandered for alms,
I sit at the foot of a tree
and attain the state of no-thought.
All ties -- human & divine -- have been cut.
Having cast off all effluents,
cooled am I,        unbound.

"Sick, putrid, unclean:
look, Nanda, at this physical heap.
Through contemplation of the foul,
develop your mind,
make it one, well-centered.

    As this [your body], so that.
    As that, so this.
It gives off a foul stench,
the delight of fools."

Considering it thus,
untiring, both day & night,
I, with my own discernment
    dissecting it,
        saw.

And as I, heedful,
    examined it aptly,
this body -- as it actually is --
was seen inside & out.

Then was I disenchanted with the body
    & dispassionate within:
Heedful, detached,
    calmed was I.

        Unbound.

V.4 -- Nanda, The Half-sister of the Awakened One {vv. 82-86}
[Hellmuth Hecker/Sister Khema, from Buddhist Women at the Time of The Buddha (WH 292/293), by Hellmuth Hecker, translated from the German by Sister Khema (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1982). Copyright ©1982 Buddhist Publication Society. Used with permission.]

Sick, impure and foul as well,
Nanda, see this congeries
With the unlovely, develop mind
Well-composed to singleness.

As is that, thus will this likewise be.
Exhaling foulness, evil smells,
A thing it is enjoyed by fools.

Diligently considering it,
By day and night thus seeing it,
With my own wisdom having seen,
I turned away, dispassionate.

With my diligence, carefully
I examined the body
And saw this as it really is --
Both within and without.

Unlusting and dispassionate
Within this body then was I:
By diligence from fetters freed,
Peaceful was I and quite cool.

Going forth through conviction
from home into homelessness,
I wandered this place & that,
greedy for gain & offerings.
Missing out on the foremost goal,
I pursued a lowly one.
Under the sway of defilements
I surrendered the goal
of the contemplative life.

Then, sitting in my dwelling,
I suddenly came to my senses:

I'm following a miserable path.
I'm under the sway of
        craving.
    Next to nothing, my life --
            crushed
    by aging & illness.
    Before the body breaks apart,
    I have no time
        for heedlessness.

After watching, as it actually was,
the rising & falling of aggregates,
I stood up with mind released,
the Awakened One's bidding
        done.

Ten children I bore
from this physical heap.
Then weak from that, aged,
I went to a nun.
She taught me the Dhamma:
    aggregates, sense spheres, & elements.
Hearing her Dhamma,
I cut off my hair & ordained.
Having purified the divine eye
while still a probationer,
I know my previous lives,
where I lived in the past.
I develop the theme-less meditation,
well-focused oneness.
I gain the liberation of immediacy --
from lack of clinging, unbound.
The five aggregates, comprehended,
stand like a tree with its root cut through.
    I spit on old age.
There is now no further becoming.

V.8 -- Sona, with Many Children {vv. 102-106}
[Hellmuth Hecker/Sister Khema, from Buddhist Women at the Time of The Buddha (WH 292/293), by Hellmuth Hecker, translated from the German by Sister Khema (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1982). Copyright ©1982 Buddhist Publication Society. Used with permission.]

Ten children having borne
from this bodily congeries,
so I, now weak and old,
approached a Bhikkhuni.

The Dhamma she taught me --
groups, sense-spheres and elements,
I heard the Dhamma,
and having shaved my hair, went forth.

While still a probationer
I purified the eye divine;
Former lives I knew,
and where I lived before.

One-pointed, well-composed,
the Signless I developed,
immediately released,
unclinging now and quenched!
Knowing the five groups well,
they still exist; but with their roots removed.
Unmovable am I,
on a stable basis sure,
now rebirth is no more.

I traveled before in a single cloth,
With shaven head, covered in dust,
Thinking of faults in the faultless,
While in the faulty seeing no faults.
When done was the day's abiding,
I went to Mount Vulture Peak
And saw the stainless Buddha
By the Order of Bhikkhus revered.
Then before Him my hands in añjali
Humbly, I bowed down on my knees.
"Come, Bhadda," He said to me:
And thus was I ordained.
Debt-free, I traveled for fifty years
In Anga, Magadha and Vajji,
In Kasi and Kosala, too,
Living on the alms of the land.
That lay-supporter -- wise man indeed --
May many merits accrue to him!
Who gave a robe to Bhadda for
Free of all ties is she.

[I thought:]

"Plowing the field with plows,
sowing the ground with seed,
supporting their wives & children,
young men gather up wealth.

So why is it that I,
    consummate in virtue,
    a doer of the teacher's bidding,
don't gain Unbinding?
I'm not lazy or proud."

Washing my feet, I noticed
        the
        water.

And in watching it flow from high
        to
        low,
    my heart was composed
    like a fine thoroughbred steed.

Then taking a lamp, I entered the hut,
    checked the bedding,
    sat down on the bed.

And taking a pin, I pulled out the wick:
    Like the flame's unbinding
    was the liberation
        of awareness.

V.10 -- Patacara, Preserver of the Vinaya {vv. 112-116}
[Hellmuth Hecker/Sister Khema, from Buddhist Women at the Time of The Buddha (WH 292/293), by Hellmuth Hecker, translated from the German by Sister Khema (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1982). Copyright ©1982 Buddhist Publication Society. Used with permission.]

With plows the fields are plowed;
With seed the earth is sown;
Thus wives and children feed;
So young men win their wealth.

Then why do I, of virtue pure,
Doing the Master's Teaching,
Not lazy nor proud,
Nibbana not attain?

Having washed my feet,
Then I watched that water,
Noticing the foot-water
Flowing from high to low.
With that the mind was calmed
Just as a noble, thoroughbred horse.

Having taken my lamp,
I went into my hut,
Inspected the sleeping-place,
Then sat upon the couch.

Having taken a pin,
I pushed the wick right down, and
Just as the lamp went out,
So all delusion of the heart went too.

[Patacara taught:]

"Taking the pestle,
young men grind the corn.
Supporting their wives & children,
they gather up wealth.
Do the Awakened One's bidding,
    which, having done,
    you'll have no regret.
Intent on tranquillity of awareness,
do the Awakened One's bidding.
Quickly:
    Having washed your feet,
    go sit to one side."

Hearing these words,
Patacara's bidding,
they washed their feet
and retired to one side.
Intent on tranquillity of awareness,
they did the Awakened One's bidding.
In the first watch of the night,
    they recollected their previous lives.
In the middle watch,
    purified the divine eye.
In the last,
    burst the mass of darkness.
Getting up, they bowed down to her feet.

"We have done your bidding.
Like the thirty devas honoring Indra,
unvanquished in battle,
we -- three-knowledge women,
    fermentation-free --
will continue honoring you."

V.11 -- Patacara's Thirty Students {vv. 117-121}
[Hellmuth Hecker/Sister Khema, from Buddhist Women at the Time of The Buddha (WH 292/293), by Hellmuth Hecker, translated from the German by Sister Khema (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1982). Copyright ©1982 Buddhist Publication Society. Used with permission.]

Having taken flails,
Young men thresh the corn.
Thus wives and children feed;
So young men win their wealth.
So likewise as to Buddha's Teachings,
From doing which there's no remorse.
Quickly cleanse your feet
And sit you down alone.
Devote yourselves to calm of mind,
And thus do Buddha's Teachings.
When they heard these words --
Patacara's instructions,
Having washed their feet,
They sat down, each one alone,
Devoted themselves to calm of mind.
And thus followed the Buddha's Teachings.
In the night's first watch
Past births were remembered;
In the middle watch of the night
The eye divine was purified;
In the night's last watch
They rent asunder the mass of gloom.
Having risen, they bowed at her feet,
Her instructions having done;
We shall live revering you
Like the thirty gods to Indra,
Undefeated in war.
We are with triple knowledge true
And gone are all the taints.

Before, I had fallen on evil times:
    no husband, no children,
    no relatives, friends,
    no way to obtain clothing & food.
So, taking a staff & bowl in hand,
begging for alms from house to house,
feverish from the cold & heat,
I wandered for seven full years.
Then seeing a nun
obtaining food & drink,
I approached her & said:
    "Let me go forth into homelessness."

She, Patacara, from sympathy,
let me go forth;
then, exhorting me,
urged me on to the highest goal.
Hearing her words,
I did her bidding.
Her exhortation was not in vain.
    I'm a three-knowledge woman,
    fermentation-free.