Khuddaka Nikaya - Psalms of the Sisters - Psalms of Single Verses

Khuddaka Nikaya - Psalms of the Sisters ( Therigatha ) - Psalms of Single Verses


CANTO I
PSALMS OF SINGLE VERSES
I
Verse uttered by a certain Sister, a Bhikkhunī of Name Unknown.
Sleep softly, little Sturdy, take thy rest
At ease, wrapt in the robe thyself hast made.
Stilled are the passions that would rage within,
Withered as potherbs in the oven dried. (1)

How was she reborn?
Long ago, a certain daughter of one of the clans became a fervent believer in
the teaching of the Buddha Koṇāgamana, 78 and entertained him hospitably. She
had an arbour made with boughs, a draped ceiling, and a sanded floor, and did
him honour with flowers and perfumes. And all her life doing meritorious acts,
she was reborn among the gods, and then again among men when Kassapa was Buddha,
under whom she renounced the world. Reborn again in heaven till this
Buddha-dispensation, she was finally born in a great nobleman's family at
Vesālī. From the sturdy build of her body they called her Sturdykin. She became
the devoted wife of a young noble. When the Master came to Vesālī, she was
convinced by his teaching, and became a lay-disciple. Anon, hearing the Great
Pajāpatī the Elder preaching the Doctrine, the wish arose in her to leave the
world, and she told this to her husband. He would not consent; so she went on
performing her duties, reflecting on the sweetness of the doctrine, and living
devoted to insight. Then, one day in the kitchen, while the curry was cooking, a
mighty flame of fire shot up, and burnt all the food with much crackling. She,
watching it, made it a basis for rapt meditation on the utter impermanence of
all things. Thereby she was established in the Fruition of the Path of
No-Return. Thenceforth she wore no more jewels and ornaments. When her husband
asked her the reason, she told him how incapable she felt of living a domestic
life. So he brought her, as Visākha brought Dhammadinnā,79 with a large
following, to Great Pajāpatī the Gotamid, and said: 'Let the reverend Sisters
give her ordination.' And Pajāpatī did so, and showed her the Master; and the
Master, emphasizing, as was his custom, the visible basis whereby she had
attained, spoke the verse above.
Now, when she had attained Arahantship, the Sister repeated that verse in her
exultation, wherefore this verse became her verse.



78 Koṇāgamana and Kassapa successively preceded Gotama as Buddhas.
79 See Ps. xii.



II
Verse wherewith the Exalted One frequently exhorted Muttā while a Student.
Get free, Liberta, 80 free e'en as the Moon
From out the Dragon's jaws 81 sails clear on high.
Wipe off the debts that hinder thee, 82 and so,
With heart at liberty, break thou thy fast. (2)

This is the verse of a student named Muttā. She, too, being one who had made a
resolve under former Buddhas, went on heaping up good of age-enduring efficacy
in this and that state of becoming. Finally, she was reborn in this
Buddha-dispensation as the child of an eminent brahmin at Sāvatthī, and named
Muttā. And in her twentieth year, her destiny being fully ripe, she renounced
the world under the Great Pajāpatī the Gotamid, and studied the exercises for
ecstatic insight. Returning one day from her round for alms, she discharged her
duties toward her seniors, and then going apart to rest, and seated out of
sight, she began to concentrate herself. Then the Master, sitting in the
'Fragrant Chamber'83 of the Vihāra, sent forth glory, and revealing himself as
if seated before her, uttered the verse above. And she, steadfast in that
exhortation, not long after attained Arahantship, and so attaining, exulted in
the words of that verse. Completing her studies and promoted to full rank, she
yet again uttered it, when about to pass away.



80 Muttā=freed (woman).
81 Cf. the 'Ford' Jātaka (Buddhist Birth Stories, 253):
'He has gained freedom–as the moon set free,
When an eclipse has passed, from Rāhu's jaws.'
82 Cf. Dialogues of the Buddha, i. 82-84.
83 Gandha-kūṭi, the traditional term for the Buddha's own room, especially
that at the Jetavana Vihāra, Sāvatthi.



III
Puṇṇā.
The following verse is that of a student named Puṇṇā.84 She, heaping up good of
age-enduring efficacy under former Buddhas in this and that state of becoming,
was born–when the world was empty of a Saviour Buddha–as a fairy, by the River
Candabhāgā.85 One day she worshipped a certain Silent 86 Buddha with a wreath of
reeds. Thereby gaining heaven, she was, in this Buddha-dispensation, reborn as
the child of a leading burgess of Sāvatthi and named Puṇṇā. When she had so
dwelt for twenty years, her destiny then being fully ripe, she heard the Great
Pajāpatī teach the doctrine, and renounced the world. Becoming a student, she
began to practise insight. And the Master from the 'Fragrant Chamber' shed a
glory, and spake this verse:
Fill up, Puṇṇā,87 the orb of holy life,
E'en as on fifteenth day the full-orb'd moon.
Fill full the perfect knowledge of the Path,
And scatter all the gloom of ignorance.88 (3)

Hearing this, her insight grew, and she attained Arahantship. This verse is the
expression of her exultation and the affirmation of her AÑÑĀ.89



84 Cf. Ps. lxv., note.
85 Ca=Cha. The word is equivalent to 'moonlight.' Cf. Ps. xxix., xxxii.
86 A free rendering of Pacceka-Buddha–one enlightened for himself alone, not a
world-Saviour.
87 Puṇṇā='full.'
88 The words 'holy life,' 'of the path,' 'of ignorance,' are from the
Commentary.
89 Pronounce Anyā = literally, her having come to know. A subjective synonym
of Arahantship.



IV
Tissā.
The following verse is that of Tissā, a student. Heaping up merit under former
Buddhas, Tissā was, in this Buddha-dispensation, reborn at Kapilavatthu in the
noble clan of the Sākiyas. Made a lady of the Bodhisat's court, she renounced
the world with Great Pajāpatī the Gotamid, and practised herself in insight. To
her the Master appeared as to the foregoing Sisters, and said:
O Tissā! train thyself in the trainings three.
See that the great conjuncture 90 now at hand
Pass thee not by! Unloose all other yokes,
And fare thou forth purged of the deadly Drugs. 91 (4)

And she, when she heard the verse, increased in insight, and attained
Arahantship. Thereafter she was wont to repeat the lines.



90 There is more in this little poem than is at first sight apparent.
Tissā–i.e., (a girl) born under the lucky star or constellation of Tissa, a
celestial archer (partly identical with Cancer)–suggests a word-play on tisso
sikkhāyo, the three branches of religious training (morals, mind, 'insight').
Again, that a word-play on yoga is intended is intelligible even without the
Commentary. 'Let the lucky yoga (conjuncture)–to wit, your rebirth as human,
your possession of all your faculties (read indriya-avekallaŋ), the advent of
a Buddha, your getting conviction–not slip; for by this yoking of
opportunities you can free yourself from the Four Yokes–viz., sense, renewed
existence, opinion, ignorance–which bind you to the Wheel of Life.
91 The Four Āsavas, or Intoxicants (another metaphor for the Four Bonds, or
Yokes).



V-X
Another Sister Tissā.
Tissā! lay well upon thy heart the yoke
Of noblest culture. See the moment come!
Let it not pass thee by! for many they
Who mourn in misery that moment past. (5)

Dhīrā.
Come, O Dhīrā, reach up and touch the goal
Where all distractions cease, where sense is stilled,
Where dwelleth bliss; win thou Nibbana, win
That sure Salvation 92 which hath no beyond. (6)

Another Sister Dhīrā.
Dhīrā, brave 93 Sister! who hath valiantly
Thy faculties in noblest culture trained,
Bear to this end thy last incarnate frame,
For thou hast conquered Māra and his host. (7)

Mittā.
Mittā, thou Sister friend! 94 who camest forth
Convinced in heart, love thou in thought and deed
Friends worthy of thy love. 95 So train thyself
In ways of good to win the safe, sure Peace. (8)

Bhadrā.
Bhadrā, who camest forth convinced in heart,
To sure felicity, O fortunate!96
That heart devote. Develop 97 all that's good,
Faring to uttermost Security. (9)

Upasamā.
Upasamā! cross thou serene and calm 98
The raging difficult Flood where death doth reign.
Bear to this end thy last incarnate frame,
For thou hast vanquished Māra and his host. (10)

Of all these six Sisters the story is similar to that of Tissā (IV.), with this
exception: Dhīrā, called 'another Sister Dhīrā,' had no glory-verse pronounced
to her, but was troubled in heart at the Master's teaching. Leaning on his
words, she strove for insight, and when she had reached Arahantship, she
declaimed her verse in exultation. All the others did the same.



92 Yogakkhema, a term adapted from secular use, therein meaning well-being or
security in possession.
93 Her name means 'brave,' 'heroic.'
94 Mittā='friend'; but see note 2 to Ps. xxv.
95 'In thought and deed,' 'worthy of thy love,' are from the Commentary.
'Peace' is another rendering of yogakkhema, so is 'security' (verse 9).
96 Bhadrā=Felicia.
97 The graceful progression–bhadraratā bhava, bhāvehi . . . cannot well be
reproduced. It is merely suggested by 'devote. Develop.'
98 Upăsămā=tranquil, calm.




THRESHING RICE IN 'MORTAR,' BANDIPUR, KASHMIR.
To face p. 14.
XI
Muttā99
Muttā, heaping up good under former Buddhas, was, in this Buddha-dispensation,
born in the land of Kosala as the daughter of a poor brahmin named Oghāṭaka.
Come to proper age, she was given to a hunchbacked brahmin; but she told him she
could not continue in the life of the house, and induced him to consent to her
leaving the world. Exercising herself in insight, her thoughts still ran on
external objects of interest. So she practised self-control, and, repeating her
verse, strove after insight till she won Arahantship; then exulting, she
repeated:
O free, indeed! O gloriously free
Am I in freedom from three crooked things:–
From quern, from mortar, from my crookback'd lord! 100
Ay, but I'm free from rebirth and from death,
And all that dragged me back is hurled away. (11)



99 Cf. Ps. ii.
100 The Thera Sumangala also celebrates his release from three crooked
things–the sickle, the plough, and the spade. See Ps. xxi.



XII
Dhammadinnā.
Now, she, in the time when Padumuttara was Buddha, lived at Haŋsavatī in a state
of servitude; and because she ministered and did honour to one of the chief
apostles when he rose from his cataleptic trance, she was reborn in heaven and
so on, among gods and men, till Phussa was Buddha. Then she worked merit by
doubling the gift prescribed by her husband to the Master's half-brothers while
they were staying in a servant's house. And when Kassapa was Buddha, she came to
birth in the house of Kiki, King of Kāsī, as one of the Seven Sisters, his
daughters,101 and for 20,000 years lived a holy life. . . . Finally, in this
Buddha-dispensation, she was reborn of a clansman's family at Rājagaha, and
became the wife of Visākha, a leading citizen. Now one day her husband went to
hear the Master teaching, and became One-who-returns-no-more. When he came home,
Dhammadinnā met him as he went up the stairs; but he leant not on her
outstretched hand, nor spoke to her at supper. And she asked: 'Dear sir, why did
you not take my hand? Why do you not talk to me? Have I done anything amiss?'
''Tis for no fault in you, Dhammadinnā; but from henceforth I am not fit to
touch a woman or take pleasure in food, for of such is the doctrine now borne in
upon me. Do you according as you wish, either continuing to dwell here, or
taking as much wealth as you need and going back to your family.' 'Nay, dear
sir, I will make no such goings back. Suffer me to leave the world.' 'It is
well, Dhammadinnā,' replied Visākha, and sent her to the Bhikkhunīs in a golden
palanquin. Admitted to the Order, she shortly after asked permission of her
teachers to go into retreat, saying: 'Mothers, my heart hath no delight in a
place of crowds; I would go into a village abode.' The Bhikkhunīs brought her
thither, and while there, because in her past lives she had subjugated the
complexities of thought, word, and deed, she soon attained Arahantship, together
with thorough mastery of the form and meaning of the Dhamma.102 Thereupon she
thought: 'Now have I reached the summit. What shall I do here any longer? I will
even go to Rājagaha and worship the Master, and many of my kinsfolk will,
through me, acquire merit.' So she returned with her Bhikkhunīs. Then Visākha,
hearing of her return, curious to know why she came, interviewed her with
questions on the Khandhas and the like. And Dhammadinnā answered every question
as one might cut a lotus-stalk with a knife, and finally referred him to the
Master. The Master praised her great wisdom, as it is told in the Lesser Vedalla
(Miscellany) Sutta,103 and ranked her foremost among the Sisters who could
preach.
But it was while she was dwelling in the country, and, while yet in the lowest
path, was acquiring insight to reach the highest, that she uttered her verse:
In whom desire to reach the final rest
Is born suffusing all the mind of her,
Whose heart by lure of sense-desire no more
Is held–BOUND UPSTREAM:–so shall she be called.104 (12)



101 The seven most illustrious women of early Buddhism have been grouped as
these Seven Sisters in the Apadāna: Khemā, Uppalavaṇṇā, Paṭācārā, Bhaddā (Ps.
xlvi.), Kisāgotamī, Dhammadinnā, and Visākhā, the wealthy lay sister. On the
last see Warren, Buddhism in Translations, 451 ſ.
102 Literally, 'together with the Paṭisambhidā's,' or four aspects of
doctrinal knowledge. These four–analytical knowledge in meaning, doctrine,
interpretation, and distinctions–are very variously interpreted, both in works
of Abhidhamma content (Paṭisambhidāmagga, Vibhanga) and in commentarial
writings of various later dates (see Childers's Dictionary, s.v.). The phrase
is of commentarial date, and recurs frequently in Dhammapāla (see following
Psalms).
103 In the Majjhima Nikāya, i., p. 299 ſſ.; discussed by the writer in
J.R.A.S., 1894, p. 321. Cf. Mrs. Bode in J.R.A.S., 1893, p. 562 ſſ.
104 In the mythology of Buddhism respecting the after-life, the Uddhaŋ-soto
was one who, having destroyed here below only the first five of the ten
Fetters (to destroy all ten meant Nibbana in this life), was reborn
successively in an ever higher heaven, till, reaching the Supreme or Akaniṭṭha
Sphere, he there passed away. The expression means rather rising above the
stream of saŋsāra than going against it; but it is ambiguous, and, anyway, the
upward effort is expressed in either metaphor. The Commentary has, as the last
word, not ti vuccati ('is called'), but vimuccati ('is set free'). As it does
not comment on the latter term, I incline to hold it a misreading.



XIII
Visākhā.
Her story is similar to that of the Sister Dhīrā.105 After winning Arahantship
she pondered on the bliss of emancipation, and thus announced AÑÑĀ:
The Buddha's will be done! See that ye do
His will. An ye have done it, never more
Need ye repent the deed. Wash, then, in haste
Your feet and sit ye down aloof; alone.106 (13)

Thus she admonished others to follow her example.



105 Ps. vi.
106 Cf. Ps. xlviii.



XIV
Sumanā.
Her story is similar to that of Sister Tissā.107 Sending forth glory, the Master
revealed himself as if seated in front of her, and spake:
Hast thou not seen sorrow and ill in all
The springs of life? Come thou not back to birth!
Cast out the passionate desire again to Be.
So shalt thou go thy ways calm and serene. (14)



107 Ps. iv.



XV
Uttarā.
Her story is also similar to that of Sister Tissā.108 And it was the
'Glory-verse' through which she won Arahantship that she declaimed in
exultation:
Well have I 109 disciplined myself in act,
In speech and eke in thought, rapt and intent.
Craving with root of craving 110 is o'ercome;
Cool am I now; I know Nibbana's peace. 111 (15)



108 Ps. iv.
109 Āsi. The aorist tense is applicable to first, second, or third person
singular, and 'myself' is not in the Pali. Hence the former half of the verse
might have been said equally to or by the Therī.
110 I.e., ignorance (Commentary).
111 Sītibhūt' amhi nibbutā, lit., 'Become cool am I, content,' or 'at peace.'
See Introduction. The phrase is an oft-recurring refrain, implying–whatever
other implications of peace, happiness, serenity went with it–the attainment
of Nibbana. 'Rapt and intent' (samādhinā) is the Commentary's explanation of
'disciplined thought.'



XVI
Sumanā
(Who left the world when old).
She too, having made her resolve under former Buddhas, and heaping up good in
this life and in that, was, in this Buddha-dispensation, born at Sāvatthī as the
sister of the King of Kosala. Hearing the Master preach the doctrine to the King
Pasenadi in the discourse beginning, 'There are four young creatures, sire, who
may not be disregarded,' 112 she believed, and was established in the Refuges
and the Precepts. Fain to leave the world, she put off doing so that she might
take care of her grandmother as long as she lived. After the grandmother's
death, Sumanā went, accompanied by the King, to the Vihāra, taking much treasure
in carpets and shawls, and presenting them to the Order. And hearing the Master
teach, she attained the fruit of the Path of No-return, and asked for
ordination. And the Master, discerning the maturity of her knowledge, spake
thus:
Happily rest, thou venerable dame!
Rest thee, wrapt in the robe thyself hast made.
Stilled are the passions that have raged within.
Cool art thou now, knowing Nibbana's peace. (16)

And when he had finished, she won Arahantship, together with thorough knowledge
of the Norm in form and in meaning. 113 In her exultation she uttered that same
verse, so that it became the announcement of her AÑÑĀ. Straightway she left the
world for the Order.



112 Contained in Saŋyūtta Nikāya, i. 68-70; see also 97, and Rhys Davids,
Buddhist India, 10, on the affection of brother and sister for their
grandparent. The 'young creatures' in the parable are a prince, a serpent, a
fire, and a bhikkhu. All four are great potential agencies for good or evil.
Pronounce Pase'nădĭ.
113 See p. 15, n. 1.



XVII
Dhammā.
She, too, having made her resolve under former Buddhas, and heaping up merit in
this and that state of becoming, was, in this Buddha-dispensation, born in a
respectable family at Sāvatthī. Given in marriage to a suitable husband, she
became converted, and desired to leave the world, but her husband would not
consent. So she waited till after his death, and then entered the Order. One
day, returning to the Vihāra from seeking alms, she lost her balance and fell.
Making just that her base of insight, she won Arahantship with thorough
knowledge of the Norm in form and in meaning. 114 And, triumphing, she uttered
this verse:
Far had I wandered for my daily food;
Weary with shaking limbs I reached my rest,
Leaning upon my staff, when even there
I fell to earth.–Lo! all the misery
Besetting this poor mortal frame lay bare
To inward vision. 115 Prone the body lay;
The heart of me rose up in liberty. (17)



114 See p. 15, n. 1.
115 The text has simply disvā, 'seeing.' But the word, when applied to
spiritual insight, has the glamour of our 'Seer'; hence the Commentary's
comment, 'Seeing with the eye of Insight.' 'Rose up' in the Pali is 'was set
at liberty.'



XVIII
Sanghā.
Her story is like that of Sister Dhīrā, 116 but her verse is as follows:
Home have I left, for I have left my world!
Child have I left, and all my cherish'd herds!
Lust have I left, and Ill-will, too, is gone,
And Ignorance have I put far from me;
Craving and root of Craving overpowered,
Cool am I now, knowing Nibbana's peace. (18)



116 Presumably Ps. vii.



Next: Canto II. Psalms of Two Verses