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

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


CANTO II
PSALMS OF TWO VERSES
XIX
Abhirūpa-Nandā.
BORN in the time of the Buddha Vipassi, in his native town of Bandhumatī, as the
daughter of a wealthy burgess, she became a pious lay-adherent, and at the
Master's death she made an offering to the shrine of his ashes of a golden
umbrella 117 surrounded with jewels. Reborn for this in various heavens, she
was, in this Buddha-dispensation, reborn at Kapilavatthu as the daughter of the
chief wife of Khemaka, the Sākiyan, and named Nandā. But because of her
excessive beauty, charm, and loveliness, she was known as Nandā the Fair.
Now, on the day when she was to choose among her suitors,118 Carabhūta, her
young Sākiyan kinsman, died. Then her parents made her leave the world against
her will. But she, even after she had entered the Order, was infatuated with her
own beauty, and, fearing the Master's rebuke, avoided his presence. Now the
Exalted One knew that she was ripe for knowledge, and directed the Great
Pajājatī to let all the Bhikkhunīs come to him for instruction. Nandā sent
another in her place. And the Exalted One said, 'Let no one come by proxy.' So
she was compelled to come. And the Exalted One, by his mystic power, conjured up
a beautiful woman, and showed her becoming aged and fading, causing anguish to
arise in Nandā. And he addressed her in these words:
Behold, Nandā, the foul compound, diseased,
Impure! Compel thy heart to contemplate
What is not fair to view. So steel thyself
And concentrate the well-composèd mind. (19)
That ponder where no Threefold Sign 119 is seen.
Cast out the baneful bias of conceit.
Hath the mind mastered vain imaginings, 120
Then mayst thou go thy ways, calm and serene. (20)

And when he had finished speaking, she attained Arahantship. Repeating to
herself the verses, she made them the announcement of her AÑÑĀ.



117 Or tee, surmounting the cupola. Vipassi was the first of the seven Buddhas
of the Pitakas.
118 I read vāreyyadivase (cf. p. 276, verse 464), which makes sense anyway. It
would appear that Carabhūta (pronounced Chără-) would have been the object of
her choice.
119 Animittaŋ, ideals not depending on what is impermanent, or on what makes
for sorrow, or on the presence of a persisting soul-entity (Rhys Davids,
Yogāvacara's Manual, xxvii., xxviii.).
120 Māna, conceit, pride, vanity, one of the seven forms of bias. Majjh. Nik.,
i. 109, 110; Vibh., 340. Translator's Buddh. Psy., 298, n. 3.



XX
Jentī (or Jentā).
The story of her past and present is like that of Nandā the Fair; but it was at
Vesālī, in the princely family of the Licchavis, that she was reborn. 121 There
is this further difference: she attained Arahantship after hearing the Master
preach the Dhamma, and it was when reflecting on the change that had come over
her that she, in joy, uttered these verses:
The Seven Factors of the awakened mind 122–
Seven ways whereby we may Nibbana win–
All, all have I developed and made ripe,
Even according to the Buddha's word. (21)
For I therein have seen as with mine eyes
The Bless'd, the Exalted One.123 Last of all lives
Is this that makes up Me. The round of births
Is vanquishèd–Ne'er shall I be again! (22)



121 Cf. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, 25, 40.
122 The Bojjhangas or Sambojjhangas; lit., parts or limbs of Bodhi. They were
mindfulness, research in the Dhamma, energy, joy, serenity, concentration,
equanimity (B. Psy., 84, n. 2. Cf. Ps. xxxi.).
123 'For inasmuch as the Exalted One is the very Body of the Norm, to discern
the Ariyan Dhamma which is His is to see Him. The Buddhas and other Ariyans
are said to be seen, not only by the sight of their visible shape, but also by
insight into the Ariyan Dhamma, according as He said: "Verily, Vakkhali, he
that seeth the Norm, he seeth me"' (Saŋyutta Nikāya, iii., p. 120). '"The
Ariyan disciple who hears, brethren, is one who sees the Ariyans"'
(Commentary).



XXI
Sumangala's Mother.
She, too, having made her resolve under former Buddhas, and heaping up good in
this rebirth and that, was born under this Buddha-dispensation in a poor
family at Sāvatthī, and was married to a rush-plaiter. Her firstborn was a
son, come for the last time to birth, who grew up to become the Elder
Sumangala and an Arahant.124 And her name not becoming known, she was called
in the Pali text a certain unknown Therī, and is known as Sumangala's mother.
She became a Bhikkhunī, and one day, while reflecting on all she had suffered
as a laywoman, she was much affected, and, her insight quickening, she
attained Arahantship, with thorough knowledge of the form and meaning of the
Dhamma. Thereupon she exclaimed: O woman well set free! how free am I, 125
How throughly free from kitchen drudgery!
Me stained and squalid 'mong my cooking-pots
My brutal husband ranked as even less
Than the sunshades he sits and weaves alway.126 (23)

Purged now of all my former lust and hate,
I dwell, musing at ease beneath the shade
Of spreading boughs–O, but 'tis well with me! (24)



124 This is the Elder Sumangala, who in his verse (Theragāthā, 43) celebrates
his release from three 'crooked things' (supra, Ps. xi.)–rom sickle, plough,
and spade.
125 Expressed in the text by the representative drudgery of the 'mortar'
(musala).
126 In the Pali the first two lines depart from the śloka metre, being
apparently a curious variety of some metre I cannot identify. See
Introduction. The last two lines revert to the śloka, sukhato being an obvious
gloss. Quite literally, the quaint and elliptical passage runs: 'The shameless
one me "sunshade" only,' which the Commentary explains as 'My husband calls me
not even an umbrella which he makes for his livelihood.' There seems nothing
in verses or Commentary to justify Dr. Neumann's inference that her husband
lived on her adulterous earnings. Toil has spoilt her looks, and he takes no
further pleasure in them.



XXII
Aḍḍhakāsī.
Born of a respectable family, in the time of Kassapa Buddha, she won
understanding, and became a Bhikkhunī, established in the precepts. But she
reviled an Arahant Elder Sister by calling her a prostitute,127 and for this she
went to purgatory. In this Buddha-dispensation she was reborn in the kingdom of
Kāsī as the child of a distinguished and prosperous citizen. But because of the
persistent effect of her former evil speech, she became herself a prostitute.
How she left the world and was ordained by special messenger is related in the
Culla Vagga. 128 For she wished to go to Sāvatthī to be ordained by the Exalted
One. But the libertines of Benares barred the ways, so she sent and asked the
Exalted One's advice, and he permitted her to be ordained by a messenger. Then
she, working at insight, not long after obtained Arahantship, with thorough
knowledge of the Dhamma in form and meaning. Thereupon she exclaimed:
No less my fee was than the Kāsī realm
Paid in revènue–this was based on that,
Value for value,–so the sheriff fixed. (25)

But irksome now is all my loveliness;
I weary of it, disillusionized.
Ne'er would I more, again and yet again,
Run on the round of rebirth and of death!
Now real and true for me the Triple Lore.129
Accomplished is the bidding of the Lord. (26)



127 Cf. Ps. lxvi.
128 Vinaya Texts (S.B.E. xx.), iii., p. 360. (Pronounced 'Chul'la.') Benares
was the capital of Kāsī. On the name Aḍḍha Kāsī (lit., half-Kāsī), see op.
cit., ii. 195, n. 2.
129 Tisso vijjā. The Brahmanic phrase, tevijjo, often recurring below –e.g.,
Ps. xxxvii.–and signifying 'versed in the three Vedas,' was, according to
Anguttara-Nikāya, i. 163-5, adopted by the Buddha and applied to the three
attainments of paññā, entitled reminiscence of former births, the Heavenly
Eye, and the destruction of the Asavas.



XXIII
Cittā.
She, too, having made her resolve under former Buddhas, and heaping up good of
age-enduring efficacy in this rebirth and that, was born in the 94th æon 130 as
a fairy. She worshipped with offering of flowers a Silent (Pacceka) Buddha. 131
And after many other births among men and gods, she was, in this
Buddha-dispensation, born at Rājagaha in the family of a leading burgess. When
she had come to years of discretion she heard the Master teaching at the gate of
Rājagaha, and, becoming a believer, she was ordained by the Great Pajāpatī the
Gotamid. And at length, in her old age, when she had climbed the Vulture's Peak,
and had done the exercises of a recluse, her insight expanded, and she won to
Arahantship. Reflecting thereon, she gave utterance as follows:
Though I be suffering and weak, and all
My youthful spring be gone, yet have I climbed,
Leaning upon my staff, the mountain crest. (27)
Thrown from my shoulder hangs my cloak, o'erturned
My little bowl. So 'gainst the rock I lean
And prop this self of me, and break away
The wildering gloom that long had closed me in. (28)



130 I.e., before this present age.
131 Cf. Ps. iii.



XXIV
Mettikā.
Heaping up merit under former Buddhas, she was born during the time of
Siddhattha, 132 the Exalted One, in a burgess's family, and worshipped at his
shrine by offering there a jewelled girdle. After many births in heaven and on
earth, through the merit thereof, she became, in this Buddha-dispensation, the
child of an eminent brahmin at Rājagaha. In other respects her case is like the
preceding one, save that it was another hill corresponding to Vulture's Peak up
which she climbed. 133
She, too, reflecting on what she had won, said in exultation:
Though I be suffering and weak, and all
My youthful spring be gone, yet have I come,
Leaning upon my staff, and clomb aloft
The mountain peak. (29)
My cloak thrown off,
My little bowl o'erturned: so sit I here
Upon the rock. And o'er my spirit sweeps
The breath 134 of Liberty! I win, I win
The Triple Lore! The Buddha's will is done!(30)



132 One of the (later elaborated) twenty-four Buddhas.
133 Rājgir (the ancient burg) is surrounded by some seven hills. See
Cunningham's Archæological Survey, iii., Pl. xli.
134 Lit., 'Now is my heart (or mind) set free!' For lovers of the mountain,
the 'great air' and the sense of spiritual freedom will be tightly bound up.
The age of the two climbers throws into relief the arduousness of their
spiritual ascent.




THE GIJJHAKŪṬI (VULTURE PEAK) RANGE ABOVE OLD RĀJAGAHA.
To face p. 28.
XXV
Mittā.135
Born in the time of Vipassi Buddha of a noble family, and become a lady of his
father's court, she won meritorious karma by bestowing food and precious raiment
on an Arahant Elder Sister. 136 Born finally, in this Buddha-dispensation, in
the princely family of the Sākiyas, at Kapilavatthu, she left the world together
with Great Pajāpatī the Gotamid, and, going through the requisite training for
insight, not long after won Arahantship.
Reflecting thereon, joy and gladness stirred her to say:
On full-moon day and on the fifteenth day,
And eke the eighth of either half the month,
I kept the feast; I kept the precepts eight,
The extra fasts, 137 enamoured of the gods,
And fain to dwell in homes celestial. (31)

To-day one meal, head shaved, a yellow robe–
Enough for me. I want no heaven of gods.
Heart's pain, heart's pining, have I trained away. (32)



135 Mettā in the Commentary. Mittā=amica. Cf. Ps. viii. Both Mittā and Mettikā
(Ps. xxiv.) may be patronymics, derived ultimately from Mitra (Mithra), the
Vedic propitious, friendly Day or Sun god.
136 In the Apadāna it is 'a religieux' of no specified Order.
137 See Rhys Davids, Buddhism, 139-141.



XXVI
Abhayā's Mother.
Heaping up merit under former Buddhas, she, in the time of Tissa Buddha,138
saw him going round for alms, and with glad heart took his bowl and placed in
it a spoonful of food. Reborn for that among gods and among men, she was born
also for that, in this Buddha-dispensation, and became the town belle of
Ujjenī, by name Padumavatī.139 And King Bimbisāra (of Magadha) heard of her,
and expressed to his chaplain the wish to see her. By the power of his spells,
the chaplain summoned a Yakkha who, by his might, brought the King to Ujjenī.
And when she afterwards sent word to the King that she was with child by him,
he sent back word, saying: 'If it be a son, let me see him when he is grown.'
And she bore a son and called him Abhaya. When he was seven years old she told
him who was his father, and sent him to Bimbisāra. The King loved the boy, and
let him grow up with the boys of his court. His conversion and ordination is
told in the Psalms of the Elders.140 And, later on, his mother heard her son
preach the Dhamma, and she, too, left the world and afterwards attained
Arahantship, with thorough grasp of the Dhamma in form and meaning. She
thereupon recalled and repeated the verse wherewith her son had admonished
her, and added her own thereto: 'Upward from sole of foot, O mother dear,
Downward from crown of hair this body see.
Is't not impure, the evil-smelling thing?' (33)
This have I pondered. meditating still,
Till every throb of lust is rooted out.
Expunged is all the fever of desire.
Cool am I now and calm–Nibbana's peace. (34)



138 One of the twenty-four.
139 I.e., she of the Lotus
140 Abhaya's verses (Th., 26, 98) do not refer to his mother.



XXVII
Abhayā.141
She, too, having made her resolve under former Buddhas, and heaping up merit of
age-enduring efficacy in this and that state of becoming, was, in the time of
Sikhi Buddha,142 reborn in a great noble's family, and became the chief queen of
his father Aruṇa. And one day she worshipped the Exalted One with offering of
red lotuses given her by the King, when Sikhi Buddha, at alms-time, entered the
palace. Reborn for this among gods and men, she was, in this
Buddha-dispensation, born once more at Ujjenī in a respectable family, and
became the playmate of Abhaya's mother. And when the latter had left the world,
Abhayā, for love of her, also took orders. Dwelling with her at Rājagaha, she
went one day to Cool-Grove to contemplate on a basis of some foul thing.143 The
Master, seated in his Fragrant Chamber, caused her to see before her the kind of
object she had been directed to choose. Seeing the vision, dread seized her.
Then the Master, sending forth glory, appeared as if seated before her, and
said:
Brittle, O Abhayā, the body is,
Whereto the worldling's happiness is bound.
For me I shall lay down this mortal frame,
Mindful and self-possessed in all I do. (35)
For all my heart was in the work whereby
I struggled free from all that breedeth Ill.
Craving have I destroyed, and brought to pass
That which the Buddhas have revealed to men.144 (36)

And when he had finished speaking she attained Arahantship. Exulting herein, she
turned the verses round into an address to herself.



141 Fearless.
142 Second of the Seven Buddhas.
143 B. Psy., p. 69. The 'foul things' were corpses or human bones, such as
might be seen in any charnel field, where the dead were exposed and not
cremated. I have before me a photograph of a Ceylonese bhikkhu seated in the
cleft of a rock contemplating two skulls and other bones lying before him–a
modern snapshot of a scene that might be 2,500 years old instead of 250 days.
144 Lit. (as in many other verses), 'done is the will, or rather the system or
teaching (sāsanaŋ) of the Buddha.' Verses 36, 38, and 41 (except the last two
lines) are in the text identical, though varied in translation.



XXVIII
Sāmā.
She, too, having made her resolve under former Buddhas, and heaping up good of
age-enduring efficacy in this and that state of becoming, being reborn in
fortunate conditions, took birth, in this Buddha-dispensation, at Kosambī, in
the family of an eminent burgess. When her dear friend, the lay-disciple
Sāmāvatī, died, she, in her distress, left the world. But being unable to subdue
her grief for her friend, she was unable to grasp the Ariyan Way. Now, while she
was seated in the sitting-room, listening to Elder Ānanda preaching, she was
established in insight, and, on the seventh day after, attained Arahantship,
with thorough grasp of the Dhamma in form and meaning.
And reflecting on what she had won, she expressed it in this psalm:
Four times, nay, five, I sallied from my cell,
And roamed afield to find the peace of mind
I sought in vain, and governance of thoughts
I could not bring into captivity. 145 (37)
To me, even to me, on that eighth day
It came: all craving ousted from my heart.
'Mid many sore afflictions, I had wrought
With passionate endeavour, and had won!
Craving was dead, and the Lord's will was done. (38)



145 Cf. 2 Cor. x. 5.



Next: Canto III. Psalms of Three Verses