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

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


CANTO III
PSALMS OF THREE VERSES
XXIX
Another Sāmā.
SHE also, heaping up good like the foregoing, was born, in the time of Vipassi
Buddha, as a fairy on the banks of the River Candabhāgā.146 Devoted to fairy
pastimes, she saw one day the Master walking on the bank, that he might sow the
good seed among creatures. And with great glee she worshipped, offering
flowers.147 For this she gained rebirth among gods and men, till, in this
Buddha-dispensation, she took birth in a clansman's family at Kosambī. She too
became the friend of Sāmāvatī, and she too, out of grief at the death of the
latter, entered the Order. She too could not gain self-mastery for twenty-five
years, till in her old age she heard a timely sermon, through which her insight
expanded and she won Arahantship, with thorough grasp of the Dhamma in form and
meaning. Thereon reflecting, she broke forth:
Full five-and-twenty years since I came forth!
But in my troubled heart in no way yet
Could I discern the calm of victory. (39)
The peace of mind, the governance of thoughts
Long sought, I found not; and with anguish thrilled
I dwelt in memory on the Conqueror's word.148 (40)
To free my path from all that breedeth Ill
I strove with passionate ardour, and I won!
Craving is dead, and the Lord's will is done.
To-day is now the seventh day since first
Was withered up within that ancient Thirst. (41)



146 Cf. Ps. iii. and xxiii.
147 Salaḷa-pupphāni, possibly shoots of the Indian pine (sarala).
148 The Commentary holds that, by 'word' or teaching (sāsana) here were meant
passages of doctrine declaring how rare was the opportunity, and brief, of
birth as a human, when Nibbana might be won, illustrated by similes like that
of the blind tortoise (Majjh., iii. 169; infra, 500)



XXX
Uttamā.
She, too, heaping up good under former Buddhas, was in the time of Vipassi
Buddha, born at Bandhumatī, in the house of a certain wealthy landowner, and
became a domestic servant. Grown up, she tended her master's household. Now, at
that time, King Bandhumā (Vipassi's father), having restored Sabbath-keeping,
gave gifts before dining and, after dining, attended a sermon; and the people,
following his pious example, and keeping Sabbath, the slave thought: 'Why should
not I, too, do as they all are doing?' And for the thoroughness of her
observance of the feasts she was reborn among the Three-and-Thirty gods, and in
other happy realms, and finally, in this Buddha-era, in the house of the
Treasurer of Sāvatthī. Come to years of discretion, she heard Paṭācārā preach,
and entered the Order; but she was unable to attain the climax of insight till
Paṭācārā,149 seeing the state of her mind, gave her admonition. Thereby
established, she won Arahantship, with thorough grasp of the Norm in form and in
meaning. And reflecting thereon, she exulted thus:
Four times, nay, five, I sallied from my cell,
And roamed afield to find the peace of mind
Long vainly sought, and governance of thoughts
I could not bring into captivity. (42)
To me she came, that noble Bhikkhunī,
Who was my foster-mother in the faith–
She taught to me the Norm, wherein I learnt
The nature of this transitory self.150(43)
And well I minded all, e'en as she taught.
For seven days I sat in Jhāna-joy
And ease, cross-legged; on the eighth day at last
I stretched my limbs, and went my way serene,
For I had burst asunder the surrounding gloom. (44)

Now, this was the affirmation of her AÑÑĀ.



149 See below, xlvii., li.
150 Lit., the Khandhas, the nature of sense-perception and the elements of my
being. Cf. Ps. xxxviii. for a more literal translation.



XXXI
Another Uttamā.
She, too, having made her resolve under former Buddhas, and heaping up good of
age-enduring efficacy in this and that rebirth, was born, in the time of Vipassi
Buddha, as a domestic servant, at Bandhumatī. One day, seeing an Arahant of the
Master's Order seeking alms, she gladly offered him three sweet cakes. Through
this reborn to happiness, she finally came to birth, in this Buddha-era, in the
family of an eminent brahmin in the country of Kosala. Come to years of
discretion, she heard the Master preach while touring in the country, and
leaving the world, she soon won Arahantship, together with thorough grasp of the
Norm in form and in meaning. And reflecting thereon, she exulted thus:
The Seven Factors of the Awakened mind–151
Seven Ways whereby we may Nibbana win–
All, all have I developed and made ripe,
Even according to the Buddha's word. (45)
Fulfilled is heart's desire: I win the Void,
I win the Signless!152 Buddha's daughter I,
Born of his mouth, his blessed word, I stand,
Transported with Nibbana's bliss alway. (46)
And all the sense-desires that fetter gods,
That hinder men, are wholly riven off.
Abolished is the infinite round of births.
Becoming cometh ne'er again for me. (47)



151 See Ps. xx.
152 'Void,, i.e., I am empty of greed, ill-will, and dulness, the three
springs of all evil. 'Signless,' i.e., I am free from all attachment to
anything 'marked' as impermanent, evil, or having a soul. See Ps. xix., ver.
20, n. 1.



XXXII
Dantikā.
She, too, having made her resolve under former Buddhas, and in this and that
rebirth heaping up good of age-enduring efficacy, was born, when the world was
empty of a Buddha, as a fairy by the River Candabhāgā.153 Sporting one day with
the fairies, and straying awhile, she saw a silent Buddha seated at the foot of
a tree, and adored him in faith with flower-offerings. For this she was reborn
among gods and men, and, finally, in this Buddha-era, at Sāvatthī, in the house
of the King's chaplain-brahmin. Come to years of discretion, she became a
lay-believer in the Jeta Grove [College], and, later, entered the Order under
Great Pajāpatī the Gotamid. And one day, while staying at Rājagaha, she ascended
the Vulture's Peak, after her meal, and while resting, she saw that which she
tells of in her verse, whereby she won Arahantship, with thorough grasp of the
Norm in form and in meaning. And afterwards, thrilled with happiness at the
thought of her attainment, she exulted thus:
Coming from noonday-rest on Vulture's Peak,
I saw an elephant, his bathe performed,
Forth from the river issue. And a man, (48)
Taking his goad, bade the great creature 154 stretch
His foot: 'Give me thy foot!' The elephant
Obeyed, and to his neck the driver sprang. (49)
I saw the untamed tamed, 155 I saw him bent
To master's will; and marking inwardly,
I passed into the forest depths and there
I' faith I trained and ordered all my heart. (50)



153 See Pss. iii., xxiii.
154 Nāga, a more poetic term for elephant.
155 Dantikā=little tamed (woman).



XXXIII
Ubbirī.
She too, having made her resolve in the time of former Buddhas, and heaping up,
in this and that rebirth, Good valid for an æon of evolution, was born, in the
time of Padumuttara Buddha, at the town of Haŋsavatī in a clansman's house. Come
to years of discretion, she was left alone one day, her parents being engaged
with a party in the inner court of the house. And seeing an Arahant approaching
the house-door, she bade him 'Come in hither, lord,' and did him homage, showing
him to a seat; she then took his bowl and filled it with food. The Elder thanked
her, and departed. But she, reborn therefore in the heaven of the
Three-and-Thirty gods, enjoying there a heavenly time and many a happy life
thereafter, was, in this Buddha-era, reborn at Sāvatthī in the family of a very
eminent burgess. And she was beautiful to see, and was brought into the house of
the King of Kosala himself.156 After a few years a daughter was born to her,
whom she named Jīvā.157 The King saw the child, and was so pleased that he had
Ubbirī anointed as Queen. But anon the little girl died, and the mother went
daily mourning to the charnel-field. And one day she went and worshipped the
Master, and sat down; but soon she left, and stood lamenting by the River
Achiravatī. Then the Master, seeing her from afar, revealed himself, and asked
her: 'Why dost thou weep?' 'I weep because of my daughter, Exalted One.' 'Burnt
in this cemetery are some 84,000 158 of thy daughters. For which of them dost
thou weep?' And pointing out the place where this one and that one had been
laid, he said half the psalm:
O Ubbirī, who wailest in the wood,
Crying 'O Jīvā! O my daughter dear!'
Come to thyself! Lo, in this burying-ground
Are burnt full many a thousand daughters dear,
And all of them were named like unto her.
Now which of all those Jīvās dost thou mourn? (51)

And she pondered with intelligence on the Norm thus taught by the Master, and so
stirred up insight that, by the charm of his teaching and her own attainment of
the requisite conditions, she reached the topmost fruit, even Arahantship.159
And showing forth the high distinction she had won, she spoke the second half of
the psalm:
Lo! from my heart the hidden shaft is gone!
The shaft that nestled there hath he removed.
And that consuming grief for my dead child
Which poisoned all the life of me is dead. (52)
To-day my heart is healed, my yearning stayed,
And all within is purity and peace. 160
Lo! I for refuge to the Buddha go–
The only wise–the Order and the Norm. 161 (53)



156 The King contemporary with Gotama Buddha was Pasenădĭ.
157 Meaning Psyche, or, more literally, 'alive,' 'Viva.'
158 A staple figure used when any great number is meant. Of course, the
circumstances of infinitely numerous previous lives of Ubbirī are here
implied.
159 She not only reaches it as a lay-woman, but her subsequent entry into the
Order is not even mentioned.
160 A free rendering of the one word parinibbutā. Cf. ver. 132.
161 The orthodox sequence is Norm, Order, here inverted metri causâ. The
inversion is actually met with in later Buddhism.



XXXIV
Sukkā.
She, too, having fared in the past as the foregoing Sisters, was born in a
clansman's house. 162 Come to years of discretion, she went with lay-women
disciples to the Vihāra, 163 and heard the Master preach. Becoming a believer,
she left the world and became learned, proficient in the doctrine, and a ready
speaker. Leading for centuries a religious life, 164 she yet died a worldling at
heart, and was reborn in the heaven of bliss.165 Again, when Vipassi was Buddha,
and again when Vessabhu was Buddha, she kept the precepts, and was learned and
proficient in doctrine. Again, when Kakusandha was Buddha, and yet again when
Konāgamana was Buddha, she took Orders, and was pure in conduct, learnèd, and a
preacher. At length, she was, in this Buddha-era, reborn at Rājagaha, in the
family of an eminent burgess, and called Sukkā (bright, lustrous, 'Lucy'). Come
to years of discretion, she found faith in the Master at her own home, and
became a lay-disciple. But later, when she heard Dhammadinnā preach,166 she was
thrilled with emotion, and renounced the world under her. And performing the
exercises for insight, she not long after attained Arahantship, together with
thorough grasp of the Norm in form and in meaning.
Thereupon, attended by 500 Bhikkhunīs, she became a great preacher. And one day,
when they had been into Rājagaha for alms, and had returned and dined, they
entered the Bhikkhunīs' settlement, and Sukkā, with a great company seated
around her, taught the doctrine in such wise that she seemed to be giving them
sweet mead to drink and sprinkling them with ambrosia. And they all listened to
her rapt, motionless, intent. Thereupon the spirit167 of the tree that stood at
the end of the Sisters' terrace was inspired by her teaching, and went out to
Rājagaha, walking about the ways and the squares proclaiming her excellence, and
saying:
What would ye men of Rājagaha have?
What have ye done? that mute and idle here
Ye lie about, as if bemused with wine,
Nor wait upon Sukkā, while she reveals
The precious gospel by the Buddha taught. (54)
The wise in heart, methinks, were fain to quaff
That life's elixir, once won never lost,
That welleth ever up in her sweet words,
E'en as the wayfarer welcomes the rain. (55)

And hearing what the tree-spirit said, the people were excited, and came to the
Sister and listened attentively.
At a later period, when the Sister, at the end of her life, was completing her
Nibbana, and wished to show how the system she had taught led to salvation, she
declared her AÑÑĀ thus:
O Child of light!168 by light of truth set free
From cravings dire, firm, self-possessed, serene,
Bear to this end thy last incarnate frame,
For thou hast conquered Mara and his host. (56)



162 Here it is not stated in which Buddha's ministry this took place.
163 In earliest times simply the hut or chalet, in a cluster of such, reserved
for the Buddha or leading teacher, consisting of open hall and sleeping
chamber adjoining.
164 The term of human life was believed to have been much longer in earlier
ages. See Dīgha Nikāya, ii., p. 3. Cf. Gen. v.
165 See p. 1.
166 See Ps. xii.
167 The word for spirit, -devatā, lit. deity, is feminine, as are all abstract
nouns in -tā; but whether tree-spirits were more usually conceived of a male
or female, or as sexless, is not clear. Cf. the plates in Cunningham's
Bharhut, and, on tree-spirits generally, chaps. ii. and iii. in Mrs. Philpot's
The Sacred Tree. See also Appendix.
168 Sukkā.




THE SITE OF 'NEW' RĀJAGAHA, BUILT BY BIMBISĀRA.
To face p. 42.
XXXV
Selā.
She, too, having fared in the past as the foregoing Sisters, was born in a
clansman's house at Haŋsavatī, 169 and was given in marriage by her parents to a
clansman's son of equal birth. With him she lived happily till his death. Then,
being herself advanced in years, and growing anxious as she sought to find Good,
170 she went about from park to park, 171 from vihāra to vihāra, with the
intention of teaching religion (dhamma) to votaries of religion. Then one day
she came up to the Bo-tree of the Master 172 and sat down, thinking: 'If a
Buddha, an Exalted One, be unequalled and peerless among men, may this one show
me the miracle of Buddhahood.' Scarce had the thought arisen when the Tree
blazed forth, the branches appeared as if made of gold, the horizon shone all
around. And she, inspired at that sight, fell down and worshipped, and for seven
days sat there. On the seventh day she performed a grand feast of offering and
worship to the Buddha.173 By this meritorious karma she was reborn in this
Buddha-era, in the kingdom of Āḷavī, as the King's daughter, and named Selā. 174
But she was also known as 'The Āḷavikan.' 175 Come to years of discretion, the
Master converted her father, ordained him, and went with him to the city of
Āḷavī. Selā, being yet unmarried, went with the King and heard the Master
preach. She became a believer and a lay-disciple. Afterwards, growing anxious,
she took Orders, worked her way to insight, and because of the promise in her
and the maturity of her knowledge, she, crushing the formations of thought, word
and deed,176 soon won Arahantship.
Thereafter, as an Elder, she lived at Sāvatthī. And one day she went forth from
Sāvatthī to take siesta in the Dark Grove, and sat down beneath a tree. Then
Māra, alone and wishing to interrupt her privacy, approached in the guise of a
stranger, saying:
Ne'er shalt thou find escape while in the world!
What profiteth thee then thy loneliness?
Take the good things of life while yet thou mayst.
Repentance else too late awaiteth thee. (57)

Then the Sister–thinking: 'Verily, 'tis that foolish Māra who would deny me the
Nibbana that is revealed to me, and bids me choose the sensuous life. He knows
not that I am an Arahant. Now will I tell him and confound him'– recited the
following: 177
Like spears and javelins are the joys of sense
That pierce and rend the mortal frames of us.
These that thou callest 'the good things of life'–
Good of that ilk to me is nothing worth. (58)

On every hand the love of pleasure yields,
And the thick gloom of ignorance is rent
In twain. Know this, O Evil One, avaunt!
Here, O Destroyer, shalt thou not prevail. (59)



169 Under which Buddha is not stated.
170 Kiŋ-kusalaŋ-gavesinī. Cf. D., ii. 151: Kiŋ-kusalānvesī.
171 Members of religious orders frequented 'parks' (ārāmā) or 'pleasaunces'
when dwelling near towns.
172 Every Buddha had his specific kind of Bo-tree under which he attained
Buddhahood (Dīgha N., ii., p. 4).
173 Let it be noted that the heroine is an Indian widow!
174 Meaning 'Alpina' (selo=rock, or crag).
175 In the Bhikkhunī-Saŋyutta (translated in the Appendix) she is so called.
Āḷavī is stated to have been thirty yojanas (c. 260 miles) from Sāvatthī and
twelve from Benares (Spence Hardy, Manual of Budhism, 262; Legge's Fa Hien,
chap. xxxiv.; Yuan Chwang (Watters), ii. 61). The conversion of King Āḷavaka
is deseribed in Sutta Nipāta, pp. 31. ſſ. (S.B.E., x. 29-31), and Saŋ. Nik.,
i. 213-215.
176 Sankhārā, i.e., their potency to lead to rebirth.
177 Cf. the reply of Āḷavīkā in Appendix, commencing with a direct
contradiction omitted in this psalm.



XXXVI
Somā. 178
She, too, having fared in the past as the foregoing Sisters, was, in the time of
Sikhi Buddha, 179 reborn in the family of an eminent noble, and, when grown up,
was made the chief consort of the King Aruṇavā. The story of her past is similar
to that of Sister Abhayā. 180 The story of her present is that, in this
Buddha-era, she was reborn as the daughter of the chaplain of King Bimbisāra 181
at Rājagaha, and named Somā. Come to years of discretion, she came to believe in
the Master in her own home, and became a lay-disciple. And later on, growing
anxious, she entered the Order of Bhikkhunīs, and, working her way to insight,
she not long after won Arahantship, with thorough grasp of the Norm in letter
and in spirit.
Then, dwelling at Sāvatthī in the bliss of emancipation, she went forth one day
to take siesta in the Dark Grove, and sat down beneath a tree. And Māra, alone,
and wishing to interrupt her privacy, approached her, invisible and in the air,
saying:
That vantage-ground the sages may attain is hard
To reach. With her two-finger consciousness
That is no woman competent to gain! (60)

For women, from the age of seven or eight, boiling rice at all times, know not
the moment when the rice is cooked, but must take some grains in a spoon and
press it with two fingers; hence the expression 'two-finger' sense. 182 Then the
Elder rebuked Māra:
How should the woman's nature hinder us?
Whose hearts are firmly set, who ever move
With growing knowledge onward in the Path?
What can that signify to one in whom
Insight doth truly comprehend the Norm? 183 (61)
On every hand the love of pleasure yields,
And the thick gloom of ignorance is rent
In twain. Know this, O Evil One, avaunt!
Here, O Destroyer! shalt thou not prevail. (62)



178 Cf. her verses in Appendix.
179 Second of the Seven (Pitaka) Buddhas, son of King Aruṇa (sic in Dīgha N.,
ii. 7) and Pabhāvatī.
180 Ps. xxvii.
181 Cf. Ps. lii.
182 The daughter of a Neapolitan told me that the identical idiom exists in
Italian: Una mente lunga di due dità.
183 It is regrettable that, in this work, Somā's dignified retort lacks the
noteworthy extension given to it in the Saŋyutta version (see Appendix):
'To one for whom the question doth arise:
Am I a woman in these matters or
Am I a man? or what not am I, then?–
To such a one is Māra fit to talk!'



Next: Canto IV. Psalms of Four Verses