Khuddaka Nikaya - Therigatha Appendix

Khuddaka Nikaya - Therigatha ( Psalms of the Sisters ) Appendix



APPENDIX
VERSES ATTRIBUTED TO SISTERS IN THE BHIKKHUNĪ-SAŊYUTTA OF THE SAŊYUTTA-NIKĀYA
1. Āḷavikā. 454
THUS have I heard. The Exalted One was once staying at Sāvatthī, in the Jeta
Grove, the park of Anāthapiṇḍika. Now Āḷavikā the Bhikkhunī dressed herself
early and, taking bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for food. And when she had
gone about Sāvatthī for it, had broken her fast and returned, she entered the
Dark Wood, seeking solitude.
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, wavering, and dread in her,
desiring to make her desist from being alone, went up to her, and addressed her
in a verse:
      '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 may'st,
      Repentance else too late awaiteth thee.'

Then Āḷavikā thought: 'Who now is this, human or non-human, that speaketh this
verse? Sure 'tis Māra the Evil One speaketh it, desirous to arouse in me fear,
wavering and dread, desirous to make me desist from my solitude.' And Bhikkhunī
Āḷavikā, knowing that 'twas he, replied with a verse:
      'There is escape while in the world, and I
      Have well attained thereto by insight won.
      Thou evil limb of loafing! 455 'tis not thine
      To know that bourne, or how it may be reached.
      Like spears and jav'lins 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.'

Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Āḷavikā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and
dejected.
2. Somā. 456
. . . . . 457 Now Somā . . . . . entered the Dark Wood for siesta, and, plunging
into its depths, sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta.
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, wavering, and dread in her,
desiring to make her desist from concentrated thought, went up to her, and
addressed her in a verse:
      'That vantage-ground the sages may attain is hard
      To reach. With her two-finger consciousness
      That is no woman competent to gain!'

Then Somā thought . . . . . 'Sure 'tis Māra!'. . . . and replied with verses:
      'What should the woman's nature do to them 458
      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?
      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 an one is Māra fit to talk!'

Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Somā knows me,' vanished thence, sad and
dejected.
3. Gotamī. 459
. . . . . Now the Lean Gotamid . . . . . entered the Dark Wood for siesta, and,
plunging into its depths, sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta.
Then Māra . . . . . went up to her, and addressed her in a verse:
      'How now? Dost sit alone with tearful face
      As mother stricken by the loss of child?
      Thou who hast plunged into the woods alone,
      Is it a man that thou hast come to seek?'

Then the Lean Gotamid thought . . . . . 'Sure 'tis Māra!' . . . . . and replied
with verses:
      'Ay, ever am I she whose child is lost! 460
      And for the seeking, there are men at hand.
      I do not grieve, I am not shedding tears,
      And as for thee, good sir, I fear thee not.
      Slain everywhere is love of worldly joys,
      And the thick gloom of ignorance is rent in twain.
      Defeating all the army of the power of death,
      I here abide purged of the poison-drugs.' 461

Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Gotamī knows me!' vanished thence, sad and
dejected.
4. Vijayā. 462
. . . . . Now Bhikkhunī Vijayā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain tree
for siesta.
Then Māra . . . . . addressed her in a verse: 463
      'A maiden thou and beautiful–and I
      So young a lad! Now where to fivefold art 464
      Of sounds melodious we may list, O come,
      Lady, and let us take our fill of joy!'

Then Bhikkhunī Vijayā thought . . . . . 'Sure 'tis Māra!' . . . . . and . . . .
. replied with verses:
      'Sights, sounds and tastes and smells and things to touch,
      Wherein the mind delights, I leave them all
      To thee, Māra; for such no mind have I!
      This body vile, this brittle, crumbling thing,
      Doth touch me only with distress and shame.
      Craving for joys of sense is rooted out.
      They who have come to worlds of form, and they
      Who dwell where form is not, and that perfect
      Attainment which is peace 465 –from all,
      From everywhere, the darkness is dispelled.'

Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Vijayā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and
dejected.
5. Uppalavaṇṇā.
. . . . . Now, Bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā . . . . . entered the Dark Wood for siesta,
and, plunging into its depths, halted at the root of a certain sāla-tree in full
blossom.
Then Māra . . . . . addressed her in a verse:
      'Thou that art come where over thee crownèd with blossom
      [Waveth] the sāl-tree, Sister, and standest alone in the shade of it,
      No one like thee could hither come rival to beauty as thine is!
      Fearest thou not, O foolish maiden, the wiles of seducers?' 466

Then Bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā thought . . . . . 'Sure 'tis Māra!' . . . . . and . .
. . . replied with verses:
      'Were there an hundred thousand seducers e'en such as thou art,
      Ne'er would I tremble affrighted thereat, or turn a hair of me.
      Māra, I fear not thee, all lonely though I be standing.
      Here though I stand, I vanish, or enter into thy body.
      See! 'twixt thine eyelashes hide, standing where thou canst not see me.
      For all my mind is wholly self-controlled,
      And the Four Paths to Potency are thoroughly learnt.
      Yea, I am free from all the Bonds there be.
      In sooth, good sir, no fear have I of thee!'

Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and
dejected.
6. Cālā. 467
. . . . . Now, Bhikkhunī Cālā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain tree
for siesta.
Then Māra the Evil One went up to her, and spoke thus to her: 'Wherein, O
Sister, dost thou find no pleasure?'
'In birth, 468 good sir, I find no pleasure.'
'Why findest thou no pleasure in birth? Once born, one enjoys the pleasures of a
life of sense. Who hath put this into thy mind–"Find no pleasure in
birth"–Sister?'
      'Once born, we die. Once born, we see life's Ills–
      The bonds, the torments, and the life cut off. 469
      The Buddha hath revealed the Norm to us–
      How we may get beyond the power of birth,
      How we may put an end to every Ill.
      'Tis He hath guided me into the True.
      They who have come to worlds of Form, and they
      Who in those worlds abide where Form is not,
      An they know not how they may end it all,
      Are goers, all of them, again to birth. 470

Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Cālā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and
dejected.
7. Upacālā. 471
. . . . . Now, Bhikkhunī Upacālā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain
tree for siesta.
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear . . . . . to make her desist
from concentrated thought, went up to her, and spoke thus to her:
      'Where, Sister, dost thou wish to rise again?'

      'Nowhere, good sir, I wish to rise again.'

      'Now, think upon the Three-and-Thirty gods,
      And on the gods who rule in realm of Shades,
      On those who reign in Heaven of Bliss, and on
      Those higher deities who live where life
      Yet flows by way of sense and of desire–
      Think, and thither aspire with longing heart,
      The bliss of each in turn shall then be thine.'

      Upacālā.
      Ay, think upon the Three-and-Thirty gods,
      And on the gods who rule in realm of Shades,
      On those who reign in Heaven of Bliss, and on
      Those higher deities who live where life
      Yet flows by way of sense and of desire!
      They all are bound by bonds of sense-desire,
      Hence come they evermore 'neath Māra's sway.
      On fire is all the world, is wrapt in smoke. 472
      Ablaze is all the world, the heav'ns do quake!
      But that which quaketh not, influctuate, 473
      Untrodden by the average worldling's feet,
      Where Māra cometh not nor hath way-gate–
      There doth my heart abide in blest retreat.' 474

Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Upacālā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and
dejected.
8. Sīsupacālā. 475
. . . . . Now, Bhikkhunī Sīsupacālā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain
tree for siesta.
Then Māra the Evil One went up to her, and spoke to her thus: 'Of whose
shibboleth, Sister, dost thou approve?' 'I approve of no one's shibboleth, good
sir.'
      'Why now and whereto art thou seen thus garbed
      And shaven like a nun, yet dost not join
      Ascetics of some sort and shibboleth?
      What, futile and infatuate, is thy quest?'

      ''Tis they that are without, caught in the net
      Of the vain shibboleths in which they trust–
      Their's is the doctrine I cannot approve.
      'Tis they that lack acquaintance with the Norm.

      'Lo! in the princely Sākiya clan is born
      A Buddha peerless 'mong the sons of men,
      Who all hath overcome, before whose face
      Māra doth flee away, who everywhere
      Unconquered stands, He that is wholly freed
      And fetterless, the Seer who seeth all,
      For whom all karma is destroyed, who in
      The perishing of every germ that birth
      Once more engenders, is at liberty.
      This the Exalted One, my Master and my Lord:
      His doctrine, His the word that I approve.'

Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Sīsupacālā knows me! . . . . .
9. Selā. 476
. . . . . Now, Bhikkhunī Selā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain tree
for siesta.
Then Māra . . . . . went up to her, and addressed her with a verse:
      'Who was't that made this human puppet's form?
      Where, tell me, is the human doll's artificer?
      Whence hath the human puppet come to be?
      Where, tell me, shall it cease and pass away?'

Then Bhikkhunī Selā thought . . . . . ' Sure 'tis Māra!' . . . . . and . . . . .
replied with verses:
      'Neither self-made the puppet is, nor yet
      By other is this evil fashionèd.
      By reason of a cause it came to be;
      By rupture of a cause, it dies away.
      Like to a given seed sown in the field,
      Which, when it lighteth on the taste of earth
      And moisture likewise–by these twain doth grow,
      So the five aggregates, the elements,
      And the six spheres of sense–even all these–
      By reason of a cause they came to be;
      By rupture of a cause they die away.'

Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Selā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and
dejected.
10. Vajirā.
. . . . . Now Bhikkhunī Vajirā . . . . . sat down at the root of a certain tree
for siesta.
Then Māra . . . . . went up to her, and addressed her with a verse:
      'Who hath this being 477 fashioned? Where is
      The maker of this being? Whence hath it sprung?
      Where doth this being cease and pass away?'

Then Bhikkhunī Vajirā thought . . . . . 'Sure 'tis Māra!' . . . . . and replied
with a verse:
      '"Being"? Why dost thou harp upon that word?
      'Mong false opinions, Māra, art thou strayed.
      This a mere bundle of formations is.
      Therefrom no "being" mayest thou obtain.
      For e'en as, when the factors are arranged,
      The product by the word "chariot" is known,
      So doth our usage covenant to say–
      "A being"–when the aggregates are there.
      ''Tis simply Ill that riseth, simply Ill
      That doth persist, and then fadeth away.
      Nought beside Ill it is that doth become;
      Nought else but Ill it is doth pass away.'

Then Māra, thinking, 'Bhikkhunī Vajirā knows me!' vanished thence, sad and
dejected.
Here endeth the Bhikkhunī Series.



The Yakkha-Saŋyutta, or Fairy Series in the same Nikāya, gives the summons
uttered by the indignant tree-fairy to the people of Rājagaha in Sukkā's little
poem (Ps. xxxiv.). The lines are exactly the same, except that 'wayfarer' is
panthagū instead of addhagū.
In the following Sutta presumably the same devoted spirit proclaims the praises
both of Sukkā and of a lay-disciple who supplied the eloquent Therī with food:
      'O surely plenteous merit hath he wrought,
      That layman wise, who Sukkā's wants supplied–
      Sukkā's, who from all bonds is wholly free!' 478



  454 Cf. Selā's Psalm, xxxv. She was the daughter of the King of Āḷavī.
  455 Pamatto.
  456 See Ps. xxxvi., comparing the vastly more interesting reply given here.
  457 Where dotted lines occur, here and below, the reading is as for Āḷavikā.
  458 Not 'to us,' as in the Psalm.
  459 Cf. Ps. lxiii. In the case of elisions, read as for Somā.
  460 By 'ever'–accantaŋ, lit. exceedingly, endlessly–it is conceivable that she
  alludes, not to her own too common case, as a mother bereaved of a son, but
  either to endless past bereavements, or to the fact that, as Arahant, she had
  cut herself off from age-long possibilities of being often again in similar
  circumstances. Cf., e.g., Ps. xxxiii.
  461 Āsavas.
  462 Vijayā, to whom Ps lvii. is ascribed, is apparently a different person.
  463 Cf. Khemā's Psalm (lii.)
  464 Five sorts of musical instruments are supposed to be implied in this
  idiomatic phrase–ātataŋ, vitataŋ, ātata-vitataŋ, ghanaŋ, susiraŋ.
  465 I have ventured to bridge over the hiatus, in what Professor Windisch
  calls the 'loose construction' of this gāthā, by the insertion of 'from all,
  from. . . .' For what may have been the original, and is the more logical,
  ending, see Cālā's verses below. As the gāthā in Pali stands here, it seems to
  mean: '"I see life steadily, and see it whole." Trouble me not with your
  foolish little solicitations to sensual joys.'
  466 Where the text differs from that of Psalm lxiv. may be seen by the
  following: Therigāthā. Saŋyutta.
        Supupphitaggaŋ upagamma padāpaŋ ekā tuvaŋ tiṭṭhasi rukkhamūle
        Supupphitaggaŋ upagamma bhikkhuni ekā tuvaŋ tiṭṭhasi sālamūle
        Na cāpi te dutiyo atthi; koci na tvaŋ bāle bhāyasi dhuttakānaŋ. Na
        c'atthi te dutiyā vaṇṇadhātu idhāgatā tādisikā bhaveyyuŋ.
        Bāle na tvaŋ bhāyasi dhuttakānaŋ.

  On choice of reading in the preceding line, see the Psalm in question, n.
  467 Pronounced Chālā. Cf. Ps. lix., lx. The latter
  Psalm–Upacālā's–incorporates most of what is here attributed to her sister.
  468 I.e., in the fact or phenomenon of 'being born over and over again.'
  469 Literally, meaning the punishments of criminals, but standing for the ills
  of life in general. Cf. Ps. lxx., verse 345; lxxiii., verse 505.
  470 Cf. last note to Vijayā's verses above.
  471 In the Psalms, her Psalm is put into the mouth of her sister, Sīsupacālā.
  472 Padhūpito, in the corresponding Psalm paridīpito.
  473 Sanyutta. Therigāthā.
        Akampitaŋ acalitaŋ aputthujana-sevitaŋ Akampitaŋ atuliyaŋ
        aputhujjana-sevitaŋ
        Agati yattha Mārassa tattha me nirato mano. Buddho dhammaŋ me desesi
        tattha me nirato mano.

  474 Lit., Thereto is my heart (or mind) devoted.
  475 In the Psalms she is made to utter her sister Cālā's Psalm.
  476 The Psalm ascribed to Selā (xxxv., p. 144) is, in this Appendix, put into
  the mouth of Āḷavikā, which, in the Commentary, is Selā's patronymic.
  477 Satto, a concrete living entity, not the abstract idea.
  478 Cf. Ps. xlvi. 111.