Therīgāthā (Psalms of the Sisters)

Honour to that Exalted One, Arahant, Very Buddha! Now is the occasion come for commenting on the meaning of the psalms of the Sisters. The exposition of their several poems will be made easier and more intelligible, if I first relate the circumstances under which the Bhikkhunls in the beginning came to leave the world and obtain ad¬ mission into the Order. Of this, therefore, I will give an account in outline. When the Lord of the world had combined the Eight Factors— humanity and the rest of Buddhahood— when, having made his great resolve at the feet of the Buddha Dlpankara,1 and mastering equally all the Thirty Perfec¬ tions, according to the prophecy of the Four-and- Twenty Buddha in succession concerning him, he had reached the climax in his progress towards wisdom, knowledge of the world and Buddhahood, then he took rebirth in the Realms of Bliss ( Tasita ). And there, when he had lived the span of life among the ten thousand gods of the Cosmic Circles, he thereupon assented to the request of those gods to be reborn as a man that he might become a Buddha, according to their words : ‘ The time is now at hand when Thou,

Great Hero, shouldst as man be born. Bearing both gods and men across, Bo Thou reveal th’ Ambrosial Way !’ 1 One of the twenty-four Buddhas of later Buddhism. Early Buddhism reckoned only seven. For this and the following[episodes in greater detail, of. Ehys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories , pp 12 f. 27, 28; 60, 61; 87; 92. So he made the Five Great Considerations, and then, in the house of King Suddhodana, of the princely clan of the Sakiyas, did he, mindful and self-possessed, enter a mother’s womb ; then, mindful and self-possessed, did he there ten months abide ; then, mindful and self-possessed, did he thence emerge and come to birth in the Lumbini Grove. Feared by divers nurses, surrounded ever in luxury by a great retinue, he grew up in due course, dwelling in one of three mansions, amid divers bands of nautch-women, and enjoying honours like a god. Then, anguish being stirred in him at sight of an aged man, a diseased man, and a dead man, he, from the maturity of his insight, saw the danger in the life of the senses and the profit in renouncing it. Mount¬ ing his horse Kanthaka, and with Channa as his companion, at midnight, through the gate set open by spirits, he went forth on the Great Renunciation. During the remainder of that night he traversed three kingdoms, and, coming to the bank of the river Anoma, and taking the outward marks of an Arahant, brought to him by the Brahma-god Ghatlkara, he left the world.

Thereupon, as though he were already an Elder with the eight requisites,1 comely in appearance and of graceful deportment, he came in due course to Rajagaha, and there going round for alms, he ate his meal in the cave of Mount Pandava. There the King of Magadha offered him his kingdom. But he, refusing it, went to Bhaggava’s hermitage and learnt his system; thence to Alara and Uddaka and learnt their systems. Finding all that inadequate, he proceeded to Uruvela, and there for six years practised austerities. Then, discerning that this brought no penetration of the Ariyan Norm, he said, ‘ This is not the Path to Enlighten¬ ment,’ and, taking solid food, he in a few days recovered strength. So, on full-moon day in the month of May, he ate the choice food given by Sujata,2 and, casting the golden dish upstream into the river, he, full of his resolve,

* To-day will I become a Buddha !’ ascended at eventide the Bo-tree seat — his praises sung by Kala, king of the Nagas — 1 Loc. cit., 87. 2 Ibid., 92 ff. and there, in a quakeless spot1 facing the eastern world, seated him cross-legged and indomitable. There, fixing his will in four respects, he vanquished the power of Mara ere the sun went down. In the first watch of the night he recalled his former lives ; in the middle watch he purified the eye celestial ; in the last watch he sounded the depth of the knowledge of the Causal Law. And, grasping in direct and reverse order the formula of causal relation, he developed insight, and reached that perfect enlightenment reached by all Buddhas but shared by no one else. There then abiding seven days in the Fruition which has Nibbana as its object, and, in the same manner, abiding yet other seven days on the Bo-tree seat, he partook of sweet food beneath the Bajayatana tree.2 Then, again, seated beneath the Goatherds’ Banyan, he reflected on the depth of the essence of the Norm.3 And his mind was disinclined for effort till he was entreated by Great Brahma ; but then he gazed upon the world with the Buddha-Eye, and, seeing all the diverse range of faculties in all beings, he promised Great Brahma that he would teach the Norm. Meditating,

‘ Where, now, shall I first teach the Norm ?’ he discerned that Alara and Uddaka had passed away ; but then he thought, ‘Very helpful to me were the Five who were attending on me when I broke off from my ascetic struggles. What if I were first to preach to them ?’ So, in the full moon of July, he went from the Great Bo-tree toward Benares. And when he had travelled eighteen leagues, he met halfway the recluse Upaka4 and conversed with him ; and so on to Isipatana, where he convinced the Five by means of the Discourse called Turning the Wheel of the Norm,5 beginning : There are two extremes, 0 bhikkhus, which the man who has given up the world ought not to follow ’ . . . thus giving them, beginning with Annakondanna, together 1 Loc. cit ., 96. 3 See Translator’s Preface. 4 See his story in Ps. lxviii. 0 Translated by Rhys DaVids in Buddhist Suttas , S.B.E. xi., pp. 146#. with eighteen myriads of Brahma-gods, a draught of Truthambrosia. Then on the first day of the next fortnight he established also Elder Bhaddaji in the path of the Streamwinners ; on the second day, Elder Yappa ; on the third day, Elder Mahanama ; on the fourth, Elder Assaji; and on the fifth day, by preaching the sermon of the Mark of No-Soul, he established them all in Arahantship. There¬ after he brought over many folk into the Ariyan fold1 — to wit, the fifty-five youths led by Yasa, the thirty Bhaddavaggiyans in the Cotton-tree Grove, and the thousand former ascetics on the ridge of Gaya-Head.

And when he had established eleven myriads, with Bimbisara at their head, in the fruit of Entering the Stream (conversion), and one myriad in the Three Refuges, he accepted the gift of the Bamboo Grove, and there abode. Now, when Sariputta and Moggallana, brought into the First Path through Assaji, had taken leave of Sanjaya (their teacher), had joined the Buddha with their respective followings, and had realized the topmost Fruition, he set them, who had attained the perfection of discipleship, over ail his disciples. Then, going at the entreaty of Elder Kaludayi to Kapilavatthu, he subdued the proud stubbornness of his kinsmen by the Twin Miracle,2 and establishing his father in the Path of No-Return, and Great Pajapatl3 in the Fruition of Entering the Stream, and causing the princes Nanda and Rahula4 to renounce the world, he went back to Rajagaha.

Now it came thereafter to pass, while the Master was staying at the Hall of the Gabled House near Yesall, that King Suddhodhana attained Arahantship while under the white canop}^5 and then passed away. Then in Great Pajapatl arose the thought of renouncing the world. 1 Lit., territory — i.e., the ‘true faith.’ Cf. Buddhist Birth Stories , p. 113. 2 Cf. Buddhist Birth Stories , p. 123/. 3 The sister and co-wife of the Buddha’s mother. See Ps. lv. 4 His half-brother (son of Pajapatl), and his own son. 5 I.e., as King and layman, without renouncing the world. Then there came to her the wives of those five hundred young nobles who had renounced the world on hearing, on the bank of the Rohini river, the ‘ Discourse concerning Strife and Dissension,’ and they told her, saying : ‘ We will all renounce the world to follow the Master.’ And they wished that she should lead them to him. Now Great Pajapatl had once already asked the Master for admission to his Order, and had not won his consent ; wherefore she now bade her hairdresser cut off her hair, and donning the yellow robes, she took all those Sakiya ladies with her to Vesali, and there entreating Him of the Tenfold Power through Elder Ananda, she gained his permission to leave the world and enter the Order by accepting the Eight Rules.1 And the others, also, were all ordained at the same time.

This, in brief, is the story. What is here said has been handed down at greater length here and there in the Pali Canon. Thus ordained, Great Pajapatl came before the Master, and, saluting him, stood on one side. Then he taught her the Norm. She, taking up under him the system of exercise, attained to Arahantship. The other five hundred Bhikkhunls attained it at the end of Nandaka’s sermon.2 Now the Order of Bhikkhunls being thus well established, and multiplying in divers villages, towns, country districts, and royal residences, dames, daughters-in-law and maidens of the clans, hearing of the great enlightenment of the Buddha, of the very truth of the Norm, of the excellent practices of the Order, were mightily pleased with the system, and, dreading the round of rebirth, they sought permission of husband, parents, and kin, and taking the system to their bosom, renounced the world. So renouncing and living virtuously, they received instruction from the Master and the Elders, and with toil and effort soon realized Arahantship. And the psalms which they 1 For the oldest account of this, see Rhys Davids and Oldenberg, Vinaya Texts , iii., 320 /. 2 Majjhima Nihdya, iii., pp. 270 ff.

uttered from time to time, in bursts of enthusiasm and otherwise, were afterwards by the Recensionists included in the Rehearsal, and arranged together in eleven cantos. They are called the Verses of the Elder Women (Tlierlgathd), and they are divided into cantos of single verses, two verses, and so on, as follows : Verse uttered by a certain Sister, a BhikkhunI of 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 Konagamana,1 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. Beborn again in heaven till this Buddha-dispensation, she was finally born in a great nobleman’s family at VesalT. 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 VesalT, she was convinced by his teaching, and became a lay-disciple. Anon, hearing the Great Pajapati the Elder preaching the Doctrine, the wish arose in her to leave the

1 Konagamana and Kassapa successively preceded Gotama as Buddhas. 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-Eeturn. 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 Visakha brought Dhammadinna,1 with a large following, to Great Pajapati the Gotamid, and said : ‘ Let the reverend Sisters give her ordination.’ And Pajapati 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. Verse wherewith the Exalted One frequently exhorted

Mutta while a Student. Get free, Liberta,2 free e’en as the Moon From out the Dragon’s jaws3 sails clear on high. Wipe off the debts that hinder thee,4 and so, With heart at liberty, break thou thy fast. (2) 1 See Ps. xii. 2 Mutta = freed (woman). 3 Cf. the ‘ Ford ’ Jataka ( Buddhist Birth Stories , 253) : ‘ He has gained freedom — as the moon set free, When an eclipse has passed, from Rahu’s jaws.’ 4 Cf. Dialogues of the Buddha , i. 82-84. This is the verse of a student named Mutta. 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 Savatthi, and named Mutta. And in her twentieth year, her destiny being fully ripe, she renounced the world under the Great Pajapati 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 n of the Vihara, 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.

The following verse is that of a student named Punna.1 2 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 Candabhaga.3 One day she worshipped a certain Silent4 Buddha with a wreath of reeds. Thereby gaining 1 Gandha-kiiti, the traditional term for the Buddha’s own room, especially that at the Jetavana Vihara, Savatthi. 2 Cf. Ps. lxv., note. 3 Ca = Cha. The word is equivalent to ‘moonlight.’ Cf. Ps. xxix., xxxii. 4 A free rendering of Pacceka-Buddha— one enlightened for himself alone, not a wTorld- Saviour. heaven, she was, in this Buddha-dispensation, reborn as the child of a leading burgess of Savatthi and named Punna. When she had so dwelt for twenty years, her destiny then being fully ripe, she heard the Great Pajapat! 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, Punna,1 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.'2 (3) Hearing this, her insight grew, and she attained Arahantship. This verse is the expression of her exultation and the affirmation of her Anna.3 The following verse is that of Tissa, a student. Heaping up merit under former Buddhas, Tissa was, in this Buddhadispensation, reborn at Kapilavatthu in the noble clan of the Sakiyas. Made a lady of the Bodhisat’s court, she renounced the world with Great Pajapat! the Gotamid, and practised herself in insight. To her the Master appeared as to the foregoing Sisters, and said : O Tissa ! train thyself in the trainings three. See that the great conjuncture4 now at hand 1 Punna = 1 fall.’ 2 The words ‘ holy life,’ ‘ of the path,’ * of ignorance,’ are from the Commentary. 3 Pronounce Anya = literally, her having come to know. A subjective synonym of Arahantship. 4 There is more in this little poem than is at first sight apparent. Tissa — i.e.} (a girl) born under the lucky star or constellation of Pass thee not by ! Unloose all other yokes, And fare thou forth purged of the deadly Drugs.* 1 (4)

And she, when she heard the verse, increased in insight, and attained Arahantship. Thereafter she was wont to repeat the lines. Tissa ! 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) Come, O Dhira, reach up and touch the goal Where all distractions cease, where sense is stilled, Where dwelleth bliss ; win thou Xibbana, win That sure Salvation2 which hath no beyond. (6) Tissa, a celestial archer (partly identical with Cancer) — suggests a word-play on tisso sikkhdyo, 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 pos¬ session of all your faculties (read indriya-avekallay ), the advent of a Buddha, your getting conviction- not slip; for by this yoking of oppor¬ tunities you can free yourself from the Four Yokes — viz., sense, renewed existence, opinion, ignorance — which bind you to the Wheel of Life. 1 The Four Asavas, or Intoxicants (another metaphor for the Four Bonds, or Yokes).

2 Yogakkhema , a term adapted from secular use, therein meaning well-being or security in possession. Dlhra, brave1 Sister ! who hath valiantly Thy faculties in noblest culture trained, Bear to this end thy last incarnate frame, For thou hast conquered Mara and his host. (7) Mitta, thou Sister friend !2 who earnest forth Convinced in heart, love thou in thought and deed Friends worthy of thy love.3 So train thyself In ways of good to win the safe, sure Peace. (8) Bhadra, who earnest forth convinced in heart, To sure felicity, O fortunate !4 That heart devote. Develop5 all that’s good, Faring to uttermost Security. (9) Upasama ! cross thou serene and calm6 The raging difficult Flood where death doth reign. Bear to this end thy last incarnate frame, For thou hast vanquished Mara and his host. (10) 1 Her name means ‘brave,’ ‘heroic.’ 2 Mitta=‘ friend but see note 2 to Ps. xxv. 3 ‘ In thought and deed,’ ‘ worthy of thy love,’ are from the Com¬ mentary. *' Peace ’ is another rendering of yogakWiema, so is ‘ security ’ (verse 9). 5 The graceful progression — bhadrarata bhava, bhdvehi . . . cannot well be reproduced. It is merely suggested by ‘ devote. Develop. ’

G Upasama = tranquil, calm. Of all these six Sisters the story is similar to that of Tissa (IV.), with this exception: Dhira, called 4 another Sister Dhira,’ 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. Mutta, 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 Oghataka. 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 tilings : — From quern, from mortar, from my crookback’d lord !2 Ay, but I’m free from rebirth and from death,

And all that dragged me back is hurled away. (11) 1 Cf. Ps. ii. The Thera Sumangala also celebrates his release from three crooked things — the sickle, the plough, and the spade. See Ps, xxi. Now, she, in the time when Padumuttara was Buddha, lived at Haijsavatl 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 Iviki, King of Kasi, as one of the Seven Sisters, his daughters,1 and for 20,000 years lived a holy life. . . . Finally, in this Buddhadispensation, she was reborn of a clansman’s family at Rajagaha, and became the wife of Visakha, a leading citizen. Now one day her husband went to hear the Master teach¬ ing, and became One-who-returns-no-more. When he came home, Dhammadinna 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 : 4 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, Dhamma¬ dinna ;

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. Buffer me to leave the world.’ ‘ It is well, Dhammadinna,’ replied Visakha, and sent her to the Bhikkhums in a golden palanquin. Admitted to the Order, she shortly after asked permission of her teachers to

1 The seven most illustrious women of early Buddhism have been grouped as these Seven Sisters in the Apadana : Khema, Uppalavanna, Patacara, Bhadda (Ps. xlvi.), Kisagotami, Dhammadinna, and Visakha, the wealthy lay-sister. On the last see Warren, Buddhism in Trans¬ lations , 451/. go into retreat, saying : ‘ Mothers, my heart hath no delight in a place of crowds ; I would go into a village abode.’ The Bhikkhums 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.1 Thereupon she thought : 4 Now have I reached the summit. What shall I do here any longer ? I will even go to Rajagaha and worship the Master, and many of my kinsfolk will, through me, acquire merit.’ So she returned with her Bhikkhums. Then Visakha, hearing of her return, curious to know why she came, interviewed her with questions on the Khandhas and the like. And Dhammadinna answered every question as one might cut a lotusstalk with a knife, and finally referred him to the Master. The Master praised her great wisdom, as it is told in the Lesser Yedalla (Miscellany) Sutta,2 and ranked her fore¬ most 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.3 (12) 1 Literally, ‘together with the Patisambhida’s,’ or four aspects of doctrinal knowledge. These four — analytical knowledge in meaning, doctrine, interpretation, and distinctions — are very variously inter¬ preted, both in works of Abhidhamma content ( Patisambhidamagga , 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 Dhammapala (see following Psalms). 2 In the Majjhima Nikdya , i., p. 299 ff.j discussed by the writer in J.R.A.S., 1894, p. 321. Cf. Mrs. Bode in J.R.A.S., 1893, p. 562 ff. 3 In the mythology of Buddhism respecting the after-life, the Uddhay-soto was one who, havihg destroyed here below only the first five of the ten Fetters (to destroy all ten meant Nibbana in this life), Her story is similar to that of the Sister Dhira.1 After winning Arahantship she pondered on the bliss of emanci¬ pation, and thus announced Anna :

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.2 (18) Thus she admonished others to follow her example. Her story is similar to that of Sister Tissa.3 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) was reborn successively in an ever higher heaven, till, reaching the Supreme or Akanittha Sphere, he there passed away. The expression means rather rising above the stveam of sarjsara 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. 1 Ps. vi. 2 Cf. Ps. xlviii. 3 Ps. iv.

Her story is also similar to that of Sister Tissa.1 And it was the ‘ Glory-verse ’ through which she won Arahantship that she declaimed in exultation : Well have 1 2 disciplined myself in act, In speech and eke in thought, rapt and intent. Craving with root of craving3 is o’ercome ; Cool am I now ; I know Nibbana’s peace.4 (15) ( 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 Savatthl as the sister of the King of Kosala. Hearing the Master preach the doctrine to the King Pasenadi in the discourse beginning, c There are four young creatures, sire, who may not be disregarded,’5 2 Asi. 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 Theri. 3 I.e., ignorance (Commentary). 4 Sitibhut'’ amhi nibbictd, lit., ‘ Become cool am I, content,’ or ‘ at peace.’ See Introduction. The phrase is an oft-recurring refrain, im plying— whatever other implications of peace, happiness, serenity went with it — the attainment of Nibbana. ‘ Rapt and intent ’ ( samddhind ) is the Commentary’s explanation of ‘ disciplined thought.’

6 Contained in Sayyutta Nikdya, 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'nadi. she believed, and was established in the Eefuges 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, Sumana went, accompanied by the King, to the Vihara, 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 mean¬ ing.1 In her exultation she uttered that same verse, so that it became the announcement of her Anna. Straight¬ way she left the world for the Order.

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 Savatthl. 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 Vihara from seeking alms, she lost her balance and fell. Making just that her base of insight, she won Arahantship with thorough knowledge of 1 See p. 15, n. 1. the Norm in form and in meaning.1 And, triumphing, she uttered this verse : F ar had J 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.2 Prone the body lay ; The heart of me rose up in liberty. (17) Her story is like that of Sister Dhira,3 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) 1 See p. 15, n. 1. 2 The text has simply disva, 1 seeing.’ But the word, when applied to spiritual insight, has the glamour of our ‘ Seer ’ ; hence the Com¬ mentary’s comment, ‘ Seeing with the eye of Insight.’ ‘ Rose up ’ in the Pali is ‘ was set at liberty.’ 3 Presumably Ps. vii. Born in the time of the Buddha Vipassi, in his native town of Bandhumatl, 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 umbrella1 surrounded with jewels. Reborn for this in various heavens, she was, in this Buddha - dispensation, reborn at Ivapilavatthu as the daughter of the chief wife of Ivhemaka, the Sakiyan, and named Nanda. But because of her excessive beauty, charm, and loveliness, she was known as Nanda the Fair. Now, on the day when she was to choose among her suitors,2 Carabhuta, her young Sakiyan 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 Pajajati to let all the Bhikkhums come to him for instruc¬ tion. Nanda sent another in her place. And the Exalted

1 Or tee, surmounting the cupola. Vipassi was the first of the seven Buddhas of the Pitakas. I read vdreyyadivase {cf. p. 276, verse 464), which makes sense anyway. It would appear that Carabhuta (pronounced Chara-) would have been the object of her choice. One said, ‘ Let no one come by proxy.’ So she was com¬ pelled 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 Nanda. And he addressed her in these words : Behold, Nanda, the foul compound, diseased, Impure ! Compel thy heart to contemplate What is not fair to view. So steel thyself And concentrate the well-composed mind. (19) That ponder where no Threefold Sign1 is seen. Cast out the baneful bias of conceit. Hath the mind mastered vain imaginings,2 Then mayst thou go thy ways, calm and serene. (20) t And when he had finished speaking, she attained Arahantship. Kepeating to herself the verses, she made them the announcement of her Anna. The story of her past and present is like that of Nanda the Fair ; but it was at Yesall, in the princely family of the Licchavis, that she was reborn.3 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 :

1 Animittay, ideals not depending on what is impermanent, or on what makes for sorrow, or on the presence of a persisting sonl-entity (Rhys Davids, Yogdvacara's Manual , xxvii., xxviii.). 2 Mdna , conceit, pride, vanity, one of the seven forms of bias. Majjh. Nik., i. 109, 110 ; Vibh., 340. Translator’s Buddlu Psy ., 298, n. 3. 3 Cf. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, 25, 40. The Seven Factors of the awakened mind1 — 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.2 Last of all lives Is this that makes up Me. The round of births Is vanquished — Ne’er shall I be again ! (22) 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 SavatthI, and was married to a rush-plaiter. Her first¬ born was a son, come for the last time to birth, who grew up to become the Elder Sumangala and an Arahant.3 * And her name not becoming known, she was called in the Pali text a certain unknown Therl, and is known as Sumangala’s mother. She became a Bhikkhum, and one day, while reflecting on all she had suffered as a laywoman, she was much affected, and, her insight quickening,

1 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.). 2 ‘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 ” ’ (SarjyuUa Nikdya, iii., p. 120). ‘ “ The Ariyan disciple who hears, brethren, is one who sees the Ariyans ” 5 (Commentary). 3 This is the Elder Sumangala, who in his verse ( Theragdthd , 43) celebrates his release from three f crooked things ’ ( supra , Ps. xi.) — rom sickle, plough, and spade. she attained Arahantship, with thorough knowledge of the form and meaning of the Dhamma. Thereupon she ex claimed : O woman well set free ! how free am I,1 How throughly free from kitchen drudgery ! Me stained and squalid Tnong my cooking-pots

My brutal husband ranked as even less Than the sunshades he sits and weaves alway.2 (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) Born of a respectable family, in the time of Kassapa Buddha, she won understanding, and became a BhikkhunI, established in the precepts. But she reviled an Arahant Elder Sister by calling her a prostitute,3 and for this she went to purgatory. In this Buddha-dispensation she was 1 Expressed in the text by the representative drudgery of the ‘ mortar ’ ( musala ). 2 In the Pali the first two lines depart from the sloha metre, being apparently a curious variety of some metre I cannot identify. See Introduction. The last two lines revert to the slolca, 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 Com¬ mentary 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.

3 Cf. Ps. lxvi. reborn in the kingdom of KasI as the child of a dis¬ tinguished 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.1 For she wished to go to SavatthI 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 KasI realm Paid in revenue — 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.2 Accomplished is the bidding of the Lord. (26) 1 Vinaya Texts (S.B.E. xx.), iii., p. 360. (Pronounced ‘ Chul’la.’) Benares was the capital of KasI. On the name-Addha KasI (lit., halfKasT), see op. cit., ii. 195, n. 2.

2 Tisso vijjd. The Brahmanic phrase, tevijjo , often recurring below — e.g., Ps. xxxvii. — and signifying ‘versed in the three Vedas,’ was, according to Anguttara-Nihdya, i. 163-5, adopted by the Buddha and applied to the three attainments of pannd, entitled reminiscence of former births, the Heavenly Eye, and the destruction of the Asavas. 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 seon1 as a fairy. She wor¬ shipped with offering of flowers a Silent (Pacceka) Buddha. ^ And after many other births among men and gods, she was, in this Buddha-dispensation, born at Rajagalia in the family of a leading burgess. When she had come to years of discretion she heard the Master teaching at the gate of Rajagaha, and, becoming a believer, she was ordained by the Great Pajapatl 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) 1 I.e. , before this present age. 2 Cf. Ps. iii. Heaping np merit under former Buddhas, she was born during the time of Siddhattha,1 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 Bajagaha. 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.2 She, too, reflecting on what she had won, said in exulta¬ tion : 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 breath3 of Liberty ! I win, I win The Triple Lore ! The Buddha’s will is done ! (30)

1 One of the (later elaborated) twenty-four Buddhas. 2 Rajgir (the ancient burg) is surrounded by some seven hills. See Cunningham’s Archceological Survey , iii., PI. xli. 3 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. Born in the time of Yipassi 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.2 Born finally, in this Buddha-dispensation, in the princely family of the Sakiyas, at Kapilavatthu, she left the world together with Great Pajapati 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,3 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 1 trained away. (32) 1 Metta in the Commentary. Mitta=amica. Cf. Ps. viii. Both Mitta and Mettika (Ps. xxiv.) may be patronymics, derived ultimately from Mitra (Mithra), the Vedic propitious, friendly Day or Sun god. 2 In the Apadana it is 4 a religieux 5 of no specified Order. 3 See Rhys Davids, Buddhism , 139-141. Heaping up merit under former Buddhas, she, in the time of Tissa Buddha,1 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 UjjenI, by name Padumavatl.2 And King Bimbisara (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 UjjenI. 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 Bimbisara. 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.3 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 V (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) 1 One of the twenty-four. 2 I.e ., she of the Lotus. 3 Abhaya’s verses (Th., 26, 98) do not refer to his mother. 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,2 reborn in a great noble’s family, and became the chief queen of his father Aruna. 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. Beborn for this among gods and men, she was, in this Buddha-dispensation, born once more at UjjenI in a respectable family, and became the playmate of Abhaya’s mother. And when the latter had left the world, Abhaya, for love of her, also took orders. Dwelling with her at Rajagaha, she went one day to Cool-Grove to contemplate on a basis of some foul thing.3 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 Abhaya, 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. 1 Fearless. 2 Second of the Seven Buddhas. 3 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 tffe 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. Craving have I destroyed, and brought to pass That which the Buddhas have revealed to men.1 (36) And when he had finished speaking she attained Arahantship. Exulting herein, she turned the verses round into an address to herself. 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 KosambI, in the family of an eminent burgess. When her dear friend, the lay-disciple Samavatl, 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 Ananda 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.2 (37) 1 Lit. (as in many other verses), ‘ done is the will, or rather the system or teaching ( sasanay ) of the Buddha.’ Verses 36, 38, and 41 (except the last two lines) are in the text identical, though varied in 2 Cf. 2 Cor. x. 5. To me, even to me, on that eighth day It came : all craving ousted from my heart. ’Mid many sore afflictions, 1 had wrought With passionate endeavour, and had won ! Craving was dead, and the Lord’s will was done. (38) She also, heaping up good like the foregoing, was born, in the time of Yipassi Buddha, as a fairy on the banks of the Biver Candabhaga.1 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.2 For this she gained rebirth among gods and men, till, in this Buddha-dispensation, she took birth in a clansman’s family at Kosambl. She too became the friend of Samavatl, 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 1 Cf. Ps. iii. and xxiii. 2 Salala-jmjpphdni, possibly shoots of the Indian pine ( scirala ). Long sought, I found not ; and with anguish thrilled 1 dwelt in memory on the Conqueror’s word.1 (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) She, too, heaping up good under former Buddhas, was in the time of Yipassi Buddha, born at Bandhumatl, in the house of a certain wealthy landowner, and became a do¬ mestic servant. Grown up, she tended her master’s house¬ hold. Now, at that time, King Bandhuma (Yipassi’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 Savatthi. Come to years of dis¬ cretion, she heard Patacara preach, and entered the Order; but she was unable to attain the climax of insight till Patacara,2 seeing the state of her mind, gave her admonition.

1 The Commentary holds that, by ‘ word ’ or teaching ( sdsana ) here were meant passages of doctrine declaring how rare was the oppor¬ tunity, 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). 2 See below, xlvii., li. Thereby established, she won Arahantship, with thorough grasp of the Norm in form and in meaning. And reflect¬ ing 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 Bhikkhuni, Who was my foster-mother in the faith — She taught to me the Norm, wherein I learnt The nature of this transitory self.1 (43) And well I minded all, e’en as she taught. For seven days I sat in Jhana-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 Anna.

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 Yipassi Buddha, as a domestic servant, at Bandhumatl. 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 1 Lit., the Khandhas, the nature of sense-perception and the ele¬ ments of my being. Cf. Ps. xxxviii. for a more literal translation. 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 — 1 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 !2 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) 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 Candabhaga.3 Sporting one day with the fairies, and straying awhile, she saw a silent 1 See Ps. xx. 2 ‘ 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. 3 See Pss. iii., xxiii. 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 Savatthi, 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 Pajapatl the Gotamid. And one day, while staying at Rajagaha, 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 creature1 stretch His foot : 4 Give me thy foot ! The elephant Obeyed, and to his neck the driver sprang. (49) I saw the untamed tamed,2 I saw him bent To master’s will ; and marking inwardly, I passed into the forest depths and there F faith I trained and ordered all my heart. (50) She too, having made her resolve in the time of former Buddhas, and heaping up, in this and that rebirth, Good valid for an aeon of evolution, was born, in the time of 1 Nilg a, a more poetic term for elephant. 2 Dantika= little tamed (woman). Padumuttara Buddha, at the town of Hapsavat! in a clans¬ man’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 Savatthl 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.1 After a few years a daughter was born to her, whom she named Jlva.2 The King saw the child, and was so pleased that he had Ubbirl 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 lament¬ ing by the Biver Achiravatl. 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 3 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 Ubbirl, who wailest in the wood, Crying 6 O Jlva ! 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 Jlvas dost thou mourn ? (51) 1 The King contemporary with Gotama Bnddha was Pasenadi. 2 Meaning Psyche, or, more literally, ‘ alive,’ ‘ Viva.’ 3 A staple figure used when tiny great number is meant. Of course, the circumstances of infinitely numerous previous lives of Ubbirl are here implied. 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.1 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.2 Lo ! I for refuge to the Buddha go — The only wise — the Order and the Norm.3 (53) She, too, having fared in the past as the foregoing Sisters, was born in a clansman’s house.4 Come to years of discretion, she went with lay-women disciples to the Vihara,5 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 cen- 1 She not only reaches it as a lay-woman, but her subsequent entry into the Order is not even mentioned. 2 A free rendering of the one word yarinibbutd. Cf. ver. 132. 3 The orthodox sequence is Norm, Order, here inverted metri causa. The inversion is actually met with in later Buddhism. 4 Here it is not stated in which Buddha’s ministry this took place. 5 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.

turies a religious life,1 she yet died a worldling at heart, and was reborn in the heaven of bliss.2 Again, when Yipassi 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 Konagamana was Buddha, she took Orders, and was pure in conduct, learned, and a preacher. At length, she was, in this Buddha-era, reborn at Rajagaha, in the family of an eminent burgess, and called Sukka (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 Dhammadinna preach,3 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 Bhikkhunis, she became a great preacher. And one day, when they had been into Rajagaha for alms, and had returned and dined, they entered the Bhikkhunis’ settlement, and Sukka, 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 spirit4 of the tree that stood at the end of the Sisters’ terrace was inspired by her teaching, and went out to Rajagaha, walking about the ways and the squares pro¬ claiming her excellence, and saying :

What would ye men of Rajagaha have ? What have ye done ? that mute and idle here 1 The term of human life was believed to have been much longer in earlier ages. See Digha Nikdya, ii., p. 3. Cf. Gen. v. 2 See p. 1. 3 See Ps. xii. 4 The word for spirit, -devatd, lit. deity, is feminine, as are all abstract nouns in -tdj but whether tree-spirits were more usually conceived of a male or female, or as sexless, is not clear. Cf. the plates in Cun¬ ningham’s Bharhut , and, on tree-spirits generally, chaps, ii. and iii. in Mrs. Philpot’s The Sacred Tree. See also Appendix. Ye lie about, as if bemused with wine, Nor wait upon Sukka, 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 Anna thus :

O Child of light I1 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. (50) She, too, having fared in the past as the foregoing Sisters, was born in a clansman’s house at Haijsavati,2 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,3 she went about from park to park,4 from vihara to vihara, with the intention of teaching 1 Sukka. 2 Under which Buddha is not stated. 3 Kiy-kusalarj -gavesini. Cf. D., ii. 151 : Kiy -kusaldnvesl. 4 Members of religious orders frequented ‘ parks ’ (drama) or ‘ pleasaunces ’ when dwelling near towns. THE SITE OF ‘ NEW ’ RAJAGAIIA, BUILT BY BIMBISARA. religion ( dhamma ) to votaries of religion. Then one day she came np to the Bo-tree of the Master1 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.'2 By this meritorious karma she was reborn in this Buddha-era, in the kingdom of Alavi, as the King’s daughter, and named Sela.3 But she was also known as ‘ The Alavikan.’4 Come to years of discretion, the Master converted her father, ordained him, and went with him to the city of Alavi. Sela, being yet unmarried, went with the King and heard the Master preach. She became a believer and a laydisciple. 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,5 6 soon won Araliantship.

Thereafter, as an Elder, she lived at Savatthl. And one day she went forth from Savatthl to take siesta in the Dark Grove, and sat down beneath a tree. Then Mara, alone and wishing to interrupt her privacy, approached in the guise of a stranger, saying : 1 Every Buddha had his specific kind of Bo-tree under which he attained Buddhahood (Digha N., ii., p. 4). 2 Let it be noted that the heroine is an Indian widow ! 3 Meaning ‘ Alpina’ (selo = rock, or crag). 4 In the Bhikkhunl-Sarjyutta (translated in the Appendix) she is so called. Alavi is stated to have been thirty yojanas (c. 260 miles) from Savatthl and twelve from Benares (Spence Hardy, Manual of Budhism, 262 ; Legge’s Fa Hien, chap, xxxiv. ; Yuan Cliwang (Watters), ii. 61). The conversion of King Alavaka is described in Sutta Nipdta , pp. 31 ff. ( S.B.E. , x. 29-31), and Say. Nik., i. 213-215. 6 Sankhdrd, i.e.} their potency to lead to rebirth. 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 Mara 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 i1 2 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) She, too, having fared in the past as the foregoing Sisters, was, in the time of Sikhi Buddha,3 reborn in the family of an eminent noble, and, when grown up, was made the chief 1 Cf. the reply of Alavika in Appendix, commencing with a direct contradiction omitted in this psalm. 2 Cf. her verses in Appendix. 3 Second of the Seven (Pitaka) Buddhas, son of King Aruna ( sic in Dlgha N., ii. 7) and Pabhavatl.

consort of the King Arunava. The story of her past is similar to that of Sister Abhaya.1 The story of her present is that, in this Buddha-era, she was reborn as the daughter of the chaplain of King Bimbisara2 at Kajagaha, and named Soma. 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 Bhikkhunls, 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 SavatthI in the bliss of emancipation, she went forth one day to take siesta in the Dark Grove, and sat down beneath a tree. And Mara, 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.3 Then the Elder rebuked Mara :

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 ?4 (61) 1 Ps. xxvii. 2 Cf. . Ps. lii. 3 The daughter of a Neapolitan told me that the identical idiom exists in Italian : Una mente lunga di due ditd. 4 It is regrettable that, in this work, Soma’s dignified retort lacks 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! slialt thou not prevail. (62) the noteworthy extension given to it in the Saijyutta 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 an one is Mara fit to talk !’ Bhadda of the Kapilas.1 Now she was bom in the time of Padumnttara Buddha, in a clansman's house at Haysavatl. Come to years of discre¬ tion, she heard the Master preach, and saw him assign a Bhikkhunl the first rank among those who could recall previous lives. Thereat she made her resolve, wishing that she, too, might acquire such a rank. Working merit all her life, she was reborn, when no Buddha had arisen, in a clansman’s house at Benares, and in due course married.

Then one day a quarrel arose between her and her sister-in-law. And the latter having given food to a Silent Buddha, Bhadda thought, * She will win glory for this,’ and taking the bowl from his hand, she filled it with mud instead of food. The people said, ‘ Foolish woman ! what has the Silent Buddha done to offend you ?’ And she, ashamed of herself, took back the bowl, emptied and scrubbed it 1 Dr. Neumann translates Kapilani by ‘ the Blonde ’ (kapilo is auburn, reddish), as if in keeping with the soubriquet of the other Bhadda (Ps. xlvi.). I have not done so because elsewhere a soubriquet is always explicitly accounted for in the Commentary, and here nothing is said. Moreover, and this is fairly conclusive, the Apadana chronicle, quoted in the Commentary, makes Bhadda ‘ daughter of Kapila the twice-born (brahmin).’ KapilariT, therefore, refers to her family, and should be Kapilani. The Phayre and Paris MSS. of the Therigatha both read Kapilani, so does Vin ., iv., 290, 292. with scented powder, filled it with the four sweet foods, and sprinkled it on the top with ghee of the colour of a lotuscalyx. Handing it back, shining, to the Silent Buddha, she registered a prayer : * May I have a shining body like this bowl !’

After many fortunate rebirths, she was reborn, in the time of Kassapa Buddha, at Benares, as the daughter of the wealthy treasurer. But by the fruition of her previous karma her body was of evil odour, and she was repulsive to others. Much troubled thereby, she had her ornaments made into an ingot of gold, and placed it in the Buddha’s shrine, doing reverence with her hands full of lotuses. Thereby her body, even in that birth, became fragrant and sweet. As a beloved wife she did good all her life, was reborn in heaven to celestial joys, and at length took birth as the daughter of the King of Benares. There she lived gloriously, ministering to Silent Buddhas. When they passed away she was greatly troubled, and left the world for ascetic practices. Dwelling in groves, she practised Jhana, and was reborn in the Brahma heavens, and thence into the family of a brahmin of the Kosiya clan at Sagala.1 Reared in great state, she was wedded to the young noble Pippali at the village of Maha-tittha. When he renounced the world she handed over her great wealth to her kinsfolk that she too might go forth ; and she dwelt five years in the Sophists’ Grove,2 after which she was ordained by Great Pajapatlthe Gotamid. Establishing insight, she soon won Arahantship.

And she became an expert in knowledge of her past lives, through the surplus force of her resolve (made in past ages), and was herein ranked first by the Master when, seated in the Jeta, Grove among the company of Ariyans,3 he classi- 1 On the three Sagalas, see Rhys Davids, Buddhist India , p. 38. According to the Apadana this was the capital of the Maddas (c/. Ps. lii.). Mahatittha, the ‘ great ford,’ was a brahmin village in Magadha. 2 Titthiyarama, near the Jeta Grove at Savatthi. 3 Defined in the Pitakas as meaning Buddhas, Silent Buddhas, and their disciples. This judgment is the subject of Ang. Nik., i. 23-26. fied the Bhikkhums. One day she broke forth in a Psalm, recounting all that she had wrought, accompanied by a eulogy of the virtues of the great Elder Kassapa,1 thus : Son of the Buddha and his heir is he, Great Ivassapa, master of self, serene ! The vision of far, bygone days is his, Ay, heaven and hell no secrets hold for him. (63) Death too of rebirth hath he won, and eke A seer is he of mystic lore profound. By these three arms 2 of learning doth he stand Thrice-wise, ’mong gods and men elect, sublime. (64)

She too, Bhadda the Kapilan — thrice-wise And victor over death and birth is she — Bears to this end her last incarnate frame, For she hath conquered Mara and his host. (65) We both have seen, both he and I, the woe And pity of the world, and have gone forth. We both are Arahants with selves well tamed. Cool are we both, ours is Nibbana now ! (66) 1 Maha-Kassapa became the leader of the Buddhist Order when the Buddha had passed away. According to the Apadana, Kassapa was identical with Pippali, her husband, and had been her husband in three former lives. Kassapa was either the family name or the personal name ; Pippali either the personal or the local name. See Dialogues , i. 193. His story is fully told in the Commentary on the Psalms of the Brothers, and in that on Ang. Nile., i. 23. 2 The metaphor is not Buddhist. The Pali reads ‘ by these three wisdoms ’ ( etahi tihi vijjdhi). See Ps. xxii. 26. The case of Bhadda is noteworthy as being the only one where wife and husband — united for so many ages — act in harmony up to the day when, having aided each other in donning the religious dress, they leave the world together, then part on their several ways to the Buddha, enjoying thereafter still good comradeship in the Order. So she in the Apadana :

‘ Thereafter soon I won the rank of Arahant. Ah ! well for me who held the friendship wise and good Of glorious Kassapa.’ She, too, having fared in the past as the foregoing Sisters, was, in this Buddha-era, reborn in the town of Devadaha, and became the nurse of Great Pajapati the Gotamid. Her name was Vaddhesi, but the name of her family has not been handed down. When her mistress renounced the world she did the same. But for five-and-twenty years she was harassed by the lusts of the senses, winning no concentra¬ tion of mind even for a moment, and bewailing her state with outstretched arms, till at length she heard Dhammadinna preaching the Norm. Then, with her mind diverted from the senses, she fell to practising meditative exercises, and in no long time acquired the Six Powers of Intuition.1 And, reflecting on her attainment, she exulted thus : For five-and-twenty years since I came-iorth, Not for one moment could my heart attain 1 Chalabhinna. Abhinnd in the previous Psalm is rendered ‘ mj^stic lore profound.’ The Six, otherwise defined as paiifia ( Dialogues of the Buddha , i., p. 57) and as vijja {ibid., p. 124), are Iddhi, the Purified Hearing, knowledge of the thoughts of others, memory of former lives, the evolution of the lives of other beings, the extinction of the Asavas (see Vibhanga, 334). The last was virtually identical with Arahantship.

The blessedness of calm serenity. (67) No peace of mind I found. My every thought Was soaked in the fell drug of sense-desire.1 With outstretched arms and shedding futile tears I gat me, wretched woman, to my cell. (68) Then She to this poor Bhikkhuni drew near, Who was my foster-mother in the faith. She taught to me the Norm, wherein I learnt The factors, organs, bases of this self, Impermanent compound.2 Hearing her words, (69) Beside her I sat down to meditate. And now I know the days of the long past, And clearly shines the Eye Celestial, (70) I know the thoughts of other minds, and hear With sublimated sense the sound of things Ineffable.3 The mystic potencies I exercise ; and all the deadly Drugs That poisoned every thought are purged away. A living truth for me this Sixfold Lore, And the commandment of the Lord is done. (71) 1 Lit. only, ‘ soaked with the passion of sense desires,’ and explained as one whose mind was wetted by an exceedingly strong inclination, by an abundance of passionate desire for all the pleasures attainable through the senses. The metaphor of ‘ soaking ’ ( avassutd ) is nearly akin to that in the cardinal defects called Asavas, one of which is precisely the predilection described above, and the extinction of which are named as the sixth abhihhd in the following verses.

2 The last five words are only implicit in the Pali. Cf. Ps. xxx. 48. Compare Dhammadinna’s help with that given by Patacara, Ps. xxx. 3 See Dialogues of the Buddha , i., p. 89. She too, having fared in the past as the foregoing Sisters, was born, in this Buddha-era, at Vesall as the daughter of a certain woman who earned her living by her beauty. Her name was Vimala. When she was grown up, and was imagining vicious things, she saw one day the venerable Maha-Moggallana1 going about Vesall for alms, and feeling enamoured of him, she went to his dwelling and sought to entice him. Some say she was instigated to do so by sectarians. The Elder rebuked her unseemly behaviour and admonished her, as may be read in the Psalms of the Brethren.2 And she was filled with shame and selfreproach, and became a believer and lay-sister. Later she entered the Order, and wrestling and striving — for the root of attainment was in her — not long after won Arahantship. Thereafter, reflecting on her gain, she exulted thus : How was I once puff’d up, incens’d with the bloom of my beauty,3 Vrain of my perfect form, my fame and success ’midst the people,

Fill’d with the pride of my youth, unknowing the Truth and unheeding ! (72) Lo ! I made my body, bravely arrayed, deftly painted, 1 With Sariputta and Maha-Kassapa he belonged to the greatest of the Buddha’s apostles. 2 Theragdthd, verses 1150-57. 3 There is no change in the Pali metre of this Psalm, but seventeen years ago the subject tripped off of itself into the metre as above, and I have so left it. Speak for me to the lads, whilst I at the door of the harlot Stood, like a crafty hunter, weaving his snares, ever watchful. (73) Yea, I bared without shame my body and wealth of adorning ; Manifold wiles I wrought, devouring the virtue of many. (74) To-day with shaven head, wrapt in my robe, I go forth on my daily round for food ; And neath the spreading boughs of forest tree I sit, and Second-Jhana’s rapture win, Where reas’nings cease, and joy and ease re¬ main.1 (75) Now all the evil bonds that fetter gods And men are wholly rent and cut away. Purg’d are the Asavas that drugg’d my heart, Calm and content I know Nibbana’s Peace. (76) She too, faring in the past as the foregoing Sisters, was in this Bnddha-era born at Vesall as the daughter of General Slha’s2 sister. And, being named after her maternal uncle, she was called Slha. Come to years of discretion, she heard the Master one day teaching the Norm to the General, and, becoming a believer, gained her parents’ consent to enter the Order. When she strove for

1 On ‘ Second Jhana,’ see B. Psy ., pp. 43-46. 2 On Siha, General of the Licchavis, see Rhys Davids and 01denberg5 Vinaya Texts (S.B.E.), ii. 108^. ‘ Slha’ = lion. insight, she was unable to prevent her mind from running on objects of external charm. Harassed thus for seven years, she concluded, ‘ How shall I extricate myself from this evil living ? I will die.’ And, taking a noose, she hung it round the bough of a tree, and, fastening it round her neck, with all the cumulative effect of former efforts, she impelled her mind to insight. Then to her, who was really come to her last birth, at that very moment, through her knowledge attaining maturity, insight grew within, and she won Arahantship, together with thorough grasp of the Norm in form and in meaning. So, loosening the rope from her neck, she turned back again. Established as an Arahant, she exulted thus : Distracted, harassed by desires of sense, Unmindful of the 4 what and 4 why ' of things,1 Stung and inflated by the memories Of former days, o’er which I lacked control — (77) Corrupting canker spreading o’er my heart — I followed heedless dreams of happiness,

And got no even tenour to my mind, All given o’er to dalliance with sense. (78) So did I fare for seven weary years, In lean and sallow mis’ry of unrest. I, wretched, found no ease by day or night, (79) So took a rope and plunged into the wood : 4 Better for me a friendly gallows-tree ! I’ll live again the low life of the world.’2 (80) Strong was the noose I made ; and on a bough I bound the rope and flung it round my neck, When see ! . . . my heart was set at liberty ! (81) 1 Ayoniso-manasihara , lit., 4 from not attending to cause or source.’ 2 I.e., by continuing my round of rebirths. Cf. the Western idea of suicide — to 4 put an end to it all ’ — with this of 4 starting it all again.’ She, verily, was born, in the time of Padumuttara Buddha, in the town of Haijsavatl. And when she was come to years of discretion, she heard the Master preaching, and assigning a certain BhikkhunI the foremost place in meditative power. Vowing that she would gain that rank, she went on doing good. After aeons upon aeons of rebirth among gods and men, she took birth in this Buddha-epoch in the reigning family of the Sakiyas. Named Nanda, she became known as Beautiful Nanda,1 the Belle of the country. And when our Exalted One had acquired all know¬ ledge, had gone to Kapilavatthu, and caused the princes Nanda and Rahula to join the Order;

when too King Suddhodana died, and the Great Pajapati entered the Order, then Nanda thought : ‘ My elder brother 2 has renounced the heritage of empire, has left the world, and is become a Buddha, a Superman.3 His son too, Rahula, has left the world, so has my brother, King Nanda, my mother, MahaPajapatl, and my sister, Rahula’ s mother. But I now, what shall I do at home? I will leave the world.’ Thus she went forth, not from faith, but from love of her kin. And thus, even after her renunciation, she was intoxicated with her beauty, and would not go into the Master s presence, lest he should rebuke her. But it fared with her even as with Sister Abhirupa-Nanda,4 with this difference : When she saw the female shape conjured up by the Master growing gradually aged, her mind, intent on the impel manence and suffering of life, turned to meditative discipline. And the Master, seeing that, taught her suitable doctrine, thus :

1 Sundarl-Nanda = ‘ beautiful .delight.’ 2 I.e., half-brother. Cf. p. 6. 3 Aggapuggalo. 4 See Ps. xix. Behold, Nanda, the foul compound, diseased, Impure ! Compel thy heart to contemplate What is not fair to view. So steel thyself And concentrate the well-composed mind.1 (82) As with this body, so with thine ; as with Thy beauty, so with this— thus shall it be With this malodorous, offensive shape, Wherein the foolish only take delight. (83) So look thou on it day and night with mind Unfalteringly steadfast, till alone, By thine own wit, delivered from the thrall Of beauty, thou dost gain vision serene.2 (84) Then she, heeding the teaching, summoned up wisdom and stood firm in the fruition of the First Path. And, to give her an exercise for higher progress, he taught her, saying: ‘Nanda, there is in this body not even the smallest essence. ’Tis but a heap of bones smeared with flesh and blood under the form of decay and death.’ As it is said in the Dhammapada :3 1 An elaboration of two Pali words difficult to render adequately with brevity — eJcagyay susamahitay . The curious inflexion dakJchisay , the reading adopted by the editors of both text and Commentary, is an aorist (first person sin¬ gular) termination on the future stem of ‘ to see.5 Hr. Neumann, dis¬ regarding the Commentary, takes it as aorist, making Nanda speak all the lines to and of herself.

The Commentary divides the speech as above, paraphrasing by passissay an artificially regular future of passati , to see, and a verbal noun, ‘one who will see,’ like j^assay, ‘one who sees.’ In the corresponding Apadana lines the Mandalay MSS. read the regular future (second person singular), dakkhasi , thou wilt see. Either we must, with the Commentary, read some future form of the verb, or make Nanda repeat herself in verses 84 and 85, instead of responding in 85 to the Master’s exordium in 84. Professor R. Otto Franke, in a learned note, most kindly responding to my question, ‘ does not venture to decide ’ whether to keep dakkhisay, or adopt one of the other readings. The severe absence of redundancy in these short poems decides me to follow the tradition, and reserve ‘ I have seen’ for 85 : yathdbhutay ciyay Jcdyo dittho.

‘ Have made a citadel of bones besmeared With flesh and blood, where ever reign decay And death, and where conceit and fraud is stored. Then she, as he finished, attained Arahantship. And when she pondered on her victory, she exulted in the Master’s words, and added : I, even I, have seen, inside and out, This body as in truth it really is, Who sought to know the 4 what ’ and 4 why ’ of it, With zeal unfaltering and ardour fired. (85) Now for the body care I never more, And all my consciousness is passion-free. Keen with unfettered zeal, detached, Calm and serene I taste Nibbana’s peace. (86) She, too, faring in the past as the aforementioned Sisters, was, in this Buddha-age, born in the kingdom of the Kurus at the town of Kammasadamma,1 in a brahmin family. And when she had learnt from some of them their arts and sciences, she entered the Order of the Niganthas,2 and, as a renowned speaker, took her rose-apple bough, like Bhadda Curlyhair,3 and toured about the plain of India. Thus she met Maha-Moggallana the Elder, and in debate suffered defeat. She thereupon listened to his advice, entered the Order, and not long after attained Arahantship, together

1 On this interesting place, see J.P.T.S. , 1909, art. by Dr. Watanabe. 2 Lit., the Unbound or Free Brethren — i.e., the Jains. 3 See Ps. xlvi. The autobiographical evolution hinted at in verse 89 of the Psalm fits ill with the career sketched in the Commentarial tradition. with thorough grasp of the letter and meaning of the Norm. And meditating on her victory, she exulted thus : Fire and the moon, the sun and eke the gods I once was wont to worship and adore, Foregathering on the river-banks to go Down in the waters for the bathing rites. (87) Ay, manifold observances I laid Upon me, for I shaved one-half my head, Nor laid me down to rest save on the earth. Nor ever broke my fast at close of day. (88) I sought delight in decking out myself With gems and ornaments and tricks of art. By baths, unguents, massage, I ministered Unto this body, spurred by lusts of sense. (89) Then found I faith, and forth from home I went into the homeless life, for I Had seen the body as it really is, And nevermore could lusts of sense return. (90) All the long line of lives was snapt in twain.

Ay, every wish and yearning for it gone. All that had tied me hand and foot was loosed, Peace had I won, peace throned in my heart. (91) She, too, faring in the past as the aforementioned Sisters, was, in this Buddha-era, born at the town of Kammasadamma2 in the kingdom of the Kurus, in a brahmin’s family. 1 In the Commentary she is called Mittakalika (a diminutive form). 52 See Ps. xlii., n. 1. Come to years of discretion, she gained faith by hearing the teaching of the great Discourse on the Applications of Mind¬ fulness,1 and entered the Order of Sisters. For seven years she was liable to a fondness for gifts and honours, and, while doing the duties of a recluse, she was quarrelsome now and again. Later on she was reborn intellectually,2 and becoming anxious she established insight, and there¬ upon soon won Arahantship, together with thorough grasp of the Norm in form and in meaning. Deflecting on her victory, she exulted thus : Leaving my home through call of faith, I sought The homeless life, and dwelt with eye intent On offerings from the faithful and the praise Of this one and the gratitude of that. (92)

The path of insight 3 I neglected, turned From highest good to follow baser ends. 1 lay enthralled to worldly vice, and naught To win the goal of my high calling wrought. (93) But anguish crept upon me, even me, Whenas I pondered in my little cell : Ah me ! how have I come into this evil road ! Into the power of Craving have I strayed ! (94) Brief is the span of life yet left to me ; Old age, disease, hang imminent to crush. Now, ere this body perish and dissolve, Swift let me be ; no time have I for sloth. (95) And contemplating, as they really are, The Aggregates of life that come and go, I rose and stood with mind emancipate ! For me the Buddha’s word had come to pass. (96) 1 Digha Nik., ii., pp. 290 ff. 2 Yoniso ujppajjanti , a most unusual phrase for mental growth. A phrase from the Commentary. Now she, at the time when Padumnttara was Buddha, came to birth at Haijsavati as the daughter of King Ananda and half-sister of the Master, and was named Nanda. One day she sat listening to the Master, and hearing him place a BhikkhunI at the top of those who had the faculty of the ‘ Heavenly Eye,’ she vowed that this rank should one day be hers. And after many good works and subsequent happy rebirths, she came to being on earth when Kassapa was Buddha, as a brahminee, and renounced the world as a Wanderer,2 vowed to a solitary life.

One day she offered her alms at the Master’s shrine, making a lamp-offering all night long. Reborn in the heaven of the Three-and-Thirty Gods, she became possessed of the Heavenly Eye ; and, when this Buddha was living, she was born a brahminee at SavatthI, and called Pakula. Assisting at the Master’s acceptance of the gift of the Jeta Grove, she became a believer ; and, later on, convinced by the preaching of an Arahant brother, she grew anxious in mind, entered the Order, strove and struggled for insight, and soon won Arahantship.

Thereafter, in consequence of her vow, she accumulated skill in the heavenly sight, and was assigned foremost place therein by the Master. And reflecting thereon, thrilled with gladness, she exulted thus : While yet I dwelt as matron in the house, I heard a Brother setting forth the Norm. I saw that Norm, the Pure, the Passionless, Track to Nibbana, past decease and birth. (97) 1 Called Sakula, in the Anguttara (i. 25), but Pakula in Comentary and Appendix. 2 Pa-ribbajakd . Cf. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 141. Thereat I left my daughter, left my son, I left my treasures and my stores of grain ; I called for robes and razors, cut my hair, And gat me forth into the homeless life. (98) And first as novice, virtuous and keen To cultivate the upward mounting Way, I cast out lust and with it all ill-will, And therewith, one by one, the deadly Drugs.1 (99) Then to the Bhikkhum of ripening power Rose in a vision mem’ries of the past.2 Limpid and clear the mystic vistas grew, Expanding by persistent exercise. (100) Act, speech and thought I saw as not myself,3 Children of cause, fleeting, impermanent. And now, with every poisonous Drug cast out, Cool and serene I see Nibbana’s peace. (101)

She, too, was born at the time when Padumuttara was Buddha, at Haijsavatl, in a clansman’s family. One day she sat listening to the Master, and hearing him place a 1 In Pali, simply ‘Asave.’ 2 The powers here briefly indicated are the culminating stages of Vijjd or Pafina. See Dialogues of the Buddha , i., p. 124 (§§ 14-16), and passim, and cf. Ps. xxxviii. 3 Parato disvet , lit., having seen as Other i.e says the Commen¬ tary, following the Pitakas ( e.g ., Majjh. Nile., i. 500), as without Soul or Ego. The oldest books specify compounds of act, word, and thought as sankhcLra's. 4 For an uncondensed account from the Manor atanapnr am, see Mrs. Bode, op. cit., pp. 768/. BhikkhunI at the top of those distinguished for capacity of effort, she vowed that this rank should one day be hers. And after many happy rebirths, she came to being, when this Buddha lived, in a clansman’s family at Savatthl. She became, when married, the mother of ten sons and daughters, and was known as ‘the Many-offspringed.’ When her hus¬ band renounced the world, she set her sons and daughters over the household, handing over all her fortune to her sons, and keeping nothing for herself. Her sons and daughtersin-law had not long supported her before they ceased to show her respect. And saying, ‘ What have I to do with living in a house where no regard is shown me ?’ she entered the Order of Bhikkhunls.

Then she thought : ‘ I have left the world in my old age ; I must work strenuously.’ So, while she waited on the Bhikkhunls, she resolved also to give herself religious studies all night. And she studied thus, steadfast and unfaltering, as one might cling doggedly to a pillar on the veranda, or to a tree in the dark, for fear of hitting one’s head against obstacles, never letting go. Thereupon her strenuous energy became known, and the Master, seeing her knowledge maturing, sent forth glory, and appearing as if seated before her, said thus :

‘ The man who, living for an hundred years, Beholdeth never the Ambrosial Path, Had better live no longer than one day, So he behold within that day, that Path!’1 And when he had thus spoken, she attained Arahantship. Now, the Exalted One, in assigning rank of merit to the Bhikkhunls, placed her first for capacity of effort. One day, pondering hereon, she exulted thus : Ten sons and daughters did I bear within This heap of visible decay. Then weak And old I drew near to a Bhhikkuni. (102) She taught to me the Norm,2 wherein I learnt 1 See Ps. lxiii. 2 See Pss. xxx., xxxviii. The factors, organs, bases of this self, Impermanent compound. Hearing her words, And cutting off* my hair, I left the world. (103) Then as I grappled with the threefold course,1 Clear shone for me the Eye Celestial. I know the 4 how ’ and 4 when ’ I came to birth Down the long past, and where it was I lived. (104) I cultivate the Signless,2 and my mind In uttermost composure concentrate. Mine is the ecstasy of freedom won As Path merges in Fruit, and Fruit in Path.3 Holding to nought, I in Nibbana live. (105)

This five-grouped being have I understood. Cut from its root, all onward growth is stayed. I too am stayed, victor on basis sure, Immovable.4 Rebirth comes never more. (106) Bhadda Kundalakesa, the ex- Jain. 5 • • She, too, was reborn, when Padumuttara was Buddha, at Harjsavati, in a clansman’s family. One day she sat listen¬ ing to the Master, and hearing him place a Bhikkhum at top of those whose intuition was swift, she vowed that this rank should one day be hers. After working much 1 See Ps. iv. 2 See Ps. xxxi. 46. 4 Lit., ‘ I am without longing, born of a stable base.’ Possibly the passage, of which there are many corrupt variants, may have been dnejf amhi , ‘ 1 am immovable.’ 5 Spelt -kesi at the allusion to her in Ps. xlii. For an uncondensed version of the chronicle, see Mrs. Bode, op. cit ., pp. 777 /. merit, and experiencing aeons of rebirth among gods and men, she became, when Kassapa was Buddha, one of the seven daughters 1 of Kiki, King of Kasl. And for twenty thou¬ sand years2 she kept the precepts, and built a cell for the Order. Finally, in this Buddha-era, she was born at Rajagaha, in the family of the king’s treasurer, and called Bhadda.3 Growing up surrounded by attendants, she saw, looking through her lattice, Satthuka, the chaplain’s son, a highwayman, being led to execution by the city guard by order of the king.

Falling in love with him, she fell prone on her couch, saying : ‘ If I get him, I shall live ; if not, I shall die.’ Then her father, hearing of her state, out of his great love for her, bribed the guard heavily to release the thief, let him be bathed with perfumed water, adorned him, and let him come where Bhadda, decked in jewels, waited upon him. Then Satthuka very soon coveted her jewels, and said : ‘ Bhadda, when the city guards were taking me to the Robbers’ Cliff, I vowed to the Cliff deity that if my life were spared I would bring an offering. Do you make one ready.’ Wishing to please him, she did so, and adorning herself with all her jewels, mounted a chariot with him, and drove to the Cliff. And Satthuka, to have her in his power, stopped the attendants ; and taking the offering, went up alone with her, but spoke no word of affection to her. And by his behaviour she discerned his plot. Then he bade her take off her outer robe and wrap in it the jewels she was wearing. She asked him what had she done amiss, and he answered : ‘ You fool, do you fancy I have come here to make offering? I have come to get your ornaments.’ ‘ But whose, then, dear one, are the orna¬ ments, and whose am I ?’ ‘I know nothing of that division.’ ‘ So be it, dear ; but grant me this one wish : let me, while wearing my jewels, embrace you.’ He consented, saying : ‘ Very well.’ She thereupon embraced him in front, and then, as if embracing him from the back, pushed him over

1 See Ps. xii. ; Commentary, n. 1. 2 The average span of life in Kassapa Buddha’s era (Digha N., ii.) . 3 See Ps. xxxvii. the precipice. And the deity dwelling on the mountain saw her do this feat and praised her cleverness, saying : ‘ Not in every case is Man the wiser ever ; Woman, too, when swift to see, may prove as clever. Not in every case is Man the wiser reckoned ; Woman, too, is clever, an she think but a second.’ Thereafter Bhadda thought : 4 I cannot, in this course of events, go home ; I will go hence, and leave the world.’ So she entered the Order of the Niganthas.1 And they asked her : 4 In what grade do you make renunciation ?’ 4 In whatever is your extreme grade,’ she replied, ‘perform that on me.’ So they tore out her hair with a palmyra comb. (When the hair grew again in close curls they called her Curlyhair.) During her probation she learnt their course of doctrine and concluded that : 4 So far as they go they know, but beyond that there is nothing distinctive in their teaching.’ So she left them, and going wherever there were learned persons, she learnt their methods of know¬ ledge till, when she found none equal to debate with her, she made a heap of sand at the gate of some village or town, and in it set up the branch of a rose-apple, and told children to watch near it, saying : 4 Whoever is able to join issue with me in debate, let him trample on this bough.’ Then she went to her dwelling, and if after a week the bough still stood, she took it and departed.

Now at that time our Exalted One, rolling the wheel of the excellent doctrine, came and dwelt in the Jeta Wood near Savatthi, just when Curlyhair had set up her bough at the gate of that city. Then the venerable Captain of the Norm2 entered the city alone, and, seeing her bough, felt the wish to tame her. And he asked the children : 4 Why is this bough stuck up here ?’ They told him. The Elder said : 4 If that is so, trample on the bough.’ And the children did so. Then Curlyhair, after seeking her meal in the town, came out 1 See Ps. xlii. v 2 The title reserved for the Apostle Sariputto.. and saw the trampled bough, and asked who had done it. When she heard it was the Elder, she thought, 4 An unsup¬ ported debate is not effective,’ and going back into SavatthI, she walked from street to street, saying : 4 Would ye see a debate between the Sakyan recluses and myself ?’ Thus, with a great following, she went up to the Captain of the Norm, who was seated beneath a tree, and, after friendly greeting, asked : 4 Was it by your orders that my rose-apple bough was trampled on ?’ 4 Yes, by my orders.’ 4 That

being so, let us have a debate together.’ 4 Let us, Bhadda.’ 4 Which shall put questions, which shall answer?’ 4 Ques¬ tions put to me ; do you ask anything you yourself think of.’ They proceeded thus, the Elder answering everything, till she, unable to think of further questions, became silent. Then the Elder said : 4 You have asked much ; I, too, will ask, but only this question.’ 4 Ask it, lord.’ 4 One — what is that 9’1 Curlyhair, seeing neither end nor point to this, was as one gone into the dark, and said : 4 1 know not, lord.’ Then he, saying, 4 You know not even thus much. How should you know aught else ?’ taught her the Norm. She fell at his feet, saying: 4 Lord, I take refuge with you/ 1 ’Ekay namci My ? or more fully, ‘ What is that which is called (named) “one”?’ The Jains do not appear to have been any more monistically or pantheistically inclined than the Buddhists, hence possibly her lack of ready reply. The systems she is said to have acquired cannot well have included the more esoteric and more jealously reserved Brahmanic lore. It is difficult otherwise to imagine her at such a loss, unless it was because of the extreme vagueness of the question. ‘In the beginning there was One only.’ . . . ‘He is one, he becomes three .

. . five,’ etc. ‘ All things become one in prajna,’ and so on : — the oldest Upanishads give plenty of such answers. Conceivably she may have known this monism, but have seen no end or point in it, because, as a sincere Jain, she rejected it. Neither would the Apostle have wished for a Brahmanic reply, except as an occasion to be improved upon. He would be more interested in the analysis and classification of phenomena bearing on the ethical life. Thus, in the ancient catechism, the Khuddakapatha, the question actually occurs: Eka ndma My ? But the answer is, ‘ All beings are sustained by food.’ Hence ‘ the point ’, really was, State any one fact true for the whole of any one class of things. (Cf. Ang. Nik., v. 50, 55.)

‘ Come not to me, Bhadda, for refuge ; go for refuge to the Exalted One, supreme among men and gods.’ ‘ I will do so, lord,’ she said ; and that evening, going to the Master at the hour of his teaching the Norm, and worshipping him she stood on one side. The Master, discerning the maturity of her knowledge, said : ‘ Better than a thousand verses, where no profit wings the word, Is a solitary stanza bringing calm and peace when heard.’1 And when he had spoken, she attained Arahantship, together with thorough grasp of the letter and the spirit. Now she entered the Order as an Arahant, the Master him¬ self admitting her. And going to the Sisters’ quarters, she abode in the bliss of fruition and Nibbana, and exulted in her attainment thus : Hairless, dirt-laden and half-clad2 — so fared I formerly, deeming that harmless things Held harm, nor was I ware of harm In many things wherein, in sooth, harm lay. (107) Then forth I went from siesta in the shade Up to the Vulture’s Peak,3 and there I saw The Buddha, the Immaculate, begirt And followed by the Bhikkhu-company. (108) Low on my knees 1 worshipped, with both hands

Adoring. 4 Come, Bhadda !’ the Master said ! Thereby to me was ordination given.4 (109) 1 Dhammapada , ver. 101. 2 Lit., having one garment or cloak. The Niganthas were ascetics [Dialogues of the Buddha , i. 220, 221). 3 It is not impossible that Savatthi had its Vulture’s Peak (Gijjhakuta) as well as Rajagaha in Magadha ; but the latter peak is the one usually mentioned, and it seems more probable that Curlyhair’s legend has been (badly) fitted on to another Bhadda’s Psalm. Gf. Ps. xlii., also Ps. xlvii., lxiii. The commentator is silent on the point. 4 Great importance came to be attached to a case of ordination in the case, at least, of a woman — by the Master direct, as was this. Dhammapala ends his Commentary with a note upon it. Lo ! fifty years have I a pilgrim been, In Anga, Magadha and in Vajjl, In KasI and the land of Kosala, Nought owing, living on the people’s alms.1 (110) And great the merit by that layman gained, Sagacious man, who gave Bhadda a robe — Bhadda who now (captive once more to gear) Is wholly free from bondage of the mind. (Ill) She, too, was reborn, when Padumuttara was Buddha, at Haijsavatl, in a clansman’s family. One day she sat listening to the Master, and hearing him place a Bhikkhunl at top of those who were versed in the rules of the Order, she vowed that this rank should one day be hers.

After doing good all her life, and being reborn in heaven and on earth, she gained rebirth, in the time when Kassapa was Buddha, as one of the seven Sisters, daughters of Kiki, King of KasI.2 And for 20,000 years she lived a life of righteousness, and built a cell for the Order. While no Buddha lived on earth she dwelt in glory among the gods, and finally, in this Buddha - era, was reborn in the Treasurer’s house at Savatthl. Grown up, she formed an intimacy with one of the serving-men of her house. When the parents fixed a day on which to give her hand to a

1 That, from an Eastern standpoint, she incurred no debt as the people’s pensioner, but more than repaid their charity by giving them opportunities for storing merit, is well shown in the following lines. 2 Thus, as sister of Bhadda Curlylocks, or, rather, of the immediate personal antecedent of Bhadda, and of five other eminent women. See Ps. xii., n. ; and cf. Mrs. Bode, op. cit., pp. 556/. ; and Jataka 4, Buddhist Birth Stories , pp. 158 /. youth of her own rank, she took a handful of baggage, and with her lover left the town by the chief gate and dwelt in a hamlet. When the time for her confinement was near, she said : ‘ Here there’s none to take care of me ; let us go home, husband.’ And he procrastinated, saying: ‘We’ll go to-day ; we’ll go to-morrow ’ till she said : 4 The foolish fellow will never take me there ’ ; and setting her affairs in order while he was out, she told her neighbours to say she had gone home, and set forth alone. When he came back and was told this, he exclaimed : 4 Through my doing a lady of rank is without protection,’ and hurrying after her, overtook her. Midway the pains of birth came upon her, and after she was recovered, they turned back again to the hamlet. At the advent of a second child things happened just as before, with this difference:

when mid¬ way the winds born of Karma blew upon her,1 a great storm broke over them, and she said, 4 Husband, find me a place out of the rain !’ While he was cutting grass and sticks in the jungle, he cut a stake from a tree standing in an ant-hill. And a snake came from the ant-hill and bit him, so that he fell there and died. She, in great misery, and looking for his coming, while the two babies cried at the wind and the rain, placed them in her bosom, and, prone over them on the ground, spent the night thus. At dawn, bearing one babe at her breast, and saying to the other, 4 Come, dear, father has left thee,’ she went and found him seated, dead, near the ant-heap. 4 Oh!’ she cried, 4 through me my husband is dead,’ and wept and lamented all the night. Now, from the rain, the river that lay across her path was swollen knee-deep, and she, being distraught and weak, could not cross the water with both babies. So she left the elder on the hither side, and crossed over with the other. Then she spread out a branch she had broken off, and laid the babe on her rolled headcloth. But she was loth to leave the little creature, and turned round again and again to see him as she went down to the river. Now, when she was half-way over, a hawk in

1 When the paips of childbirth set in. the air took the babe for a piece of. flesh, and though the mother, seeing him, clapped her hands, shouting, * Soo ! soo !’ the hawk minded her not, because she was far from him, and caught the child up into the air. Then the elder, thinking the mother was shouting because of him, got flustered, and fell into the river; so she lost both, and came weeping to Savatthi. And, meeting a man, she asked him : 4 Where do you dwell ?’ And he said : 4 At Savatthi, dame.’ 4 There is at Savatthi such and such a family in such and such a street. Know you them, friend ?’ 4 1 know them, dame; but ask not of them; ask somewhat else.’ 4 1 am not concerned with aught else. ’Tis about them I ask, friend.’ 4 Dame, can you not take on yourself to tell ? You saw how the god rained all last night ?’ 4 1 saw that, friend. On me he rained all night long. Why, I will tell you presently. But first, do you tell me of how it goes with that Treasurer’s family.’ 4 Dame, last night the house broke down and fell upon them, and they burn the Treasurer, his wife, and his son on one pyre. Dame, the smoke of it can be seen.’ Thereat grief maddened her, so that she was not aware even of her clothing slipping off. Wailing in her woe —

‘ My children both are gone, and in the bush Dead lies my husband ; on one funeral bier My mother, father, and my brother burn,’ she wandered around from that day forth in circles, and because her skirt-cloth fell from her she was given the name 4 Cloak-walker.’1 And people, seeing her, said : 4 Go, little mad-woman !’ And some threw refuse at her head, some sprinkled dust, some pelted her with clods. The Master, seated in the Jeta Grove, in the midst of a great company, teaching the Dhamma, saw her wandering thus round and round, and contemplated the maturity of her knowledge. When she came towards the Vihara he also walked that way. The congregation, seeing her, said : 4 Suffer not that little lunatic to come hither.’ The Exalted 1 Pata, cloak ; acard , walker (fern.). One said : ‘ Forbid her not,’ and standing near as she came round again, he said to her : 4 Sister, recover thou presence of mind.’1 She, by the sheer potency of the Buddha regaining presence of mind, discerned her un¬ dressed plight, and shame and conscience arising, she fell crouching to earth. A man threw her his outer robe, and she put it round her, and drawing near to the Master worshipped at his feet, saying : 4 Lord, help me. One of my children a hawk hath taken, one is borne away by water ;

in the jungle my husband lies dead ; my parents and my brother, killed by the overthrown house, burn on one pyre.’ So she told him why she grieved. The Master made her see, thus : 4 Patacara, think not thou art come to one able to become a help to thee. Just as now thou art shedding tears because of the death of children and the rest, so hast thou, in the unending round of life, been shedding tears, because of the death of children and the rest, more abundant than the waters of the four oceans :

‘ Less are the waters of the oceans four Than all the waste of waters shed in tears By heart of man who mourneth touched by Ill. Why waste thy life brooding in bitter woe ?’ Thus, through the Master’s words touching the way where no salvation lies, the grief in her became lighter to bear. Knowing this, he went on : 4 0 Patacara, to one passing to another world no child nor other kin is able to be a shelter or a hiding-place or a refuge. Not here, even, can they be such. Therefore, let whoso is wise purify his own conduct, and accomplish the Path leading even to Nibbana.’ Thus he taught her, and said : ‘ Sons are no shelter, nor father, nor any kinsfolk. O’ertaken by death, for thee blood-bond is no refuge. Discerning this truth, the wise man, well ordered by virtue, Swiftlv makes clear the road leading on to Nibbana. 1 Sati is memory plus consciousness, in a reasonable being, of what one is now doing. ‘ Thy reason ’ would be more idiomatic English. ‘ Sister ’ here ( bhagini , not BliihJchuni or Thevi ) is the term for the blood-tie, or a term of respect. x

When he had finished speaking, she was established in the fruit of a Stream-winner,1 and asked for ordination. The Master led her to the Bhikkhunis, and let her be admitted. She, exercising herself to reach the higher paths, took water one day in a bowl, and washing her feet, poured away some of the water, which trickled but a little way and disappeared. She poured more, and it went farther. And the third time the water went yet farther before it dis¬ appeared. Taking this as her basis of thought, she pondered : ‘ Even so do mortals die, either in childhood, or in middle age, or when old.’ And the Master, seated in the ‘ Fragrant Chamber,’ shed glory around, and appeared as if speaking before her, saying : ‘ Even so, 0 Patacara, are all mortals liable to die ; therefore is it better to have so lived as to see how the five khandhas come and go, even were it but for one day — ay, but for one moment — than to live for a hundred years and not see that. ‘ The man who, living for an hundred years, Beholdeth never how things rise and fall,

Had better live no longer than one day, So, in that day, he see the flux of things.’2 And when he had finished, Patacara won Arahantship, together with thorough grasp of the Norm in letter and in spirit. Thereafter, reflecting on how she had attained while yet a student, and magnifying the advent of this upward change, she exulted thus : With ploughshares ploughing up the fields, with seed Sown in the breast of earth, men win their crops, Enjoy their gains and nourish wife and child. (112) Why cannot I, whose life is pure, who seek 1 The first of the four paths of salvation, Arahantship being the fourth. 2 U dayabbayo, rise-fall or coming-going. I have merely varied the phrase from line 2. To do the Master’s will, no sluggard am, Nor puffed up, win to Nibbana’s bliss ? (113) One day, bathing my feet, I sit and watch The water as it trickles down the slope. Thereby I set my heart in steadfastness, As one doth train a horse of noble breed. (114) Then going to my cell, I take my lamp, And seated on my couch I watch the flame. (115) Grasping the pin, I pull the wick right down Into the oil. . . .

Lo ! the Nibbana of the little lamp ! Emancipation dawns ! My heart is free l1 (116) Thirty Sisters under Patacara declare their Anna. They, too, having made vows under former Buddhas, and accumulating good of age-enduring efficacy in this and that rebirth, consolidated the conditions for emancipation. They came to birth, in this Buddha-dispensation, in clans¬ men’s families in different places, heard Patacara preach, and were by her converted, and entered the Order. To them, perfecting virtue and fulfilling their duties, she one day gave this exhortation :2 Men in their prime with pestle and with quern Are busied pounding rice and grinding corn. Men in their prime gather and heap up wealth, 1 Lit., ‘ There was emancipation of the heart ’ (or mind). It is not easy to avoid jejuneness in rendering faithfully the austere simplicity of this little poem, wherein the terms and metaphors are not rich in import to us as they would be to an early Buddhist. 2 Cf. with the following, Ps. lyiii. To have and nourish wife and children dear. (117) But ye, my sisters, see ye carry out The Buddha’s will, which bringeth no remorse. Swiftly bathe ye your feet, then sit ye down Apart ; your souls surrender utterly To spiritual calm — so do his will. (118)

Then those Bhikkhunls, abiding in the Sister’s admoni¬ tion, established themselves in insight, performed exercises therein, and brought knowledge to such maturity — the promise, too, being in them — that they attained Arahantship, together with thorough grasp of the Norm in letter and in spirit. And reflecting thereon, they exulted thus, adding the Then’s verses to their own : The will of her who spake — Patacara — 1 The thirty Sisters heard and swift obeyed. Bathing their feet, they sat them down apart, And gave their souls to spiritual calm, Fulfilling thus the bidding of the Lord. (119) While passed the first watch of the night, there rose Long memories of the bygone line of lives ; While passed the second watch, the Heavenly Eye, Purview celestial, they clarified ; While passed the last watch of the night, they burst And rent aside the gloom of ignorance. (120) Then rising to their feet they hailed her blest : 4 F ulfilled is thy will ! and thee we take, And like to Sakka o’er the thrice ten gods, ] One note in the individual chord sounded in this Psalm and the next is certainly the emphasis laid on the loyalty of the Sisters to their present Mistress rather than to the absent and less directly guiding Master.

Chieftain unconquered in celestial wars, We place thee as our Chief, and so shall live. The threefold Wisdom have we gotten now. From deadly drugs our souls are purified.’ (121) She, too, faring in former ages like the foregoing, was, in this Buddha-era, born in a brahmin village as the daughter of a brahmin of whom nothing is known. From her child¬ hood her family lost its possessions, and she grew up in wretched circumstances. Now, in her home the snake-blast disease1 broke out, and all her kinsfolk caught it, and died. She, being unable to support herself otherwise, went from house to house with a potsherd, maintaining herself by alms. One day she came to where Patacara had just finished her meal. The Bhikkhunis, seeing her wretched and overcome with hunger, received her with affectionate kindness in the pity they felt for her, and satisfied her with such food as they had. Gladdened by their virtuous conduct, she drew near to the Then, saluted her, and sat down on one side while the Then discoursed. She listened in delight, and, growing anxious concerning the round of life, renounced the world. Abiding in the Then’s admonition, she established insight, devoted to practice. Then, because of her resolve and of the maturity of her knowledge, she not long after won Arahantship, with thorough grasp of the Norm in the letter and the spirit. And, reflecting on her attainment, she exulted thus :

Fallen on evil days was I of yore. No husband had I, nor no child, no friends 1 On this mythical illness, see Hardy, Eastern Monacliism , 85 n. Or kin — whence could I food or raiment find ? (122) As beggars go, I took my bowl and staff, And sought me alms, begging from house to house, Sunburnt, frost-bitten, seven weary years. (123) Then came I where a woman Mendicant1 Shared with me food, and drink, and welcomed me, And said : ‘ Come forth into our homeless life !’ (124) In gracious pity did she let me come — Patacara — and heard me take the vows. And thenceforth words of wisdom and of power She spake, and set before my face The way of going to the Crown of Life.2 (125) I heard her and I marked, and did her will. O wise and clear Our Lady’s homily ! The Threefold Wisdom have I gotten now. From deadly drugs my heart is purified. (126) 1 Bhikkhuni. The charm of the poem lies in the poor woman, an involuntary beggar ‘ in the world,’ ‘ coming forth,’ a voluntary beggar, into the higher Mendicancy, and from the dregs of living, reckoned by worldly standards, setting herself to win the cream of the life of Mind.

2 Lit., the thing of supreme import or advantage — -paramatthe. These too, having fared under former Buddhas as the foregoing Sisters, were, in this Buddha-era, reborn in some clansman’s house in divers places, were married, and bore children, living domestic lives. And having wrought karma such as would bring to pass such a result, they suffered bereavement in the death of a child. Then they found their way, overwhelmed with grief, to Patacara, and saluting her, and seated by her, told her the manner of their sorrow. The Sister, restraining their sorrow, spake thus : The way by which men come we cannot know ; Nor can we see the path by which they go. 1 Pancasatd Patacara. Dr. Neumann, who disregards the Com¬ mentary throughout as a mere exegesis and of less than no historical value, renders paiicasatdi by ‘ of fivefold subtlety’ — die fiinfmal Peine — satd being taken as ‘ one who has satiJ (memory, mindfulness, dis¬ cernment), Sanskrit smrtd. I believe the expression pancasatd occurs nowhere else; nor is there anything in the gatha’s to justify the sou¬ briquet. Nor am I concerned to euhemerize the, to us, mythical absurdity of 500 bereaved mothers all finding their way to one woman, illustrious teacher and herself bereaved mother though she might be. Five hundred, and one or two more such ‘ round numbers,5 are, in Pali, tantamount simply to our ‘dozens of them,’ ‘an hundredfold,’ and the like. But, besides this, the phenomena of huge cities and swarming population are not, in, countries of ancient civilization, matters of yesterday's growth, as in our case.

Why mournest then for him who came to thee, Lamenting through thy tears : 4 My son ! my son !’ (127) Seeing thou knowest not the way he came, Nor yet the manner of his leaving thee ? Weep not, for such is here the life of man. (128) Unask’d he came, unbidden went he hence. Lo ! ask thyself again whence came thy son To bide on earth this little breathing space ? (129) By one way come and by another gone, As man to die, and pass to other births — So hither and so hence — why would ye weep V- (130) They, hearing her doctrine, were tilled with agitation, and, under the Therl, renounced the world. Exercising themselves henceforth in insight, their faculties growing ripe for emancipation, they soon became established in Arahantship, with thorough grasp of the Norm in form and in meaning. Thereafter, pondering on their attainment, they exulted in those words, ‘ The way by which men come,’ adding thereto other verses, and repeating them in turn, as follows : Lo ! from my heart the hidden shaft is gone, The shaft that nestled there she hath removed, And that consuming grief for my dead child Which poisoned all the life of me is dead. (131)

1 The sharp contrast between this chant of consolation and that which any other religious anthology affords is sufficiently interesting. But if the burden of the chant, in its varied iteration, be imagined, not tripped off on the tongue of a cheerful critic or a disapproving otherbeliever, but uttered in grave, tender accents, coming from a heart that felt intensely because it had so ached, and from a mind that understood and was therefore serene . . . Even so might Bouguereau^s ‘ Vierge Consolatrice’ speak, her great wise eyes looking forth over the anguished bereaved sister flung on her lap, while the dead child lies below at her feet. 1 Lo ! ash thyself again whence came thy son To hide on earth this little breathing-space P To face p. 78 To-day my heart is healed, my yearning stayed. Perfected the deliverance wrought in me.1 Lo ! I for refuge to the Buddha go — The only wise— the Order and the Norm.2 (132) Now, because those 500 Bhikkhunis were versed in the teaching of Patacara, therefore they got the name of The Patacara’s. She, too, faring under former Buddhas like the foregoing, was, in this Buddha-era, reborn in a clansman’s family at Vesall. Her parents gave her in marriage to a clansman’s son of equal rank, and she, bearing one son, lived happily with her husband. But when the child was able to run about, he died ;

and she was worn and maddened with grief. And while the relatives were administering healing to the husband, she, unknown to them, ran away raving, and wandered round and round till she came to Mithila. There she saw the Exalted One going down the next street, self-controlled, self-contained, master of his faculties. And at the sight of the wondrous Chief,4 and through the potency of the Buddha, she regained her normal mind from the frenzy that had befallen her. Then the Master taught her the Norm in outline, and in agitation she asked him that she might enter the Order, and by his command she was admitted. Performing all requisite duties and preliminaries, she established insight, and, striving with might and main, and with ripening know¬ ledge, she soon attained Arahantship, together with thorough