Therīgāthā (Psalms of the Sisters)

I examined in line with the truth the rise and fall of the aggregates. I stood up with mind liberated, having fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.

While staying at home I heard the teaching from a monk. I saw the stainless Dhamma, extinguishment, the state that does not pass.

Leaving behind my son and my daughter, my riches and my grain, I had my hair cut off, and went forth to homelessness.

As a trainee nun, I developed the direct path. I gave up greed and hate, along with associated defilements.

When I was fully ordained as a nun, I recollected my past lives, and purified my clairvoyance, immaculate and fully developed.

Conditions are born of causes, crumbling; having seen them as other, I gave up all defilements, I’m cooled and quenched.

I gave birth to ten sons in this form, this bag of bones. Then, when feeble and old, I approached a nun.

She taught me the Dhamma: the aggregates, sense fields, and elements. When I heard her teaching, I shaved off my hair and went forth.

When I was a trainee nun, my clairvoyance was clarified, and I knew my past lives, the places I used to live.

I meditate on the signless, my mind unified and serene. I achieved the immediate liberation, quenched by not grasping.

The five aggregates are fully understood; they remain, but their root is cut. Curse you, wretched old age! now there’ll be no more future lives.

My hair plucked out, covered in mud, I used to wander wearing just one robe. I saw fault where there was none, and was blind to the actual fault.

Leaving my day’s meditation on Vulture’s Peak Mountain, I saw the stainless Buddha at the fore of the mendicant Saṅgha.

I bent my knee and bowed, and in his presence raised my cupped palms. “Come Bhaddā,” he said; that was my ordination.

“I’ve wandered among the Aṅgans and Magadhans, the Vajjis, Kāsis, and Kosalans. I have eaten the almsfood of the nations free of debt for fifty years.”

“O! He has made so much merit! That lay follower is so very wise. He gave a robe to Bhaddā, who is released from all ties.”

Plowing the fields, sowing seeds in the ground, providing for partners and children, young men acquire wealth.

I am accomplished in ethics, and I do the Teacher’s bidding, being neither lazy nor restless— why then do I not achieve quenching?

Having washed my feet, I took note of the water, seeing the foot-washing water flowing from high ground to low.

My mind became serene, like a fine thoroughbred steed. Then, taking a lamp, I entered my dwelling, inspected the bed, and sat on my cot.

Then, grabbing the pin, I drew out the wick. The liberation of my heart was like the quenching of the lamp.

“Taking a pestle, young men pound grain. Providing for partners and children, young men acquire wealth.

Do the Buddha’s bidding, you won’t regret it. Having quickly washed your feet, sit in a discreet place to meditate. Devoted to serenity of heart, do the Buddha’s bidding.”

After hearing her words, the instructions of Paṭācārā, they washed their feet and retired to a discreet place. Devoted to serenity of heart, they did the Buddha’s bidding.

In the first watch of the night, they recollected their past lives. In the middle watch of the night, they purified their clairvoyance. In the last watch of the night, they shattered the mass of darkness.

They rose and paid homage at her feet: “We have done your bidding; we shall abide honoring you, as the Thirty gods honor Indra, undefeated in battle. Masters of the three knowledges, <j>we are free of defilements.”

That is how thirty senior nuns declared their enlightenment in the presence of Paṭācārā.

I used to be in a sorry state. As a childless widow, bereft of friends or relatives, I got neither food nor clothes.

I took a bowl and a staff and went begging from family to family. For seven years I wandered, burned by heat and cold.

Then I saw a nun receiving food and drink. Approaching her, I said: “Send me forth to homelessness.”

Out of sympathy for me, Paṭācārā gave me the going forth. Then, having advised me, she urged me on to the ultimate goal.

After hearing her words, I did her bidding. The lady’s advice was not in vain: master of the three knowledges, <j>I am free of defilements.

“One whose path you do not know, not whence they came nor where they went; though they came from who knows where, you mourn that being, crying, ‘Oh my son!’

But one whose path you do know, whence they came or where they went; that one you do not lament— such is the nature of living creatures.

Unasked he came, he left without leave. He must have come from somewhere, and stayed who knows how many days. He left from here by one road, he will go from there by another.

Departing with the form of a human, he will go on transmigrating. As he came, so he went: why weep over that?”

“Oh! For you have plucked the arrow from me, so hard to see, stuck in the heart. You’ve swept away the grief for my son, in which I once was mired.

Today I’ve plucked the arrow, I’m hungerless, quenched. I go for refuge to that sage, the Buddha, to his teaching, and to the Saṅgha.”

That is how five hundred nuns declared their enlightenment.

Struck down with grief for my son, deranged, out of my mind, nude, my hair flying, I wandered here and there.

I lived on rubbish heaps, in cemeteries and highways. For three years I wandered, stricken by hunger and thirst.

Then I saw the Holy One back at the city of Mithilā. Tamer of the untamed, the Awakened One fears nothing from any quarter.

Regaining my mind, I paid homage and sat down. Out of compassion Gotama taught me the Dhamma.

After hearing his teaching, I went forth to homelessness. Applying myself to the Teacher’s words, I realized the state of grace.

All sorrows are cut off, given up, they end here. I’ve fully understood the basis from which grief comes to be.

“You’re so young and beautiful! I too am young, just a youth. Come, Khemā, let us enjoy the music of a five-piece band.”

“This body is rotting, ailing and frail, I’m horrified and repelled by it, and I’ve eradicated sensual craving.

Sensual pleasures are like swords and spears; the aggregates are their chopping block. What you call erotic delight is now no delight for me.

Relishing is banished in every respect, and the mass of darkness is shattered. So know this, Wicked One: you’re beaten, terminator!”

“Worshiping the stars, serving the sacred flame in a grove; failing to grasp the true nature of things, foolish me, I thought this was purity.

But now I worship the Awakened One, supreme among men. Doing the Teacher’s bidding, I am released from all suffering.”

I was adorned with jewelry and all dressed up, with garlands, and sandalwood makeup piled on, all covered over with decorations, and surrounded by my maids.

Taking food and drink, staples and dainties in no small amount, I left my house and took myself to the park.

I enjoyed myself there and played about, and then, returning to my own house, I saw a monastic dwelling, and so I entered the Añjana wood at Sāketa.

Seeing the light of the world, I paid homage and sat down. Out of compassion the Clear-eyed One taught me the Dhamma.

When I heard the great seer, I penetrated the truth. Right there I found the stainless Dhamma, the state free of death.

Then, having understood the true teaching, I went forth to homelessness. I’ve attained the three knowledges; the Buddha’s bidding was not in vain.

I was born into an eminent family, affluent and wealthy, endowed with a beautiful complexion and figure; Majjha’s true-born daughter.

I was sought by princes, coveted by sons of the wealthy. One sent a messenger to my father: “Give me Anopamā!

However much your daughter Anopamā weighs, I’ll give you eight times that in gold coin and gems.”

When I saw the Awakened One, the world’s Elder, unsurpassed, I paid homage at his feet, and withdrew to one side.

Out of compassion, Gotama taught me the Dhamma. While sitting in that seat, I realized the third fruit.

Then, having shaved off my hair, I went forth to homelessness. This is the seventh day since my craving dried up.

Oh Buddha, my hero: homage to you! Supreme among all beings, who released me from suffering, and many other beings as well.

All suffering is fully understood; craving—its cause—is dried up; the eightfold path has been developed; and cessation has been realized by me.

Previously I was a mother, a son, a father, a brother, and a grandmother. Failing to grasp the true nature of things, I transmigrated without reward.

Since I have seen the Blessed One, this bag of bones is my last. Transmigration through births is finished, now there’ll be no more future lives.

I see the disciples in harmony, energetic and resolute, always staunchly vigorous— this is homage to the Buddhas!

It was truly for the benefit of many that Māyā gave birth to Gotama. He swept away the mass of suffering for those stricken by sickness and death.

Guttā, you have given up your child, your wealth, and all that you love. Foster the goal for which you went forth; do not fall under the mind’s control.

Beings deceived by the mind, playing in Māra’s domain, ignorant, they journey on, transmigrating through countless rebirths.

Sensual desire and ill will, and substantialist view; misapprehension of precepts and observances, and doubt as the fifth.

O nun, when you have given up these lower fetters, you won’t come back to this world again.

And when you’re rid of desire, conceit, ignorance, and restlessness, having cut the fetters, you’ll make an end to suffering.

Having wiped out transmigration, and fully understood rebirth, hungerless in this very life, you will live at peace.

Four or five times I left my dwelling; I had failed to find peace of heart, or any control over my mind.

I approached a nun and politely questioned her. She taught me the Dhamma: the elements and sense fields,

the four noble truths, the faculties and the powers, the awakening factors, and the eightfold path for the attainment of the highest goal.

After hearing her words, I did her bidding. In the first watch of the night, I recollected my past lives.

In the middle watch of the night, I purified my clairvoyance. In the last watch of the night, I shattered the mass of darkness.

I then meditated pervading my body with rapture and bliss. On the seventh day I stretched out my feet, having shattered the mass of darkness.

“Taking a pestle, young men pound grain. Providing for partners and children, young men acquire wealth.

Work at the Buddha’s bidding, you won’t regret it. Having quickly washed your feet, sit in a discreet place to meditate.

Establish the mind, unified and serene. Examine conditions as alien, not as self.”

“After hearing her words, the instructions of Paṭācārā, I washed my feet and retired to a discreet place.

In the first watch of the night, I recollected my past lives. In the middle watch of the night, I purified my clairvoyance.

In the last watch of the night, I shattered the mass of darkness. I rose up master of the three knowledges: your bidding has been done.

I shall abide honoring you as the Thirty gods honor Sakka, undefeated in battle. Master of the three knowledges, <j>I am free of defilements.”

“As a nun with developed faculties, having established mindfulness, I penetrated that peaceful state, the blissful stilling of conditions.”

“In whose name did you shave your head? You look like an ascetic, but you don’t approve any creed. Why do you wander as if lost?”

“Followers of other creeds rely on their views. They don’t understand the Dhamma, for they’re no experts in the Dhamma.

But there is one born in the Sakyan clan, the unrivaled Buddha; he taught me the Dhamma for going beyond views.

Suffering, suffering’s origin, suffering’s transcendence, and the noble eightfold path that leads to the stilling of suffering.

After hearing his words, I happily did his bidding. I’ve attained the three knowledges and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.

Relishing is banished in every respect, and the mass of darkness is shattered. So know this, Wicked One: you’re beaten, terminator!”

“A nun with faculties developed, mindful, seeing clearly, I penetrated that peaceful state, which reprobates do not cultivate.”

“Why don’t you approve of rebirth? When you’re born, you get to enjoy sensual pleasures. Enjoy erotic delights; don’t regret it later.”

“Death comes to those who are born; and when born they fall into suffering: the chopping off of hands and feet, killing, caging, misery.

But there is one born in the Sakyan clan, awakened and undefeated. He taught me the Dhamma for transcending rebirth:

suffering, suffering’s origin, suffering’s transcendence, and the noble eightfold path that leads to the stilling of suffering.