thig13.3:0.1Verses of the Senior Nuns 13.3
thig13.3:0.2The Book of the Twenties
thig13.3:0.3Cāpā
thig13.3:1.1“Once I carried a hermit’s staff,
thig13.3:1.2but these days I hunt deer.
thig13.3:1.3My desires have made me unable to cross
thig13.3:1.4from the awful marsh to the far shore.
thig13.3:2.1Thinking me so in love with her,
thig13.3:2.2Cāpā kept our son happy.
thig13.3:2.3Having cut Cāpā’s bond,
thig13.3:2.4I’ll go forth once again.”
thig13.3:3.1“Don’t be mad at me, great hero!
thig13.3:3.2Don’t be mad at me, great sage!
thig13.3:3.3If you’re mired in anger you can’t stay pure,
thig13.3:3.4let alone be fervent.”
thig13.3:4.1“I’m going to leave Nālā!
thig13.3:4.2For who’d stay here at Nālā!
thig13.3:4.3With their figures, the women trap
thig13.3:4.4ascetics who live righteously.”
thig13.3:5.1“Please, Kāḷa, come back to me.
thig13.3:5.2Enjoy pleasures like you did before.
thig13.3:5.3I’ll be under your control,
thig13.3:5.4along with any relatives I have.”
thig13.3:6.1“Cāpā, if even a quarter
thig13.3:6.2of what you say were true,
thig13.3:6.3it would be a splendid thing
thig13.3:6.4for a man in love with you!”
thig13.3:7.1“Kāḷa, I am like a sprouting iris
thig13.3:7.2flowering on a mountain top,
thig13.3:7.3like a blossoming pomegranate,
thig13.3:7.4like a patala tree on an isle;
thig13.3:8.1my limbs are anointed with yellow sandalwood,
thig13.3:8.2and I wear the finest Kāsi cloth:
thig13.3:8.3when I am so very beautiful,
thig13.3:8.4how can you abandon me and leave?”
thig13.3:9.1“You’re like a fowler
thig13.3:9.2who wants to catch a bird;
thig13.3:9.3but you won’t trap me
thig13.3:9.4with your costumed form.”
thig13.3:10.1“But this child, my fruit,
thig13.3:10.2was begotten by you, Kāḷa.
thig13.3:10.3When I have this child,
thig13.3:10.4how can you abandon me and leave?”
thig13.3:11.1“The wise give up
thig13.3:11.2children, family, and wealth.
thig13.3:11.3Great heroes go forth
thig13.3:11.4like elephants breaking their bonds.”
thig13.3:12.1“Now, this son of yours:
thig13.3:12.2I’ll strike him to the ground right here,
thig13.3:12.3with a stick or with a knife!
thig13.3:12.4Grieving your son, you will not leave.”
thig13.3:13.1“Even if you feed our son
thig13.3:13.2to jackals and dogs,
thig13.3:13.3I’d never return again, you bitch,
thig13.3:13.4not even for the child’s sake.”
thig13.3:14.1“Well then, sir, tell me,
thig13.3:14.2where will you go, Kāḷa?
thig13.3:14.3To what village or town,
thig13.3:14.4city or capital?”
thig13.3:15.1“Last time we had followers,
thig13.3:15.2we weren’t ascetics, we just thought we were.
thig13.3:15.3We wandered from village to village,
thig13.3:15.4to cities and capitals.
thig13.3:16.1But now the Blessed One, the Buddha,
thig13.3:16.2back on the bank of the Nerañjara River,
thig13.3:16.3teaches the Dhamma so that living creatures
thig13.3:16.4may abandon all suffering.
thig13.3:16.5I shall go to his presence,
thig13.3:16.6he shall be my Teacher.”
thig13.3:17.1“Now please convey my respects
thig13.3:17.2to the supreme protector of the world.
thig13.3:17.3Circling him to your right,
thig13.3:17.4dedicate my religious donation.”
thig13.3:18.1“This is the proper thing to do,
thig13.3:18.2just as you have said to me.
thig13.3:18.3I’ll convey your respects
thig13.3:18.4to the supreme protector of the world.
thig13.3:18.5Circling him to my right,
thig13.3:18.6I’ll dedicate your religious donation.”
thig13.3:19.1Then Kāḷa set out
thig13.3:19.2back to the bank of the Nerañjara River.
thig13.3:19.3He saw the Awakened One
thig13.3:19.4teaching the state free of death:
thig13.3:20.1suffering, suffering’s origin,
thig13.3:20.2suffering’s transcendence,
thig13.3:20.3and the noble eightfold path
thig13.3:20.4that leads to the stilling of suffering.
thig13.3:21.1He paid homage at his feet,
thig13.3:21.2circling him to his right,
thig13.3:21.3and conveyed Cāpā’s dedication;
thig13.3:21.4then he went forth to homelessness.
thig13.3:21.5He attained the three knowledges,
thig13.3:21.6and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.