thig13.4:0.1Verses of the Senior Nuns 13.4
thig13.4:0.2The Book of the Twenties
thig13.4:0.3Sundarī
thig13.4:1.1“Before, worthy lady, when feeding
thig13.4:1.2your departed children,
thig13.4:1.3you’d be racked with despair
thig13.4:1.4all day and all night.
thig13.4:2.1Today, brahmin lady, you have fed
thig13.4:2.2all seven children.
thig13.4:2.3Vāseṭṭhī, how do you explain why
thig13.4:2.4you’re not so filled with despair?”
thig13.4:3.1“Many hundreds of children,
thig13.4:3.2hundreds of family circles,
thig13.4:3.3both mine and yours, brahmin,
thig13.4:3.4have been fed in the past.
thig13.4:4.1Having known the escape
thig13.4:4.2from rebirth and death
thig13.4:4.3I neither grieve nor lament,
thig13.4:4.4nor do I despair.”
thig13.4:5.1“Wow, Vaseṭṭhī, the words you speak
thig13.4:5.2really are amazing!
thig13.4:5.3Whose teaching did you understand
thig13.4:5.4that you say these things?”
thig13.4:6.1“Brahmin, the Awakened One
thig13.4:6.2back at the city of Mithilā,
thig13.4:6.3teaches the Dhamma so that living creatures
thig13.4:6.4may abandon all suffering.
thig13.4:7.1After hearing the perfected one’s teaching,
thig13.4:7.2brahmin, which is free of all attachments,
thig13.4:7.3having understood the true teaching there,
thig13.4:7.4I’ve cast aside grief for children.”
thig13.4:8.1“I too shall go
thig13.4:8.2to the city of Mithilā.
thig13.4:8.3Hopefully the Buddha may release me
thig13.4:8.4from all suffering.”
thig13.4:9.1The brahmin saw the Buddha,
thig13.4:9.2liberated, free of attachments.
thig13.4:9.3He taught him the Dhamma,
thig13.4:9.4the sage gone beyond suffering:
thig13.4:10.1suffering, suffering’s origin,
thig13.4:10.2suffering’s transcendence,
thig13.4:10.3and the noble eightfold path
thig13.4:10.4that leads to the stilling of suffering.
thig13.4:11.1Having understood the true teaching there,
thig13.4:11.2he chose to go forth.
thig13.4:11.3Three days later
thig13.4:11.4Sujāta realized the three knowledges.
thig13.4:12.1“Please, charioteer, go;
thig13.4:12.2take back this carriage.
thig13.4:12.3Bidding my brahmin lady good health, say:
thig13.4:12.4‘The brahmin has now gone forth.
thig13.4:12.5After three days,
thig13.4:12.6Sujāta realized the three knowledges.’”
thig13.4:13.1Then taking the carriage,
thig13.4:13.2along with a thousand coins, the charioteer
thig13.4:13.3bade the brahmin lady good health, and said:
thig13.4:13.4“The brahmin has now gone forth.
thig13.4:13.5After three days,
thig13.4:13.6Sujāta realized the three knowledges.”
thig13.4:14.1Hearing that the brahmin had the three knowledges, the lady replied:
thig13.4:14.2“I present to you this horse and carriage,
thig13.4:14.3O charioteer, along with 1000 coins,
thig13.4:14.4and a full bowl as a gift.”
thig13.4:15.1“Keep the horse and carriage, lady,
thig13.4:15.2along with the thousand coins.
thig13.4:15.3I too shall go forth in his presence,
thig13.4:15.4the one of such outstanding wisdom.”
thig13.4:16.1“Elephants, cattle, jeweled earrings,
thig13.4:16.2such opulent domestic worth:
thig13.4:16.3having given it up, your father went forth,
thig13.4:16.4enjoy these riches Sundarī,
thig13.4:16.5you are the family heir.”
thig13.4:17.1“Elephants, cattle, jeweled earrings,
thig13.4:17.2such delightful domestic worth:
thig13.4:17.3having given it up, my father went forth,
thig13.4:17.4racked by grief for his son.
thig13.4:17.5I too shall go forth,
thig13.4:17.6racked by grief for my brother.”
thig13.4:18.1“Sundarī, may the wish you desire
thig13.4:18.2come true.
thig13.4:18.3Leftovers as gleanings,
thig13.4:18.4and cast-off rags as robes—
thig13.4:18.5make do with these,
thig13.4:18.6free of defilements regarding the next life.”
thig13.4:19.1“Ma’am, while I am still a trainee nun,
thig13.4:19.2my clairvoyance is clarified;
thig13.4:19.3I know my past lives,
thig13.4:19.4the places I used to live.
thig13.4:20.1Relying on a fine lady like you,
thig13.4:20.2a senior nun who graces the Saṅgha,
thig13.4:20.3I’ve attained the three knowledges,
thig13.4:20.4and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.
thig13.4:21.1Give me permission ma’am,
thig13.4:21.2I wish to go to Sāvatthī,
thig13.4:21.3where I shall roar my lion’s roar
thig13.4:21.4before the best of Buddhas.”
thig13.4:22.1“Sundarī, see the Teacher!
thig13.4:22.2Snow gold in tint, with sun-golden skin;
thig13.4:22.3tamer of the untamed,
thig13.4:22.4the Awakened One who fears nothing from any quarter.”
thig13.4:23.1“See Sundarī coming,
thig13.4:23.2liberated, free of attachments.
thig13.4:23.3desireless, detached,
thig13.4:23.4her task completed, without defilements.”
thig13.4:24.1“Having set forth from Varanasi
thig13.4:24.2and come to your presence, great hero,
thig13.4:24.3your disciple Sundarī
thig13.4:24.4bows at your feet.
thig13.4:25.1You are the Buddha, you are the Teacher,
thig13.4:25.2I am your bosom daughter, brahmin,
thig13.4:25.3born of your mouth.
thig13.4:25.4I’ve completed the task and am free of defilements.”
thig13.4:26.1“Then welcome, good lady,
thig13.4:26.2you’re by no means unwelcome.
thig13.4:26.3For this is how the tamed come
thig13.4:26.4bowing at the Teacher’s feet;
thig13.4:26.5desireless, detached,
thig13.4:26.6the task completed, without defilements.”