thig16.1:0.1Verses of the Senior Nuns 16.1
thig16.1:0.2The Great Book
thig16.1:0.3Sumedhā
thig16.1:1.1In Mantāvatī city, Sumedhā,
thig16.1:1.2the daughter of King Koñca’s chief queen,
thig16.1:1.3was converted by those
thig16.1:1.4who practice the Buddha’s teaching.
thig16.1:2.1She was virtuous, a brilliant speaker,
thig16.1:2.2learned, and trained in the Buddha’s instructions.
thig16.1:2.3She went up to her mother and father and said:
thig16.1:2.4“Pay heed, both of you!
thig16.1:3.1I delight in extinguishment!
thig16.1:3.2No state of life is eternal, not even that of the gods;
thig16.1:3.3what then of sensual pleasures, so hollow,
thig16.1:3.4offering little gratification and much distress.
thig16.1:4.1Sensual pleasures are bitter as the venom of a snake,
thig16.1:4.2yet fools are infatuated by them.
thig16.1:4.3Sent to hell for a very long time,
thig16.1:4.4they are beaten and tortured.
thig16.1:5.1Those who grow in wickedness
thig16.1:5.2ever lament in the underworld due to their own bad deeds.
thig16.1:5.3They’re fools, unrestrained in body,
thig16.1:5.4mind, and speech.
thig16.1:6.1Those witless, senseless fools,
thig16.1:6.2trapped by the origin of suffering,
thig16.1:6.3are ignorant, not understanding the noble truths
thig16.1:6.4when they are being taught.
thig16.1:7.1Most people, mum, ignorant of the truths
thig16.1:7.2taught by the excellent Buddha,
thig16.1:7.3look forward to a state of life,
thig16.1:7.4longing for rebirth among the gods.
thig16.1:8.1Yet even rebirth among the gods
thig16.1:8.2in an impermanent state of life is not eternal.
thig16.1:8.3But fools are not scared
thig16.1:8.4of being reborn time and again.
thig16.1:9.1Four lower realms and two other realms
thig16.1:9.2may be gained somehow or other.
thig16.1:9.3But for those who end up in a lower realm,
thig16.1:9.4there is no way to go forth in the hells.
thig16.1:10.1May you both grant me permission to go forth
thig16.1:10.2in the dispensation of him of the ten powers.
thig16.1:10.3Living at ease, I shall apply myself
thig16.1:10.4to giving up rebirth and death.
thig16.1:11.1Why look forward to a new state of life
thig16.1:11.2in this useless, insubstantial body?
thig16.1:11.3Grant me permission, I shall go forth
thig16.1:11.4to make an end of craving for a new life.
thig16.1:12.1A Buddha has arisen, the time has come,
thig16.1:12.2the unlucky moment has passed.
thig16.1:12.3As long as I live I’ll never betray
thig16.1:12.4my ethical precepts or my chaste path.”
thig16.1:13.1Then Sumedhā said to her parents:
thig16.1:13.2“So long as I remain a layperson,
thig16.1:13.3I’ll refuse to eat any food,
thig16.1:13.4until I’ve fallen under the sway of death.”
thig16.1:14.1Upset, her mother burst into tears,
thig16.1:14.2while her father, though grieved,
thig16.1:14.3tried his best to persuade her
thig16.1:14.4as she lay collapsed upstairs in the longhouse.
thig16.1:15.1“Get up child, why do you grieve so?
thig16.1:15.2You’re already betrothed to be married!
thig16.1:15.3King Anīkaratta the handsome
thig16.1:15.4is in Vāraṇavatī: he is your betrothed.
thig16.1:16.1You shall be the chief queen,
thig16.1:16.2wife of King Anīkaratta.
thig16.1:16.3Ethical precepts, the chaste path—
thig16.1:16.4going forth is hard to do, my child.
thig16.1:17.1As a royal there is command, wealth, authority,
thig16.1:17.2and the happiness of possessions.
thig16.1:17.3Enjoy sensual pleasures while you’re still young!
thig16.1:17.4Let your wedding take place, my child!”
thig16.1:18.1Then Sumedhā said to him:
thig16.1:18.2“Let this not come to pass! Existence is hollow!
thig16.1:18.3I shall either go forth or die,
thig16.1:18.4but I shall never marry.
thig16.1:19.1Why cling to this rotting body so foul,
thig16.1:19.2stinking of fluids,
thig16.1:19.3a horrifying water-bag carcass,
thig16.1:19.4always oozing, full of filth?
thig16.1:20.1Knowing it like I do, what’s the point?
thig16.1:20.2A carcass is vile, smeared with flesh and blood,
thig16.1:20.3food for birds and swarms of worms—
thig16.1:20.4why have we been given it?
thig16.1:21.1Before long the body, bereft of consciousness,
thig16.1:21.2is carried out to the charnel ground,
thig16.1:21.3to be discarded like an old log
thig16.1:21.4by relatives in disgust.
thig16.1:22.1When they’ve discarded it in the charnel ground,
thig16.1:22.2to be eaten by others, your own parents
thig16.1:22.3bathe themselves, disgusted;
thig16.1:22.4what then of people at large?
thig16.1:23.1They’re attached to this hollow carcass,
thig16.1:23.2this mass of sinews and bone;
thig16.1:23.3this rotting body
thig16.1:23.4full of saliva, tears, feces, and pus.
thig16.1:24.1If anyone were to dissect it,
thig16.1:24.2turning it inside out,
thig16.1:24.3the unbearable stench
thig16.1:24.4would disgust even their own mother.
thig16.1:25.1Rationally examining
thig16.1:25.2the aggregates, elements, and sense fields
thig16.1:25.3as conditioned, rooted in birth, suffering—
thig16.1:25.4why would I wish for marriage?
thig16.1:26.1Let three hundred sharp swords
thig16.1:26.2fall on my body everyday!
thig16.1:26.3Even if the slaughter lasted a hundred years
thig16.1:26.4it’d be worth it if it led to the end of suffering.
thig16.1:27.1One who understands the Teacher’s words
thig16.1:27.2would put up with this slaughter:
thig16.1:27.3‘Long for you is transmigration
thig16.1:27.4being killed time and time again.’
thig16.1:28.1Among gods and humans,
thig16.1:28.2in the realm of animals or that of titans,
thig16.1:28.3among the ghosts or in the hells,
thig16.1:28.4endless killings are seen.
thig16.1:29.1The hells are full of killing,
thig16.1:29.2for the corrupt who have fallen to the underworld.
thig16.1:29.3Even among the gods there is no shelter,
thig16.1:29.4for no happiness excels extinguishment.
thig16.1:30.1Those who are committed to the dispensation
thig16.1:30.2of him of the ten powers attain extinguishment.
thig16.1:30.3Living at ease, they apply themselves
thig16.1:30.4to giving up rebirth and death.
thig16.1:31.1On this very day, dad, I shall renounce:
thig16.1:31.2what’s to enjoy in hollow riches?
thig16.1:31.3I’m disillusioned with sensual pleasures,
thig16.1:31.4they’re like vomit, made like a palm stump.”
thig16.1:32.1As she spoke thus to her father,
thig16.1:32.2Anīkaratta, to whom she was betrothed,
thig16.1:32.3approached from Vāraṇavatī
thig16.1:32.4at the time appointed for the marriage.
thig16.1:33.1Then Sumedhā took up a knife,
thig16.1:33.2and cut off her hair, so black, thick, and soft.
thig16.1:33.3Shutting herself in the longhouse,
thig16.1:33.4she entered the first absorption.
thig16.1:34.1And as she entered it there,
thig16.1:34.2Anīkaratta arrived at the city.
thig16.1:34.3Then in the longhouse, Sumedhā
thig16.1:34.4well developed the perception of impermanence.
thig16.1:35.1As she investigated in meditation,
thig16.1:35.2Anīkaratta quickly climbed the stairs.
thig16.1:35.3His limbs adorned with gems and honey-yellow gold,
thig16.1:35.4he begged Sumedhā with cupped palms:
thig16.1:36.1“As a royal there is command, wealth, authority,
thig16.1:36.2and the happiness of possessions.
thig16.1:36.3Enjoy sensual pleasures while you’re still young!
thig16.1:36.4Sensual pleasures are hard to find in the world!
thig16.1:37.1I’ve handed royalty to you—
thig16.1:37.2enjoy riches, give gifts!
thig16.1:37.3Don’t be sad;
thig16.1:37.4your parents are upset.”
thig16.1:38.1Sumedhā, having no use for sensual pleasures,
thig16.1:38.2and having done away with delusion, spoke right back:
thig16.1:38.3“Do not take pleasure in sensuality!
thig16.1:38.4See the danger in sensual pleasures!
thig16.1:39.1Mandhātā, king of four continents,
thig16.1:39.2foremost in enjoying sensual pleasures,
thig16.1:39.3died unsated,
thig16.1:39.4his desires unfulfilled.
thig16.1:40.1Were the seven jewels to rain from the sky
thig16.1:40.2all over the ten directions,
thig16.1:40.3there would be no sating of sensual pleasures:
thig16.1:40.4people die insatiable.
thig16.1:41.1Like a butcher’s knife and chopping board,
thig16.1:41.2sensual pleasures are like a cobra’s head.
thig16.1:41.3They burn like a fire-brand,
thig16.1:41.4they resemble a skeleton.
thig16.1:42.1Sensual pleasures are impermanent and unstable,
thig16.1:42.2they’re full of suffering, a terrible poison;
thig16.1:42.3like a hot iron ball,
thig16.1:42.4the root of gloom, their fruit is pain.
thig16.1:43.1Sensual pleasures are like fruits of a tree,
thig16.1:43.2like scraps of meat, painful,
thig16.1:43.3they trick you like a dream;
thig16.1:43.4sensual pleasures are like borrowed goods.
thig16.1:44.1Sensual pleasures are like swords and spears;
thig16.1:44.2a disease, a boil, gloom and trouble.
thig16.1:44.3Like a pit of glowing coals,
thig16.1:44.4the root of gloom, fear and slaughter.
thig16.1:45.1Thus sensual pleasures have been explained
thig16.1:45.2to be obstructions, so full of suffering.
thig16.1:45.3Please leave! As for me,
thig16.1:45.4I have no trust in any state of life.
thig16.1:46.1What can someone else do for me
thig16.1:46.2when their own head is burning?
thig16.1:46.3When stalked by old age and death,
thig16.1:46.4you should strive to destroy them.”
thig16.1:47.1She opened the door
thig16.1:47.2and saw her parents with Anīkaratta,
thig16.1:47.3sitting crying on the floor.
thig16.1:47.4And so she said this:
thig16.1:48.1“Transmigration is long for fools,
thig16.1:48.2crying again and again at that with no known beginning—
thig16.1:48.3the death of a father,
thig16.1:48.4the killing of a brother or of themselves.
thig16.1:49.1Remember the ocean of tears, of milk, of blood—
thig16.1:49.2transmigration with no known beginning.
thig16.1:49.3Remember the bones piled up
thig16.1:49.4by beings transmigrating.
thig16.1:50.1Remember the four oceans
thig16.1:50.2compared with tears, milk, and blood.
thig16.1:50.3Remember bones piled up high as Mount Vepulla
thig16.1:50.4in the course of a single eon.
thig16.1:51.1Transmigration with no known beginning
thig16.1:51.2is compared to this broad Black Plum Tree Land;
thig16.1:51.3if divided into lumps the size of jujube seeds,
thig16.1:51.4they’d still be fewer than his mother’s mothers.
thig16.1:52.1Remember the grass, sticks, and leaves,
thig16.1:52.2compare that with no known beginning:
thig16.1:52.3if split into chips four inches in size,
thig16.1:52.4they’d still be fewer than his father’s fathers.
thig16.1:53.1Remember the one-eyed turtle and the yoke with a hole
thig16.1:53.2blown in the ocean from east to west—
thig16.1:53.3sticking the head in the hole
thig16.1:53.4is a metaphor for gaining a human birth.
thig16.1:54.1Remember the form of this unlucky body,
thig16.1:54.2insubstantial as a lump of foam.
thig16.1:54.3See the aggregates as impermanent,
thig16.1:54.4remember the hells so full of distress.
thig16.1:55.1Remember those swelling the charnel grounds
thig16.1:55.2again and again in life after life.
thig16.1:55.3Remember the danger of gharials!
thig16.1:55.4Remember the four truths!
thig16.1:56.1When freedom from death is there to be found,
thig16.1:56.2why would you drink the five bitter poisons?
thig16.1:56.3For all erotic delights
thig16.1:56.4are so much more bitter than them.
thig16.1:57.1When freedom from death is there to be found,
thig16.1:57.2why would you burn for sensual pleasures?
thig16.1:57.3For all erotic delights
thig16.1:57.4are burning, boiling, bubbling, seething.
thig16.1:58.1When there is freedom from enmity,
thig16.1:58.2why would you want your enemy, sensual pleasures?
thig16.1:58.3Many enemies take a share of your sensual pleasures:
thig16.1:58.4kings, fire, robbers, flood, and unloved heirs.
thig16.1:59.1When liberation is there to be found,
thig16.1:59.2what good are sensual pleasures that kill and bind?
thig16.1:59.3For though unwilling, when sensual pleasures are there,
thig16.1:59.4they are subject to the pain of killing and binding.
thig16.1:60.1As a blazing grass torch
thig16.1:60.2burns one who grasps it without letting go,
thig16.1:60.3sensual pleasures are like a grass torch,
thig16.1:60.4burning those who do not let go.
thig16.1:61.1Don’t give up abundant happiness
thig16.1:61.2for the trivial joys of sensual pleasure.
thig16.1:61.3Don’t fret later,
thig16.1:61.4like a catfish on a hook.
thig16.1:62.1Deliberately control yourself among sensual pleasures!
thig16.1:62.2You’re like a hound fixed to a chain:
thig16.1:62.3sensual pleasures will surely devour you
thig16.1:62.4as hungry corpse-workers would a hound.
thig16.1:63.1Harnessed to sensual pleasure,
thig16.1:63.2you undergo endless pain,
thig16.1:63.3along with much mental anguish:
thig16.1:63.4relinquish sensual pleasures, they don’t last!
thig16.1:64.1When the unaging is there to be found,
thig16.1:64.2what good are sensual pleasures in which is old age?
thig16.1:64.3All rebirths everywhere
thig16.1:64.4are bonded to death and sickness.
thig16.1:65.1This is freedom from old age, freedom from death!
thig16.1:65.2This is freedom from old age and death, the sorrowless state!
thig16.1:65.3Free of enmity, unconstricted,
thig16.1:65.4faultless, fearless, without tribulations.
thig16.1:66.1This freedom from death has been realized by many;
thig16.1:66.2even today it can be obtained
thig16.1:66.3by those who rationally apply themselves;
thig16.1:66.4but it’s impossible if you don’t try.”
thig16.1:67.1So said Sumedhā,
thig16.1:67.2lacking delight in conditioned things.
thig16.1:67.3Soothing Anīkaratta,
thig16.1:67.4Sumedhā cast her hair on the ground.
thig16.1:68.1Standing up, Anīkaratta
thig16.1:68.2raised his cupped palms to her father and begged:
thig16.1:68.3“Let go of Sumedhā, so that she may go forth!
thig16.1:68.4She will see the truth of liberation.”
thig16.1:69.1Released by her mother and father,
thig16.1:69.2she went forth, afraid of grief and fear.
thig16.1:69.3While still a trainee nun she realized the six direct knowledges,
thig16.1:69.4along with the highest fruit.
thig16.1:70.1The extinguishment of the princess
thig16.1:70.2was incredible and amazing;
thig16.1:70.3on her deathbed, she declared
thig16.1:70.4her several past lives.
thig16.1:71.1“In the time of the Buddha Koṇāgamana,
thig16.1:71.2we three friends gave the gift
thig16.1:71.3of a newly-built dwelling
thig16.1:71.4in the Saṅgha’s monastery.
thig16.1:72.1Ten times, a hundred times,
thig16.1:72.2a thousand times, ten thousand times,
thig16.1:72.3we were reborn among the gods,
thig16.1:72.4let alone among humans.
thig16.1:73.1We were mighty among the gods,
thig16.1:73.2let alone among humans!
thig16.1:73.3I was queen to a king with the seven treasures—
thig16.1:73.4I was the treasure of a wife.
thig16.1:74.1That was the cause, that the origin, that the root,
thig16.1:74.2that was the acceptance of the dispensation;
thig16.1:74.3that first meeting culminated in extinguishment
thig16.1:74.4for one delighting in the teaching.
thig16.1:75.1So say those who have faith in the words
thig16.1:75.2of the one unrivaled in wisdom.
thig16.1:75.3They’re disillusioned with any state of life,
thig16.1:75.4and being disillusioned they become dispassionate.”
thig16.1:76.1That is how these verses were recited by the senior nun Sumedhā.
thig16.1:77.5The Verses of the Senior Nuns are finished.