Therigatha-Introduction

Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Khuddaka Nikaya >> Therigatha >> INTRODUCTION-LIFE-OF-BUDDHA

Adapted from Archaic Translation By Mrs. Rhys Davids 1909

Compared with the Pali Tipitaka at www.tipitaka.org

LIFE-OF-BUDDHA & FORMATION OF BHIKKUNIS(NUNS) ORDER

The exposition of nun's several verses will be made easier and more intelligible, if it is first related, the circumstances under which the Bhikkhunis(nuns) in the beginning came to leave the world and obtain admission into the Order. Of this, therefore, it will be given 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 Dipankara,[1] and mastering equally all the Thirty Perfections, 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 (Tusita Heaven). And there, when he had lived the span of life among the ten thousand gods(angels) of the Cosmic Circles, he upon that agreed to the request of those gods(angels) to be reborn as a man that he might become a Buddha, according to their words:

'The time is now coming when You, Great One, should, as man be born. Taking both gods(angels) and men across, You do now reveal the the path of Eternity!' So he made the Five Great Considerations, and then, in the house of King Suddhodana(King & Father of Buddha), of the princely clan of the Sakiyas, did he, mindful and self-conscious, enter a mother's womb; then, mindful and self- conscious, he remained there ten months ; then, mindful and self-conscious, did he from there emerge and come to birth in the Lumbini Grove.

Reared 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 dancing-girls, and enjoying honours like a god(angel). 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(from past lives), saw the danger in the life of the sense pleasures and thought of the benefit in renouncing it. Mounting 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(Archangel) Ghatikara, he renounced the world(became ascetic). Upon that, as though he were already an Elder with the eight requisites,  good in appearance and of graceful personality, he came in due course to Rajagaha(then capital of Magadha, presently Bihar, India), 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; from there 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 Dhamma(eternal truth), he said, 'This is not the Path to Enlightenment,' 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,  and, casting the golden dish upstream into the river, he, full of his resolve, 'To-day will I become a Buddha!' ascended at evening at the Bodhi-tree seat–his praises sung by Kala, king of the Nagas–and there, in a firm spot  facing the eastern world, seated him cross-legged and indomitable. There, fixing his will in four respects, he defeated the power of Mara(devil) before the sun went down. In the first watch of the night he recalled his former lives; in the middle watch he attained the purified divine eye celestial; in the last watch he sounded the depth of the knowledge of the Law of cause & effect. And, grasping in direct and reverse order the steps of causal relation, he developed insight, and reached that perfect enlightenment reached by all Buddhas. 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 Bodhi-tree seat, he ate of sweet food beneath the Rajayatana tree. Then, again, seated beneath the Goatherds' Banyan, he reflected on the depth of the essence of the Dhamma(path of eternal truth). 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 Dhamma(path of eternal truth). Meditating, 'Where, now, shall I first teach the Dhamma(path of eternal truth)?' 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 Bodhi-tree toward Benares. And when he had travelled eighteen leagues, he met halfway the recluse Upaka  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 Dhamma(path of eternal truth),  beginning:

'There are two extremes, O bhikkhus, which the man who has given up the world ought not to follow'. ..

thus giving them, beginning with Annakondanna, together with eighteen myriads of Brahmas(Archangels), a drink (understanding) of Truth-ambrosia(Amrit). Then on the first day of the next fortnight he established also Elder Bhaddaji in the path of the Stream-winners (Sotapana, first divine awakening); on the second day, Elder Vappa; 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(enlightenment equal to Buddha). From that time on he brought over many folk into the Ariyan fold(noble path) , that is, the fifty-five youths led by Yasa, the thirty Bhardavajians 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 (Sotapana, first divine awakening), and one myriad in the Three Refuges, he accepted the gift of the Bamboo Grove (Veluvana monastery), and there he stayed. Now, when Sariputta and Moggallana, were brought into the First Path(Sotapana, first divine awakening) 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 all his disciples. Then, going at the request made by Elder Kaludayi to Kapilavatthu, he subdued the proud stubbornness of his relatives by the Twin Miracle,  and establishing his father in the State of No-return(Anagami[2]), and Great Pajapati (Queen & Foster mother of Buddha) in the Fruition of Entering the Stream(Sotapana, first divine awakening), and causing the princes Nanda and son Rahul  to renounce the world(become recluses), he went back to Rajagaha.

Now it came from that time on to pass, while the Master(Buddha) was staying at the Hall of the Gabled House near Vesali, then King Suddhodhana(Father of Buddha) attained Arahantship(enlightenment equal to Buddha) while under the white canopy, and then passed away. Then in Great Pajapati(Queen & Foster mother of Buddha)  arose the thought of 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(Buddha).' And they wished that she should lead them to him. Now Great Pajapati had once already asked the Master(Buddha) for admission to his Order, and had not won his consent( because till that time there was no tradition of women recluses); Then she asked her hairdresser shave off her hair, and wearing the yellow robes, she took all those Sakiya ladies with her to Vesali, and there requesting him through Elder Ananda, she gained his permission to gain initiation and enter the Order by accepting the eight additional rules for female disciples. And the others, also, were all ordained at the same time.

Thus ordained, Great Pajapati (Foster Mother & Aunt of Buddha & later Head of Nuns) came before the Master(Buddha), and, saluting him, stood on one side. Then he taught her the Dhamma(path of eternal truth). She, taking up under him the system of exercise, attained to Arahantship(enlightenment equal to Buddha). The other five hundred Bhikkhunis attained it at the end of Nandaka's sermon. Now the Order of Bhikkhunis being thus well established, and multiplying in divers villages, towns, country districts, and royal residences, ladies, daughters-in-law and maidens of the clans, hearing of the great enlightenment of the Buddha, of the very truth of the Dhamma(path of eternal truth), of the excellent practices of the Order, were mightily pleased with the system, and, dreading the round of rebirths, they took permission of husband, parents, and relatives, and taking the Buddha's path to their heart, renounced the world & became nuns. So renouncing and living virtuously, they received instruction from the Master(Buddha) and the Elders, and with toil and effort soon realized Arahantship(enlightenment equal to Buddha). And the hymns which they 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 chapters. They are called the Verses of the Elder Nuns (Theri-gatha), and they are divided into chapters of single verses, two verses, and so on, as follows:

[1] One of the twenty-four Buddhas of later Buddhism. Early Buddhism recognized only seven.

[2] Anagami - lit. non-returner, The state prior to nirvana , one who will be reborn in Brahmaloka (arch-angel world) and then from there one will achieve Nirvana.