Therigatha6.1

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Adapted from Archaic Translation By Mrs. Rhys Davids 1909

Compared with the Pali Tipitaka at www.tipitaka.org

6.1 Patachara's 'Five Hundred' Bereaved Mothers Whom She Comforted And Ordained

THESE too, having lived under former Buddhas as the previous Theris, were, in this Buddha-era, reborn in some clansman's house in divers places, were married, and bore children, living domestic lives. And having created karma(deeds) such as would bring to pass such a result, they suffered bereavement in the death of a child. Then they found their way, overwhelmed with grief, to Patachara, and saluting her, and seated by, her, told her the manner of their sorrow. The Theri, restraining their sorrow, spoke thus:

The way by which people come(birth) we cannot know; Nor can we see the path by which they go(die). Why mourns then for him who came to you , Lamenting through your tears: 'My son! my son!' (127) Seeing you knows not the way he came, Nor yet the manner of his leaving you ? Weep not, for such is here the life of human. (128) Unasked he came, unbidden went he hence. Lo! ask yourself again from where came your son To stay on earth this little breathing space? (129) By one way come and by another gone, As man to die, and pass to other births– So here and so hence–why would you weep? (130) They, hearing her teaching, were filled with inspiration within, and, under the Theri, renounced the world. Exercising themselves from now on in insight meditation (Vipassana[1]), their minds growing ripe for enlightenment(vimutti, vimukti), they soon became established in Arahantship(enlightenment equal to Buddha), with thorough grasp of the Dhamma(path of eternal truth) in true form and in meaning. From that time on, pondering on their attainment, they was elated in those words, 'The way by which people come,' adding to that other verses, and repeating them in turn, as follows:

Lo! from my heart the hidden shaft is gone, The shaft that was there she has removed, And that consuming grief for my dead child <p style="text-align:center;">Which poisoned all the life of me is dead. (131) <p style="text-align:center;">To-day I am healed, my yearning stayed, <p style="text-align:center;">Perfected the deliverance came to me. <p style="text-align:center;">I go to the  refuge of wise & calm Buddha, Dhamma & Sangha(132) Now, because those 500 Bhikkhunis were learned in the teaching of Patachara, therefore they got the name of The Patachara's.

[1] Vipassana : This refers to the foremost insight meditation called 'Vipassana'  taught by Buddha in which attention is focussed on inner phenomenon (breath,body,emotions, sensations & mind) with detachment (samata/equanimity) leading to self-awakening & enlightenment.