Thig 14.1 PTS: Thig 366-399- Subha Jivakambavanika: Subha and the Libertine

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Thig 14.1 PTS: Thig 366-399- Subha Jivakambavanika: Subha and the Libertine
As Subha the nun was going through Jivaka's delightful mango grove, a libertine (a goldsmith's son) blocked her path, so she said to him:

"What wrong have I done you that you stand in my way? It's not proper, my friend, that a man should touch a woman gone forth. I respect the Master's message, the training pointed out by the one well-gone. I am pure,without blemish: Why do you stand in my way?

You — your mind agitated, I — unagitated; You — impassioned, I — unimpassioned, unblemished, with a mind everywhere released: Why do you stand in my way?"

<p style="text-align:center;">"You are young & not bad-looking, <p style="text-align:center;">what need do you have for going forth? <p style="text-align:center;">Throw off your ochre robe — <p style="text-align:center;">Come, let's delight in the flowering forest. <p style="text-align:center;">A sweetness they exude from all around, <p style="text-align:center;">the towering trees with their pollen. <p style="text-align:center;">The beginning of spring is a pleasant season — <p style="text-align:center;">Come, let's delight in the flowering forest. <p style="text-align:center;">The trees with their blossoming tips <p style="text-align:center;">moan, as it were, in the breeze: <p style="text-align:center;">What delight will you have <p style="text-align:center;">if you plunge into the forestalone? <p style="text-align:center;">Frequented by herds of wild beasts, <p style="text-align:center;">disturbed by elephants rutting & aroused: <p style="text-align:center;">you want to go <p style="text-align:center;">unaccompanied <p style="text-align:center;">into the great, lonely, frightening forest? <p style="text-align:center;">Like a doll made of gold, you will go about, <p style="text-align:center;">like a goddess in the gardens of heaven. <p style="text-align:center;">With delicate, smooth Kasi fabrics, <p style="text-align:center;">you will shine, O beauty without compare. <p style="text-align:center;">I would be under your power <p style="text-align:center;">if we were to dwell in the wood. <p style="text-align:center;">For there is no creature dearer to me <p style="text-align:center;">than you, <p style="text-align:center;">O nymph with the languid regard. <p style="text-align:center;">If you do as I ask, happy, come live in my house. <p style="text-align:center;">Dwelling in the calm of a palace, <p style="text-align:center;">have women wait on you, <p style="text-align:center;">wear delicate Kasi fabrics, <p style="text-align:center;">adorn yourself with garlands & creams. <p style="text-align:center;">I will make you many & varied ornaments <p style="text-align:center;">of gold, jewels, & pearls. <p style="text-align:center;">Climb onto a costly bed, <p style="text-align:center;">scented with sandalwood carvings, <p style="text-align:center;">with a well-washed coverlet, beautiful, <p style="text-align:center;">spread with a woolen quilt, brand new. <p style="text-align:center;">Like a blue lotus rising from the water, <p style="text-align:center;">where there dwell non-human spirits, <p style="text-align:center;">you will go to old age with your limbs unseen, <p style="text-align:center;">if you stay as you are in the holy life."

<p style="text-align:center;">"What do you assume of any essence, <p style="text-align:center;">here in this cemetery grower, filled with corpses, <p style="text-align:center;">this body destined to break up? <p style="text-align:center;">What do you see when you look at me, <p style="text-align:center;">you who are out of your mind?"

<p style="text-align:center;">"Your eyes <p style="text-align:center;">are like those of a fawn, <p style="text-align:center;">like those of a nymph in the mountains. <p style="text-align:center;">Seeing your eyes, my sensual delight <p style="text-align:center;">grows all the more. <p style="text-align:center;">Like tips they are, of blue lotuses, <p style="text-align:center;">in your golden face <p style="text-align:center;">— spotless: <p style="text-align:center;">Seeing your eyes, my sensual delight <p style="text-align:center;">grows all the more. <p style="text-align:center;">Even if you should go far away, <p style="text-align:center;">I will think only of your pure, <p style="text-align:center;">long-lashed gaze, <p style="text-align:center;">for there is nothing dearer to me <p style="text-align:center;">than your eyes, <p style="text-align:center;">O nymph with the languid regard."

<p style="text-align:center;">"You want to stray from the road, <p style="text-align:center;">you want the moon as a plaything, <p style="text-align:center;">you want to jump over Mount Sineru, <p style="text-align:center;">you who have designs on one born of the Buddha. <p style="text-align:center;">For there is nothing anywhere at all <p style="text-align:center;">in the world with its devas, <p style="text-align:center;">that would be an object of passion for me. <p style="text-align:center;">I don't even know what that passion would be, <p style="text-align:center;">for it's been killed, root & all, by the path. <p style="text-align:center;">Like embers from a pit — scattered, <p style="text-align:center;">like a bowl of poison — evaporated, <p style="text-align:center;">I don't even see what that passion would be, <p style="text-align:center;">for it's been killed, root & all, by the path. <p style="text-align:center;">Try to seduce one who hasn't reflected on this, <p style="text-align:center;">or who the Master hasn't instructed. <p style="text-align:center;">But try it with this one who knows <p style="text-align:center;">and you do yourself violence. <p style="text-align:center;">For whether insulted or worshiped, <p style="text-align:center;">in pleasure or pain, <p style="text-align:center;">my mindfulness stands firm.

<p style="text-align:center;">Knowing the unattractiveness <p style="text-align:center;">of fabricated things, <p style="text-align:center;">my heart adheres nowhere at all. <p style="text-align:center;">I am a follower of the one well-gone, <p style="text-align:center;">riding the vehicle of the eightfold way: <p style="text-align:center;">My arrow removed, effluent-free, <p style="text-align:center;">I delight, having gone to an empty dwelling. <p style="text-align:center;">For I have seen well-painted puppets, <p style="text-align:center;">hitched up with sticks & strings, <p style="text-align:center;">made to dance in various ways. <p style="text-align:center;">When the sticks & strings are removed, <p style="text-align:center;">thrown away, scattered, shredded, <p style="text-align:center;">smashed into pieces, not to be found, <p style="text-align:center;">in what will the mind there make its home? <p style="text-align:center;">This body of mine, which is just like that, <p style="text-align:center;">when devoid of dhammas doesn't function. <p style="text-align:center;">When, devoid of dhammas, it doesn't function, <p style="text-align:center;">in what will the mind there make its home? <p style="text-align:center;">Like a mural you've seen, painted on a wall, <p style="text-align:center;">smeared with yellow orpiment, <p style="text-align:center;">there your vision has been distorted, <p style="text-align:center;">meaningless your perception of a human being. <p style="text-align:center;">Like an evaporated mirage, <p style="text-align:center;">like a tree of gold in a dream, <p style="text-align:center;">like a magic show in the midst of a crowd — <p style="text-align:center;">you run blind after what is unreal. <p style="text-align:center;">Resembling a ball of sealing wax, <p style="text-align:center;">set in a hollow, <p style="text-align:center;">with a bubble in the middle <p style="text-align:center;">& bathed with tears, <p style="text-align:center;">eye secretions are born there too: <p style="text-align:center;">The parts of the eye <p style="text-align:center;">are rolled all together <p style="text-align:center;">in various ways."

<p style="text-align:center;">Plucking out her lovely eye, <p style="text-align:center;">with mind unattached <p style="text-align:center;">she felt no regret.

<p style="text-align:center;">"Here, take this eye. It's yours."

<p style="text-align:center;">Straightaway she gave it to him. <p style="text-align:center;">Straightaway his passion faded right there, <p style="text-align:center;">and he begged her forgiveness.

<p style="text-align:center;">"Be safe, follower of the holy life. <p style="text-align:center;">This sort of thing <p style="text-align:center;">won't happen again. <p style="text-align:center;">Harming a person like you <p style="text-align:center;">is like embracing a blazing fire, <p style="text-align:center;">It's as if I have seized a poisonous snake. <p style="text-align:center;">So may you be safe. Forgive me."

<p style="text-align:center;">And freed from there, the nun <p style="text-align:center;">went to the excellent Buddha's presence. <p style="text-align:center;">When she saw the mark of his excellent merit, <p style="text-align:center;">her eye became <p style="text-align:center;">as it was before.