Therigatha5.1

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Adapted from Archaic Translation By Mrs. Rhys Davids 1909

Compared with the Pali Tipitaka at www.tipitaka.org

5.1 Vaddhesi, Of Family Unknown, Nurse To Foster Mother Of Buddha,Great Pajapati Gotami

SHE, too, having lived in the past as the previous Theris, was, in this Buddha-era, reborn in the town of Devadaha(in Nepal), and became the nurse of Great Pajapati the Gotami (Buddha's foster mother as well as Head of nuns order). Her name was Vaddhesi, but the name of her family has not been handed down. When Pajapati Gotami renounced the world she did the same. But for five-and-twenty years she was harassed by the lusts of the senses, winning no concentration of mind even for a moment, and used to weep about her state with outstretched arms, till at length she heard Dhammadinna preaching the Dhamma(path of eternal truth). Then, with her mind diverted from the senses, she fell to practising meditative exercises, and in no long time acquired the Six Powers of Intuition[1] profound. And, looking back at her attainment, she blissfully said thus:

For five-and-twenty years since I was ordained, Not for one moment could my mind attain The blessedness of calm serenity. (67) No peace of mind I found. My every thought Was soaked in the lowly intoxication of sense-desire[2]. With outstretched arms and shedding futile tears as a wretched woman, I went to my cell. (68)

Then She to this poor Bhikkhuni drew near, Who was my foster-mother in the faith. She taught to me the Dhamma(path of eternal truth), in which I learnt The factors, organs, bases of this self, Impermanent compound. (69) Hearing her words, beside her I sat down to meditate. And now I know the days of the long past, And clearly shines in me the Eye Celestial, (70) I know the thoughts of other minds, <p style="text-align:center;">and hear with sublime sense the sound of things indescribable. <p style="text-align:center;">Magical powers I exercise; <p style="text-align:center;">and all the deadly desires <p style="text-align:center;">That poisoned every thought are cleansed away. <p style="text-align:center;">A living truth for me is this Six types of (magical) powers[1], <p style="text-align:center;">And the Buddha's discipline is fulfilled. (71)

[1] Chalabhinna. Abhinna in the previous Hymn is rendered Intution. The Six, otherwise defined as panna and as vijja, are Iddhi(magical ability), the Purified Hearing of any place, knowledge of the thoughts of others, memory of former lives, the evolution of the lives of other beings, the extinction of the Asavas (sensual desires) within i.e. purity.

[2] Lit. only, 'soaked with the passion of sense desires,' and explained as one whose mind was wetted by an exceedingly strong inclination, by an abundance of passionate desire for all the pleasures attainable through the senses. The metaphor of 'soaking' (avassuta) is nearly akin to that in the cardinal defects called Asavas (sensual desires)