Therīgāthā (Psalms of the Sisters)

How can I take delight in many births, In this poor body, froth without a soul ?2 That I may put an utter end to thirst Again to be, suffer that I go forth. (458) Now is the Age of Buddhas ! Gone the want Of opportunity ! The moment’s won ! O let me never while I live misprize The precepts, nor withstand the holy life !’ (459) Thus spake Sumedha, and again : 4 Mother And father mine, never again will I As a laywoman break my fast and eat. Here will I sooner lay me down and die F (460) Th’ afflicted mother wept ; the father, stunned With grief, strove to dissuade and comfort her M ho prostrate lay upon the palace floor : — (461) 1 The Ten Powers peculiar to a Tathagata are : (1) He knows thoroughly right and wrong occasions ; (2) he knows thoroughly the effect of all karma-series ; (3) the methods for accomplishing anything ; (4) the elements (data) of the world ; (5) the various tendencies, in¬ clinations, of beings; (6) the capacities of beings; (7) the nature and procedure of all contemplative disciplines; (8) former lives; (9) he has the ‘ celestial vision 5 ; (10) he has realized the intellectual eman¬ cipation of the Arahant (A., v. 38 ff.).

2 Kdyakalind asdrena. The rendering of the former obscure term is, perhaps, a trifle forced, but was chosen from the use of kali in Jdtaka, v. 134 ( = khela, spittle, froth), because of the juxtaposition of asdra — pithless, without essence (cf. Sarjy. Nik ., iii. 140), in preference to the more usual association of kali with gambling. See ver. 501. ' Rise up, dear child. Why this unhappiness For thee ? Thou art betrothed to go and reign In Varan a vat 1, the promised bride Of King Anikaratta, handsome youth. (462) Thou art to be his chief consort, his queen. Hard is it, little child, to leave the world, Hard are the precepts and the holy life. (463) As queen thou wilt enjoy authority, Riches and sovereignty and luxuries. Thou that art blest herein and young, enjoy ihe sweets life yields. Let’s to thy wedding, child.' (464) Then answered them Sumedha : 4 Nay, not thus ! No soul, no essence, can becoming yield. One or the other shall be — choose ye which : Or let me leave the world, or let me die. rl bus, and thus only, would I choose to wed.1 (465) What is it worth2 — this body foul, unclean,

Emitting odours, source of fears, a bag Of skin with carrion filled, oozing impure (466) ihe while ? What is it worth to me who know — Repulsive carcass, plastered o’er with flesh And blood, the haunt of worms, dinner of birds — To whom shall such a thing as this be given ? (467) Rome in a little while to charnel-field, There is this body thrown, when mind hath sped,3 Like useless log, from which e’en kinsfolk turn. (468)' Throwing the thing that they have bathed to be The food of alien things, whereat recoil 1 Vrireyyam. So above, lit., ‘Let there be choosing for thee, child,’ the term for marriage in high life, whether or no the woman had any voice in the matter. 2 Lit., ‘ What is it like ?’ The very parents, let alone their kin. (469) They have a fondness for this soulless frame, That’s knit of bones and sinews, body foul, Filled full of exudations manifold. (470) Were one the body to dissect, and turn The inside outermost, the smell would prove Too much for e’en one’s mother to endure. (471) The factors of my being', organs, elements. All are a transient compound, rooted deep In birth, are Ill, and first and last the thing I would not.1 Whom, then, could I choose to wed ? (472)

Rather would I find death day after day With spears three hundred piercing me anew. E’en for an hundred years, if this would then Put a last end to pain, unending else. (473) The wise would with this [bargain] close, and meet Utter destruction, seeing that His Word, The Master’s, runneth : “ Long the wandering Of them who, smitten, ever rise again.”2 (474) Countless the ways in which we meet our death, Along gods and men, as demons or as beasts, Among the shades, or in the haunts of hell.3 (475) And there how many doomed tormented live ! No sure refuge is ours even in heaven. Above, beyond Nibbana’s bliss, is naught. (476) And they have won that Bliss who all their hearts 1 Yoniso arucirj. Cf. Pss. xxx., xxxviii., lvii. 2 Cf. Samyutta Nikdya , iii. 149 : ‘ Eternal, brethren, is the wandering ( saysdro ) -nor is the beginning thereof revealed — of them who, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, run to and fro, and wander (among rebirths). . . So op. cit., v. 431 : ‘ It is because we had not grasped the Four Truths, brethren, that we have run and wandered up and down so long, both I and you.’

3 ‘ In the Nirayas.’ See p. 162, n. 1. Have plighted to the blessed Word of Him Who hath the Tenfold Power, and heeding naught, Have striv’n to put far from them birth and death. (477) This day, my father, will I get me forth ! I’ll naught of empty riches ! Sense-desires Repel and sicken me, and are become E’en as the stump where once hath stood a palm.’ (478) So spake she to her father. Now the King, Anikaratta, on his way to woo His youthful bride’s consent, drew near At the appointed time. But Sumedha (479) Let down the soft black masses of her hair And with a dagger cut them off. Then closed The door that led to her own terraced rooms, And forthwith to First Jhana-rapture won. (480) There sat she lost in ecstasy, the while Anikaratta reached the capital. Then she fell musing on impermanence, Developing the thought.1 Then is she ware (481) The while Anikaratta swiftly mounts The palace steps, in brave array of gems And gold, and bowing low woos Sumedha. (482) 4 Reign in my kingdom and enjoy my wealth And power. Rich, happy and so young thou art, Enjoy the sweets that life and love can yield,

T hough they be hard to win and won by few. (483) To thee my kingdom I surrender ! Now Dispose as thou dost wish ; give gifts galore. Be not downcast. Thy parents are distressed.’ (484) 1 The Commentary holds she went on to the other ‘ signs ’ — Ill, or Sorrow, and Soullessness. To him thus Sumedha, for whom desires Of sensuous love were worthless, nor availed To lead astray, made answer : 4 O set not The heart’s affections on this sensual love. See all the peril, the satiety of sense. (485) Mandhata, King o’ th’ world’s four continents,1 Had greater wealth to gratify his sense Than any other man, yet passed away Unsatisfied, his wishes unfulfilled. (486) Nay, an the rain-god rained all seven kinds Of gems till earth and heaven were full, still would The senses crave, and men insatiate die. (487) 4 Like the sharp blades of swords are sense-desires.' 4 Like the poised heads of snakes prepared to dart.' 4 Like blazing torches,’ and 4 like bare gnawn bones.’2 (488) Transient, unstable are desires of sense, Pregnant with Ill and full of venom dire, Searing as heated iron globe to touch. Baneful the root of them, baleful the fruit. (489) As 4 fruit ’3 that brings the climber to a fall,

Are sense-desires ; evil as 4 lumps of flesh ’ That greedy birds one from the other snatch ; As cheating 4 dreams as 4 borrowed goods ’ re¬ claimed. (490) 4 As spears and jav’lins are desires of sense,’ 1 A mythical ancestor of Sumedha’ s and the Buddha’s people, the Sakiyas. Mentioned in Ang. Nik., ii. 7 ; Jdtaka , ii. 310, iii. 454 ff. ; Dipavansa, iii. 5 ; Mahdvansa, 8, 231 ; Milindapanha, 115, 291, etc. 2 These similes are all quoted from Majjhima Nikdya, i. 130, 364 ff. Cf Sayy. Nik., i. 128; Ang. Nik., iii. 97. See below. 3 The text in these four lines gives merely the metaphor. As this would call up no associated similes in us, I expand the terms after the similes in Majjhima Nikdya, 54th Sutta, whence they are borrowed. 4 A pestilence, a boil, and bane and bale. A furnace of live coals/ the root of bane, Murderous and the source of harrowing dread. (491 ) So hath the direfulness of sense-desires, Those barriers to salvation, been declared. Go, leave me, for I do not trust myself, While in this world I yet have part and lot. (492) What shall another do for me ? For me Whose head is wrapped in flames,1 whose steps are dogged

lly age and death that tarry not. To crush Them utterly I needs must strive.’ (493) Then coming to her door she saw the kin£ Her suitor, and her parents seated there And shedding tears. And once more spake to them : (494) * Long have they yet to wander through the worlds Who witless aye again their tears renew, Weeping world without end for father dead. Or brother slain, or that themselves must die.2 (495) A simile frequent in the Nikayas. Presumably muslin turbans, let alone oily hair-dressing, often caused such mishaps. Cf. Sayy. Nik., i. 108, v. 440; Any. Nik., ii. 93, etc. These and the following verses are apparently allusions to the first \ agga of the Anamatagga Sapyutta (‘ AVorld- with out -end ’ Colloca¬ tion) in the Sayyutta Nikaya , vol. ii., 178 ff. The only feature lacking there is the perennial blood-fiow — a point not without interest in the history of the Pali Canon. The bone-cairn gatha in the Vagga is quoted by the Commentator, and runs thus : But one man’s bones who has one aeon lived Might form a cairn — so said the Mighty Seer — High as Vipulla, higher than the Peak Of V ultures, mountain-burg of Magadha ’ —

%%e'\ the ancient hill fortress of the Magadhese before they built their capital Rajagaha in the plain. No more ancient remains than these m India have yet been identified (Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, 37). Call ye to mind how it was said that tears And milk and blood flow on world without end. And bear in mind that tumulus of bones By creatures piled who wander through the worlds. (496) Remember the four oceans as compared With all the flow of tears and milk and blood. Remember the ‘great cairn of one man’s bones From one eeon alone, equal to Vipula (497) And how 4 great India* 1 would not suffice To furnish little tally-balls of mould, Wherewith to number all the ancestors Of one’s own round of life world without end.’ (498) Remember how 4 the little squares of straws And boughs and twigs could ne’er suffice As tallies for one’s sires world without end.’ (499) Remember how the parable was told Of 4 purblind turtle in the Eastern Seas, Or other oceans, once as time goes by, Thrusting his head thro’ hole of drifting yoke ’; So rare as this the chance of human birth.2 (500) Remember too the 4 body ’-parable,

The 4 lump of froth,’ of spittle without core. The repetition in verses 496, 497 is curious in a work where redun¬ dancy is so severely repressed. Either it goes to strengthen the symptoms that the last two Psalms are by a different and later hand, or else two versions have here been incorporated. In 496 Sumedha first speaks to all her three chief hearers : ‘ Call ye to mind ’ ( saratha ) ; the iollowing admonitions are to the Prince only : ‘ bear in mind ’ and ‘remember’ ( sardhi , sara). 1 In the \ agga just alluded to, the earth itself, and not India (Jambudipa), is the insufficient source. The ‘squares of straw’ is from the same Yagga. 2 I his simile is from Majjliima Nik., iii. 169, and Sarjyutta Nik., v. 455. The ‘ body-parable \ is from the latter work (iii. 140). The body (rupee) is as empty of essence (soul) as the clot of foam drifting down the Ganges. Drifting. See here the fleeting factors five. And O forget not hell where many thole. (501) Remember how we swell the charnel-fields, Now dying, now again elsewhere reborn. Remember what was said of 4 crocodiles,’1 And what those perils meant for us, and O !

Bear ye in mind the Four, the Ariyan Truths. (502) The nectar of the Norm is here !2 O how Canst thou be satisfied with bitter draughts Of sense satiety ? All sensual joys Are bitterer for the fivefold dogging Ill.3 4 5 (503) The nectar of the Norm is here ! O how Canst thou be satisfied with fevered fits Of sense-satiety ? All sensual joys Are burning, boiling, ferment,4 stew. (504) There is, where enmity is not !5 O how Canst thou be satisfied with joys of sense 1 The danger from crocodiles is, in two of the Nikayas, used metaphorically for gluttony, one of the four perils of ‘ those who go down to the water it is in the Canon applied only to a Bhikkhu’s temptations ( Majjh . Nik., i. 460; Ang. Nik., ii. 124). 2 Nectar = amatay, rendered elsewhere in this work by ‘ambrosia,’ its etymological equivalent. Usually considered one of the many terms for Nibbana, it is here by the commentarial tradition associated with the Dhamma — ‘the Amata of the Norm brought to us by the Very Buddha in his great compassion.’ 3 Lit., ‘ Are bitterer by the fivefold-bitter,’ explained by the Com¬ mentary as by the following after of the yet sharper Ill ’ ( dukkhan ). Fivefold, referring to the five senses.

4 Kuthitd may be from one of three roots : kuth , smell ; kuth , dis¬ tressed ; kvath, cook (cf. Muller, Pali Grammar, 41). The first, chosen by Dr. Neumann, seems forced here. The last accords best with the other three metaphors of heating process. 5 Lit., ‘ The unhostile being ’ (locative absolute). The Pali has no metaphor of place whatever. Engend’ring thee so many foes — the wrath Or greed of king, or thief, or rival, harm Through fire, or water — yea, so many foes ! (505) Emancipation1 waits ! O how canst thou Be satisfied with sensual joys, wherein Lie bonds and death ? Yea, in those very joys Lurk gaol and headsman.2 They who seek t' indulge Their lusts needs must thereafter suffer ills. (506) Him will straw-torches burn who holds them long- And lets not go. So, in the parable,3 Desires of sense burn them who let not go. (507) Cast not away, because of some vain joy Of sense, the vaster happiness sublime, Lest like the finny carp thou gulp the hook, Only to find thyself for that foredone 4 (508) Tame thou thyself in sense-desires, nor let Thyself be bound by them, as is a dog Bound by a chain ; else will they do forsooth With thee as hungry pariahs with that dog.5 (509)

1 Mokkhamhi vijjamdne , lit., exists. Mokkho, probably substituted metri causa for vimutti, is a relatively late term. 2 These two terms are, in the text, the same as the corresponding pair in the preceding line. 3 In Majjhima Nik., i. 365, where the torch is said to be borne against the wind, not held too long. 4 A simile from Sayyutta Nik., ii. 226, — iv. 158; Jdtaka ■ v. 389 ; vi. 416, 432, 437. 0 The dog, according to the Commentary, being unable to get away from them, is killed, and presumably eaten. There is no suggestion to the effect that it was acting as watch- dog, and that the pariahs were thieves, beyond stealing the dog. ‘Will they do ’ = kdhinti ; Com¬ mentary = karissanti. Pischel pronounced the other reading khahinti as ‘ no doubt correct,’ because of a passage in Hemacandra’s Prakrit Grammar . But Dhammajpala, nearer to the age of the Therigatha Pali by at least 500 years, seems to me to have the stronger claim, let alone plausibility. Once more I say, immeasurable Ills And many weary miseries of mind Thou’lt suffer yoked to sensual life. Renounce, Renounce desires of sense ! They pass away. (510)

There is, that groweth never old I1 O how Canst thou be satisfied with sense-desires That age so soon ? Are not all things reborn, Where’er it be, gripped by disease and death ? (511) This2 that doth ne’er grow old, that dieth not. This never-ageing, never-dying Path — No sorrow cometh there, no enemies, Nor is there any crowd ;3 none faint or fail, No fear cometh, nor aught that doth tor¬ ment — (512) io I his, the Path Ambrosial, have gone Full many. And to-day, e’en now ’tis to be won. But only by a life that’s utterly Surrendered in devotion. Labour not, And ye shall not attain !’ Thus Sumedha (513) Ended her say, who found no joy in all Activities that lead from life to life, And, to Anikaratta thus her mind Declaring, dropped her tresses on the floor. (514) Then up he rose with outstretched folded hands, 1 She now, says the Commentary, turns to show forth the excellence of Nibbana. Asambddhay. The Commentary takes this figuratively: ‘from the absence of the crowd of corruptions’ (or torments, k ilesa). In view of the cardinal importance in the Vinaya of cultivating solitude (cf. Dhammadinna in Ps. xii.), because, too, of its being the path of the minority, and because of the Suttanta phrase calling the lay life sambddha , and the religious life abbhokdsci , free as air, I incline to take it literally.

And with her father pleaded for her thus : 4 O suffer Sumedha to leave the world, That she may see the Truth and Liberty !’ (515) The parents suffered her, and forth she went, Afeared to stay and build up fear and grief. Six branches of Insight she realized, As learner, winning to the Topmost Fruit. (51G) O wondrous this ! O marvellous in sooth ! Nibbana for the daughter of a king ! Her state and conduct in her former births, E’en as she told in her last life were these : (517) 4 When1 Konagamana was Buddha here, And in a new abode, the Order’s Park, Took up his dwelling, two o’ my friends,2 and I Built a Vihara for the Master’s use. (518) And many scores and centuries of lives We lived among the gods, let alone men. (519) Mighty our glory and our power among The gods, nor need I speak of fame on earth. Was I not consort of an Emperor, The Treasure- Woman ’mongst the Treasures Seven?3 (520) Endurance4 in the Truth the Master taught — This was the cause, the source, the root, This the First Link in the long Causal Line,

This is Nibbana if we love the Norm. (521) 1 This narrative repeated in from the Apadana. 2 The two friends are sai^d to have been Khema (Ps. lii.) and Dhananjanl, a brahminee convert {Saw. Nik., i. 160). 3 For these, see Buddhist Suttas (S.B.E., xi.), pp. 251/'. 4 Khanti. See Digha Nik. ii. 49. Thus acting,1 they who put their trust in Him, Wisdom Supreme,2 lose every wish and hope Of coming back to be — and thus released They from all passion’s stain are purified.3 (522) The Psalms of them who through the Gospel’s grace Became the true-born children and the heirs, Mouth-born, of Him who is the Master Blest, King o1 the Norm, creations of the Norm, Excelling in all virtue, Arahants, Who wrought all that ’twas possible to do — These Psalms, their utterances when Anna They did proclaim, or whensoe’er it was, Beginning with Brother Subhuti’s verse, With Sisters’ Psalms, headed by 4 Sturdykin ’ — All these the Leaders of the Order took, And in one ordered serial compiled, To elucidate the import of that work Three Older Commentaries are extant.4 'Thereto this exegesis I have tried T’ indite, the which, in that where’er ’twas fit,

I strove to set the highest meaning forth, 1 Another reading is, ‘ Thus telling.’ 2 Lit., ‘ Who has immeasurable wisdom.’ This line expands the Pali word virajjati , according to the Com¬ mentary, which supplements ‘ purified ’ by ‘ set free.’ On the metre of the whole Psalm, see Introduction. 4 On these, see my Buddhist Psychology , xx.-xxii. I named the Paramattha-Dipam ; The whole whereof, now finished to the end, By orderly decision is arranged, For recitation from the sacred text, In chapters of the number ninety-two. Thus by the efficacy of such good As has accrued to me, by me applied, Have I made bright the glory of the word, The system, of the Sovran of the world ; That, by their pure attainment in all truth And virtue, mortals all may come to taste The essence of emancipation won. Fong may the Very Buddha’s Word and Law Abide, and ever may it be revered By every creature that hath life and breath ! And may the weather-god in season due Send rain on earth, and may the powers that be Govern the world as lovers of the Norm ! Thus endeth the Commentary on the Therigatha, by the Teacher, Brother Dhammapala, residing at the PadaraTittha-Vihara.

VERSES ATTRIBUTED TO SISTERS IN THE BHIKKHUNISANYUTTA OF THE SANYUTTA-NIKAYA Thus have I heard. The Exalted One was once staying at Savatthi, in the Jeta Grove, the park of Anathapindika. Now Alavika the Bhikkhunl dressed herself early and, taking bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for food. And when she had gone about Savatthi for it, had broken her fast and returned, she entered the Dark Wood, seeking solitude. Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, waver¬ ing, and dread in her, desiring to make her desist from being alone, went up to her, and addressed her in a verse : 6 Ne’er shalt thou find escape while in the world. What profiteth thee then thy loneliness ? Take the good things of life while yet thou may’st. Repentance else too late awaiteth thee.’ Then Alavika thought : ‘ Who now is this, human or non-human, that speaketh this verse ? Sure ’tis Mara the Evil One speaketh it, desirous to arouse in me fear, wavering and dread, desirous to make me desist from my solitude.’ And Bhikkhunl Alavika, knowing that ’twas he, replied with a verse : 1 Cf. Sela’s Psalm, xxxv. She was the daughter of the King of Alavl.

‘ There is escape while in the world, and I Have well attained thereto by insight won. Thou evil limb of loafing I1 ' tis not thine To know that bourne, or how it may be reached. Like spears and jav’lins are the joys of sense, That pierce and rend the mortal frames of us. These that thou callest “ the good things of life,” Good of that ilk to me is nothing worth.’ Then Mara, thinking, ‘ Bhikkhuni Alavika knows me !’ vanished thence, sad and dejected. . 3 Now Soma . entered the Dark Wood for siesta, and, plunging into its depths, sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta. Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, waver¬ ing, and dread in her, desiring to make her desist from concentrated thought, went up to her, and addressed her in a verse : 6 That vantage-ground the sages may attain is hard To reach. With her two-finger consciousness That is no woman competent to gain !’ Then Soma thought . ‘ Sure ’tis Mara !’.... and . replied with verses : 4 What should the woman’s nature do to them4 Whose hearts are firmly set, who ever move

2 See Ps. xxxvi., comparing the vastly more interesting reply given 3 Where dotted lines occur, here and below, the reading is as for Alavika. 4 Not ‘ to us,’ as in the Psalm. With growing knowledge onward in the Path ? What can that signify to one in whom Insight doth truly comprehend the Norm ? To one for whom the question doth arise : Am I a woman in these matters, or Am I a man, or what not am I, then ? To such an one is Mara fit to talk !’ Then Mara, thinking, ‘BhikkhunI Soma knows me!’ vanished thence, sad and dejected. . Now the Lean Gotamid . entered the Dark M ood for siesta, and, plunging into its depths, sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta. Then Mara . went up to her, and addressed her in a verse : How now ? Host sit alone with tearful face As mother stricken by the loss of child ? T hou who hast plunged into the woods alone, Is it a man that thou hast come to seek V Then the Lean Gotamid thought . 4 Sure ’tis Mara !’ . and replied with verses :

‘ Ay, ever am I she whose child is lost !2 And for the seeking, there are men at hand. I do not grieve, I am not shedding tears, And as for thee, good sir, I fear thee not. 1 0/* Ps* lxiii. In the case of elisions, read as for Soma. Ly ‘ever’ accantay, lit. exceedingly, endlessly — it is conceivable that she alludes, not to her own too common case, as a mother be¬ reaved of a son, but either to endless past bereavements, or to the fact that, as Arahant, she had cut herself off from age-long possibilities of being often again in similar circumstances. Cf., e.g., Ps. xxxiii. Slain everywhere is love of worldly joys, And the thick gloom of ignorance is rent in twain. Defeating all the army of the power of death, I here abide purged of the poison-drugs.’1 Then Mara, thinking, ‘ Bhikkhuni Gotaml knows me !’ vanished thence, sad and dejected. . Now Bhikkhuni Vijaya . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta. Then Mara . addressed her in a verse :3 4 A maiden thou and beautiful — and I So young a lad ! Now where to fivefold art4 Of sounds melodious we may list, O come,

Lady, and let us take our fill of joy !’ Then Bhikkhuni Vijaya thought . 4 Sure ’tis Mara !’ . and . replied with verses : 4 Sights, sounds and tastes and smells and things to touch, Wherein the mind delights, I leave them all To thee, Mara ; for such no mind have I ! This body vile, this brittle, crumbling thing, 2 Vijaya, to whom Ps lvii. is ascribed, is apparently a different person. 3 Cf. Khema’s Psalm (lii.) . 4 Five sorts of musical instruments are supposed to be implied in this idiomatic phrase — dtatay, vitatay, atata - vitatay , ghcinay, susirav. Doth touch me only with distress and shame. Craving for joys of sense is rooted out. They who have come to worlds of form, and they Who dwell where form is not, and that perfect Attainment which is peace 1 — from all, From everywhere, the darkness is dispelled.’ Then Mara, thinking, * Bhikkhunl Vijaya knows me!’ vanished thence, sad and dejected. . Now, Bhikkhunl Uppalavanna . entered the Dark Wood for siesta, and, plunging into its depths, halted at the root of a certain sala-tree in full blossom. Then Mara . addressed her in a verse :

4 Thou that art come where over thee crowned with blossom [Waveth] the sal-tree, Sister, and standest alone in the shade of it, No one like thee could hither come rival to beauty as thine is ! Fearest thou not, O foolish maiden, the wiles of seducers V2 1 I have ventured to bridge over the hiatus, in what ProfessQr Windisch calls the ‘loose construction ’ of this gatha, by the insertion of ‘from all, from. . . For what may have been the original, and is the more logical, ending, see Cala’s verses below. As the gdtlid in Pali stands here, it seems to mean : ‘ “ I see life steadily, and see it whole.” Trouble me not with your foolish little solicitations to sensual joys.’ Where the text differs from that of Psalm lxiv. may be seen by the following : Then Bhikkhum Uppalavanna thought . ‘ Sure ’tis Mara !’ . and . replied with verses : 4 W ere there an hundred thousand seducers e’en such as thou art, Ne’er would I tremble affrighted thereat, or turn a hair of me. Mara, I fear not thee, all lonely though I be standing. Here though I stand, I vanish, or enter into thy body.

See ! ’twixt thine eyelashes hide, standing where thou canst not see me. For all my mind is wholly self-controlled, And the Four Paths to Potency are thoroughly learnt. Yea, I am free from all the Bonds there be. In sooth, good sir, no fear have I of thee !’ Then Mara, thinking, * Bhikkhum Uppalavanna knows me !’ vanished thence, sad and dejected. Supupphitaggar) upagamma padfipaij eka tuvaij titthasi rukkhamule Na capi te dutiyo atthi ; koci na tvarj bale bhayasi dhuttakanar). Supupphitaggaij -upagamma bhik¬ khum eka tuvap titthasi salamule Na c’atthi te dutiya vannadhatu idhagata tadisika bhaveyyup. Bale na tvap bhayasi dhuttakanarj. On choice of reading in the preceding line, see the Psalm in ques¬ tion, n. . Now, BhikkhunI Cala . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta. Then Mara the Evil One went up to her, and spoke thus to her : ‘ Wherein, 0 Sister, dost thou find no pleasure ?’ ‘ In birth,2 good sir, I find no pleasure.’ ‘ Why findest thou no pleasure in birth ? Once born, one enjoys the pleasures of a life of sense. Who hath put this into thy mind — “ Find no pleasure in birth” — Sister?’

4 Once born, we die. Once bom, we see life’s Ills — The bonds, the torments, and the life cut off.3 The Buddha hath revealed the Norm to us — How we may get beyond the power of birth, How we may put an end to every Ill. Tis He hath guided me into the True. They who have come to worlds of Form, and they Who in those worlds abide where Form is not, An they know not how they may end it all, Are goers, all of them, again to birth.4 Then Mara, thinking, 4 BhikkhunI Cala knows me !’ vanished thence, sad and dejected. 1 Pronounced Chald. Cf. Ps. lix., lx. The latter Psalm— Upacala’s — incorporates most of what is here attributed to her sister. 2 Te., in the fact or phenomenon of ‘ being born over and over again.’ Literally, meaning the punishments of criminals, but standing for the ills of life in general. Cf. Ps. lxx., verse 845 ; lxxiii., verse 505. 4 Cf. last note to Vijaya’s verses above. . Now, BhikkhunI Upaeala . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta. Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear .

to make her desist from concentrated thought, went up to her, and spoke thus to her : ‘ Where, Sister, dost thou wish to rise again ?’ ‘ Nowhere, good sir, I wish to rise again.’ 4 Now, think upon the Three-and-Thirty gods, And on the gods who rule in realm of Shades, On those who reign in Heaven of Bliss, and on Those higher deities who live where life Yet flows by way of sense and of desire — Think, and thither aspire with longing heart, The bliss of each in turn shall then be thine.' f Ay, think upon the Three-and-Thirty gods, And on the gods who rule in realm of Shades, On those who reign in Heaven of Bliss, and on Those higher deities who live where life Yet flows by way of sense and of desire ! They all are bound by bonds of sense-desire, Hence come they evermore ’neath Mara’s sway. On fire is all the world, is wrapt in smoke.2 Ablaze is all the world, the heav’ns do quake ! 1 In the Psalms, her Psalm is put into the month of her sister, Slsupacala. 2 Padliupito , in the corresponding Psalm paridipito. But that which quaketh not, influctuate,1 Untrodden by the average worldling’s feet,

Where Mara cometh not nor hath way-gate — There doth my heart abide in blest retreat.’2 Then Mara, thinking, ‘BhikkhunI Upacala knows me!’ vanished thence, sad and dejected. . Now, BhikkhunI Sisupaeala . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta. Then Mara the Evil One went up to her, and spoke to her thus : 4 Of whose shibboleth, Sister, dost thou approve ?’ 4 1 approve of no one’s shibboleth, good sir.’ 4 Why now and whereto art thou seen thus garbed And shaven like a nun, yet dost not join Ascetics of some sort and shibboleth ? What, futile and infatuate, is thy quest ?’ 4 Tis they that are without, caught in the net Of the vain shibboleths in which they trust — Their ’s is the doctrine I cannot approve. ’Tis they that lack acquaintance with the Norm. 4 Lo ! in the princely Sakiya clan is born A Buddha peerless ’mong the sons of men, Agati yattha Marassa tattha me Buddho dhammarj me desesi tattha me nirato mano. 2 Lit., Thereto is my heart (or mind) devoted. 3 In the Psalms she is made to utter her sister Gala’s Psalm. Who all hath overcome, before whose face Mara doth flee away, who everywhere Unconquered stands, He that is wholly freed And fetterless, the Seer who seeth all,

For whom all karma is destroyed, who in The perishing of every germ that birth Once more engenders, is at liberty. This the Exalted One, my Master and my Lord : His doctrine. His the word that I approve.’ Then Mara, thinking, ‘ Bhikkhunl Slsupacala knows me ! . . Now, Bhikkhunl Sela . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta. Then Mara . went up to her, and addressed her with a verse : ‘ Who was’t that made this human puppet’s form ? Where, tell me, is the human doll’s artificer ? Whence hath the human puppet come to he ? Where, tell me, shall it cease and pass away V Then Bhikkhunl Sela thought . ‘ Sure ’tis Mara !' . and . replied with verses : • Neither self-made the puppet is, nor yet By other is this evil fashioned. By reason of a cause it came to be ; By rupture of a cause, it dies away. 1 The Psalm ascribed to Sela (xxxv., p. 144) is, in this Appendix, put into the mouth of Alavika, which, in the Commentary, is Sela s patronymic. Like to a given seed sown in the field,

Which, when it lighteth on the taste of earth And moisture likewise — by these twain doth grow, So the five aggregates, the elements, And the six spheres of sense — even all these — By reason of a cause they came to be ; By rupture of a cause they die away.’ Then Mara, thinking, ‘BhikkhunI Sela knows me!’ vanished thence, sad and dejected. . NowBhikkhunI Vajira . sat down at the root of a certain tree for siesta. Then Mara . went up to her, and addressed her with a verse : 4 Who hath this being1 fashioned ? Where is 1 he maker of this being ? Whence hath it sprung ? Where doth this being cease and pass away ?’ Then BhikkhunI Vajira thought . 4 Sure ’tis Mara !’ . and replied with a verse : Being ” ? Why dost thou harp upon that word ? ’Mong false opinions, Mara, art thou strayed. This a mere bundle of formations is. Therefrom no 44 being” mayest thou obtain. For e’en as, when the factors are arranged, The product by the word’ 44 chariot ” is known, So doth our usage covenant to say — A being ” — when the aggregates are there.

1 Satto, a concrete living entity, not the abstract idea. Tis simply Ill that riseth, simply Ill That doth persist, and then fadeth away. Nought beside Ill it is that doth become ; Nought else but Ill it is doth pass away.’ Then Mara, thinking, ‘ BhikkhunI Vajira knows me!’ vanished thence, sad and dejected. Here endeth the BhikkhunI Series. The Yakkha-Saijyutta, or Fairy Series in the same Nikaya, gives the summons uttered by the indignant tree- fairy to the people of Rajagaha in Sukka’s little poem (Ps. xxxiv.). The lines are exactly the same, except that ‘ wayfarer ’ is panthagu instead of addhagu. In the following Sutta presumably the same devoted spirit proclaims the praises both of Sukka and of a lay- disciple who supplied the eloquent Then with food : ‘ O surely plenteous merit hath he wrought, That layman wise, who Sukka’s wants supplied — Sukka’s, who from all bonds is wholly free !’ 1 1 Cf. Ps. xlvi. 111. I. On clansmen, to which reference is so often made in the Chronicles (clansman’s family = kulageha), see Rhys Davids, Buddhist India , 17-22. ‘ Treasurer ’ or ‘ merchant ’ stands for setthi , a leading com¬

moner, head {setthi — chief) of a guild, and often treasurer to a King. II. On the co-existing customs of cremation and exposure of the dead, to which the Psalms testify, see Rhys Davids, Buddhist India , 78/. III. In the note on p. 66, reference should have been made to the Viticcha-jataka, No. 244, in the second volume of the Jataka. Here the Buddha himself asks the question, Ekay ndma kiy ? whereupon the itinerant debater runs away ! The birth story is then told, the question being contra the theory of the Ding-an-sich. In verse 72, where Professors Pischel and E. Muller have read . . . ahha samatimahhi ha?), I now incline, with the Commentary, to read ahndsam atimahhi ' han , and would amend the English thus : Filled with the pride of my youth , I scorned and despised other women. Again, in verse 74, a truer rendering would be : Manifold wiles I wrought , mocking with insolent laughter. And in verse 76, for ‘ calm ’ read ‘ cool. ’