#therigatha

[amindfulpaje-blog]

If your mind becomes firm like a rock and no longer shakes In a world where everything is shaking Your mind will be your greatest friend And suffering will not come your way. #therigatha #wednesdaywisdom #itwillsometimes . #lifegoeson #appreciatethelittlethings . How can you still your mind in a world that is shaking? . #share . #thinkconnectelevate (at Penn State University) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoeH86nAjQK/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=154386utaxrmg

[drambedkarbooks]

Therigatha - A Brief Note on Introduction and Translation by Charles Hallisey

Therigatha – A Brief Note on Introduction and Translation by Charles Hallisey

Therigatha (Poems of the first Buddhist women) is the extant anthology of the poems of the Buddhist women. Judging by the history, it is the first anthology of poems by women in the world. It has many firsts, but the most remarkable are that it is the first collective voice of the liberated women in the history of the world. First, let us try to locate its position in the vast geography of the…

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[thepathofintegrity]

Song from The Therigatha

When the thundering storm cloud roars out from the mist, And torrents of rain fill the paths of the birds, Nestled in a mountain cave, the monk meditates. —No greater contentment than this can be found. When along the rivers the tumbling flowers bloom In winding wreaths adorned with verdant color, Seated on the bank, glad-minded, he meditates. —No greater contentment than this can be found. When in the depths of night, in a lonely forest, The rain-deva drizzles and the fanged beasts cry, Nestled in a mountain cave, the monk meditates. —No greater contentment than this can be found. When restraining himself and his discursive thoughts, (Dwelling in the midst of the hills in a cave), Devoid of fear and barrenness, he meditates. —No greater contentment than this can be found. When he is happy—expunged of stain, waste and grief, Unobstructed, unencumbered, unassailed— Having ended all defilements, he meditates. —No greater contentment than this can be found.                     —Therigatha 522-526 Newly translated by Andrew Olendzki

[minoracts]

15: Bhadda Kundalakesi was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. She was given all that she could have wanted, but it was not enough. One day from her grilled window, she saw a convicted thief named Sattuka being led to his execution. She fell in love with him and told her father that she could not live without him. Her father was able to get the thief released through bribery and he came to live with Bhadda, who waited on him devotedly. After living with Bhadda a short while, Sattuka wanted her ornaments for himself and devised a plot to rob her. She saw through his scheme and used her wits to kill him. She knew that she could not go home after murdering her husband, so she ordained as a Jain nun. Her hair grew back quickly after it was removed in the ordination ritual, and when it grew back it was curly. As a result Bhadda became known as "Bhadda Kundalakesi" ("Curly-locks Bhadda"). She wandered India looking for people to debate with. At one point, she had a debate with Sariputta, one of the two chief disciples of the Buddha, in front of a large crowd. She was defeated in the debate and converted to Buddhism. Sariputta sent her to the Buddha to take refuge before him and the Buddha spoke a verse of the *Dhammapada* (v. 101) to her:

'Though a thousand be the verses With words of no avail, Better is a single line of verse, Having heard which, one is pacified.' (Carter and Palihawadana 2000:20)

Bhadda Kundalakesi attained enlightenment when she heard this verse and she immediately asked the Buddha for ordination...

---Footnote to a poem attributed to her in *Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women*, trans. Charles Hallisey

[pyotra]

Ten children I bore from this physical heap. Then weak from that, aged, I went to a nun. She taught me the Dhamma: aggregates, sense spheres, and elements. Hearing her Dhamma, I cut off my hair and ordained. Having purified the divine eye while still a probationer, I know my previous lives, where I lived in the past. I develop the theme-less meditation, well-focused oneness. I gain the liberation of immediacy — from lack of clinging, unbound. The five aggregates, comprehended, stand like a tree with its root cut through. I spit on old age. There is now no further becoming.

Sona: Mother of Ten (Thig 5.8) // translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhiku.

[aeondeug]

So freed! So thoroughly freed am I! — from three crooked things set free: from mortar, pestle, & crooked old husband. Having uprooted the craving that leads to becoming, I'm set free from aging & death.

- Mutta, Thig.1, I.11