Translated from the Pali by
Buddhist Publication Society
Kandy • Sri Lanka
First published: 1997
BPS Online Edition © (2014)
Digital Transcription Source: BPS and Access to Insight Transcription Project
For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted and redistributed in any medium. However, any such republication and redistribution is to be made available to the public on a free and unrestricted basis, and translations and other derivative works are to be clearly marked as such.
The growing interest in women’s spirituality has led to a renewed focus upon the Therīgāthā, the Verses of the Elder Nuns, as the oldest existing testament to the feminine experience of Buddhism. Despite this recent attention to the Therīgāthā, however, it seems that all but a few scholarly commentators have overlooked a short chapter in the Saṃyutta Nikāya that serves as an important supplement to the larger work. This is the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta, Chapter 5 of the Sagāthavagga-saṃyutta, the Connected Discourses with Verses, Volume I of the Saṃyutta Nikāya.
The Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta is a compilation of ten short suttas in mixed prose and verse, with a total of thirty-seven verses. Though several of these verses have parallels in the Therīgāthā (mentioned in the notes), a significant number do not, and often the variations in roughly parallel versions are themselves of intrinsic interest. At least one nun in the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta, Vajirā, does not appear in the Therīgāthā, while the case of another nun, Selā, is problematic. A comparison between the two collections also brings to light some noteworthy differences in the ascription of authorship; in one case—that of the three Cālā sisters—a three-way shuffling of ascriptions occurs. Such differences can be readily understood once we realise that the texts were originally transmitted orally for several centuries and thus were contingent on less durable factors than paper and ink. Since the Saṃyutta Nikāya and the Therīgāthā were evidently transmitted by different lines of reciters, it was only too easy for verses to break off from their original narrative setting and merge with a different background story connecting them to a different author.
The antiquity of this collection is attested to by the fact that it has a counterpart in the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit Samyuktāgama, which probably belonged to the Sarvāstivāda school. Anesaki’s The Four Buddhist Āgamas in Chinese gives a breakdown of the Chinese equivalent of the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta, and though the order of suttas is different, the ten titles are almost identical, except that the Pali Sela Sutta is there entitled Vīrī (or Vīrā). This is strong evidence that the entire chapter had taken shape before the Pali and Sarvāstivāda schools went their separate ways.
All the ten suttas are constructed according to the same pattern, a direct confrontation between Māra the Evil One, the Lord of Sensuality, and an individual nun. This structure perhaps accounts for the placement of the Bhikkhunī-saṃyutta immediately after the Mārasaṃyutta, in which the Evil One is shown trying to distract the Buddha and the monks. In each sutta of our collection, a nun goes off by herself to pass the day in solitary meditation. Then Māra approaches her with a challenge—a provocative question or a taunt—intending to make her fall away from concentration. What Māra has failed to realise is that each of these nuns is an arahant and has seen so deeply into the truth of the Dhamma that she is utterly inaccessible to his wiles. Far from being flustered by Māra’s challenge, the nun promptly guesses the identity of her adversary and overturns his challenge with a sharp reply. Once Māra realises that his number has been called he has no choice but to vanish on the spot, “sad and disappointed.”
In a dialogue that brings together the Lord of Sensuality with a solitary nun, one might expect each of Māra’s overtures to be aimed at sexual seduction. This, however, is so only in several suttas. The actual themes of the discourses vary and expose us to a broad range of perspectives on the attitudes and insights of the renunciant life. The contrast between the allurement and misery of sensual pleasures is the theme of §§ 1, 4 and 5. In §1, Māra does not himself attempt to seduce the nun but only urges her to enjoy sense pleasures before her time runs out; in §4 he assumes the guise of a handsome youth who lavishes his seductive charms on the beautiful Vijayā; and in §5 he almost threatens to rape the nun Uppalavaṇṇā, who had actually been raped soon after her ordination by an infatuated youth. In all three cases the nuns sharply rebuke Māra with verses that reveal their utter indifference to his solicitations.
In §3, Māra approaches Kisāgotamī, the heroine of the well-known parable of the mustard seed, trying to arouse her maternal instincts to beget another son. His challenge thus touches on sensuality only indirectly. His primary appeal is aimed at awakening the feminine desire for children.
Māra’s dialogue with Somā (§2) voices the ancient Indian prejudice that women are endowed with “mere two-fingered wisdom” (an obscure expression that tries the ingenuity of the commentators), and thus cannot attain Nibbāna, a goal reserved for males. Somā’s rejoinder is a forceful reminder that enlightenment does not depend on gender but on the mind’s capacity for concentration and wisdom, qualities accessible to any human being who earnestly seeks to penetrate the truth.
In §§ 6, 7 and 8, we meet the three Cālā sisters, the younger sisters of the Venerable Sāriputta. From these three nuns Māra tries to elicit, respectively, an affirmation of birth (i.e., of life in general), of rebirth in the heavenly realms, and of heretical views. In each case the nun replies with appropriate verses exposing the dangers in birth, in the entire triple world, and in the systems of the non-Buddhist thinkers.
The last two suttas are philosophical masterpieces, compressing into a few tight stanzas insights of enormous depth and wide implications. Full appreciation of their richness and power would require extensive acquaintance with the whole corpus of early Buddhist texts, particularly the Saṃyutta Nikāya chapters on dependent origination (No. 12) and the five aggregates (No. 22). In §9, Māra challenges Sela with a question on the origins of personal existence. She replies with a masterly poem that condenses the whole teaching of dependent origination into three four-line stanzas, adorned with an illuminating simile. In §10 he poses a similar problem to Vajirā, who answers with a stunning exposition of the teaching of non-self, illustrating the composite nature of personal identity with the simile of the chariot. This simile was popularised by the famous Milindapañhā, but Vajirā’s simpler version has an incisive edge that is blunted by the bombastic tone of the later work.
Though set against a mythological background in an ancient world whose customs and norms seem so remote from our own, these poems of the nuns of old still speak to us today through their sheer simplicity and uncompromising honesty. They need no ornamentation or artifice to convey their message but startle us with the clarity of unadorned truth. Emerging from the depths of indubitable personal realisation, crackling with insight, they point unwaveringly toward the rugged path of renunciation and wisdom that leads to the end of suffering.
The present translation is based primarily upon the Burmese script Chaṭṭhasaṅgāyana edition of the Saṃyutta Nikāya (Be), though I also consulted the Sinhala script Buddha Jāyanti edition (Ce) and the PTS’s Roman script edition (Ee). Numbers in square brackets are the page numbers of the PTS edition.
Be—Burmese script edition (Sixth Council);
BL—Buddhist Legends (trans. of Dhp A);
Ce—Sinhala script edition (Buddha Jayanti); Aṭṭhakathā;
Ee—European edition (PTS);
EV II—Elders’ Verses II (trans. of Thī);
S-a—Saṃyutta Nikāya Aṭṭhakathā;
S-ṭ—Saṃyutta Nikāya Tīkā;
Thī-a—Therīgāthā Aṭṭhakathā (Ee).
[128] Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park.
Then, in the morning, the bhikkhunī Āḷavikā dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms. [1] When she had walked for alms in Sāvatthī and had returned from her alms-round, after her meal she went to the Blind Men’s Grove seeking seclusion. [2]
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation and terror in the bhikkhunī Āḷavikā, desiring to make her fall away from seclusion, approached her and addressed her in verse:
1. “There is no escape in the world,
So what will you do with seclusion?
Enjoy the delights of sensual pleasure:
Don’t be remorseful later!”
Then it occurred to the bhikkhunī Āḷavikā: “Now who is it that recited the verse—a human being or a non-human being?” Then it occurred to her: “This is Māra the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from seclusion.”
Then the bhikkhunī Āḷavikā, having understood, “This is Māra the Evil One,” replied to him in verses:
2. “There is an escape in the world
Which I have closely touched with wisdom.
O Evil One, kinsman of the negligent,
You do not know that state. [3]
3. Sensual pleasures are like sword stakes;
The aggregates, their chopping block.
What you call sensual delight
Has become for me non-delight.” [4] [129]
Then Māra the Evil One, realising, “The bhikkhunī Āḷavikā knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
Setting at Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhunī Somā dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms. [5] When she had walked for alms in Sāvatthī and had returned from her alms-round, after her meal she went to the Blind Men’s Grove for the day’s abiding. Having plunged into the Blind Men’s Grove, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding.
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhunī Somā, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
4. “That state so hard to achieve
Which is to be attained by the seers,
Can’t be attained by a woman
With her two-fingered wisdom.” [6]
Then it occurred to the bhikkhunī Somā: “Now who is this that recited the verse—a human being or a non-human being?” Then it occurred to her: “This is Māra the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from concentration.”
Then the bhikkhunī Somā, having understood, “This is Māra the Evil One,” replied to him in verses:
5. “What does womanhood matter at all
When the mind is concentrated well,
When knowledge flows on steadily
As one sees correctly into Dhamma. [7]
6. One to whom it might occur,
’I’m a woman’ or ’I’m a man’
Or ’I’m anything at all’—
Is fit for Māra to address.” [8]
Then Māra the Evil One, realising, “The bhikkhunī Somā knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
Setting at Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhunī Kisāgotamī dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms. [9] When she had walked for alms in Sāvatthī and had returned from her alms-round, [130] after her meal she went to the Blind Men’s Grove for the day’s abiding. Having plunged into the Blind Men’s Grove, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding.
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation and terror in the bhikkhunī Kisāgotamī, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
7. “Why now, when your son is dead,
Do you sit alone with tearful face?
Having entered the woods all alone,
Are you on the lookout for a man?”
Then it occurred to the bhikkhunī Kisāgotamī: “Now who is this that recited the verse—a human being or a non-human being?” Then it occurred to her: “This is Māra the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from concentration.”
Then the bhikkhunī Kisāgotamī, having understood, “This is Māra the Evil One,” replied to him in verses:
8. “I’ve gotten past the death of sons;
With this, the search for men has ended.
I do not sorrow, I do not weep,
Nor do I fear you, friend. [10]
9. Delight everywhere has been destroyed,
The mass of darkness has been sundered.
Having conquered the army of Death,
I dwell without defiling taints.” [11]
Then Māra the Evil One, realising, “The bhikkhunī Kisāgotamī knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
Setting at Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhunī Vijaya dressed… she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding. [12]
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation and terror in the bhikkhunī Vijayā, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse: [131]
10. “You are so young and beautiful,
And I too am in the bloom of youth.
Come, noble lady, let us rejoice
With the music of a fivefold ensemble.”
Then it occurred to the bhikkhunī Vijayā: “Now who is this…? This is Māra the Evil One… desiring to make me fall away from concentration.”
Then the bhikkhunī Vijayā, having understood, “This is Māra the Evil One,” replied to him in verses:
11. “Forms and sounds, tastes and odours,
Tactile objects that delight the mind:
I offer them right back to you,
For I, O Māra, do not need them.
12. I am repelled and humiliated
By this foul, putrid body,
Subject to break up, fragile:
I’ve uprooted sensual craving.
13. As to those beings who fare amidst form,
And those who abide in the formless,
And those peaceful attainments too:
Everywhere darkness has been destroyed.” [13]
Then Māra the Evil One, realising “The bhikkhunī Vijayā knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
Setting at Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhunī Uppala-vaṇṇā dressed… she stood at the foot of a sala tree in full flower. [14]
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation and terror in the bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
14. “Having gone to a sala tree with flowering top,
You stand at its foot all alone, bhikkhunī.
There is none whose beauty can rival your own: Foolish girl, have you no fear of rogues?” [15]
Then it occurred to the bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā: [132] “Now who is this…? This is Māra the Evil One… desiring to make me fall away from concentration.”
Then the bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā, having understood, “This is Māra the Evil One,” replied to him in verses:
15. “Though a hundred thousand rogues
Just like you might come here,
I stir not a hair, I feel no terror;
Even alone, Māra, I don’t fear you. [16]
16. I can make myself disappear
Or I can enter inside your belly.
I can stand between your eyebrows
Yet you won’t catch a glimpse of me.
17. I am the master of my own mind,
The bases of power are well developed;
I am freed from every kind of bondage,
Therefore I don’t fear you, friend.” [17]
Then Māra the Evil One, realising, “The bhikkhunī Uppala-vaṇṇā knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
Setting at Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhunī Cālā dressed… she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding. [18]
Then Māra the Evil One approached the bhikkhunī Cālā and said to her: “What don’t you approve of, bhikkhunī?”
“I don’t approve of birth, friend.”
18. “Why don’t you approve of birth?
Once born, one enjoys sensual pleasures.
Who now has persuaded you of this:
’Bhikkhunī, don’t approve of birth’?”
19. “For one who is born there is death;
Once born, one encounters sufferings—
Bondage, murder, affliction—
Hence one shouldn’t approve of birth.
20. The Buddha has taught the Dhamma,
The transcendence of birth;
For the abandoning of all suffering
He has settled me in the truth. [133]
21. As to those beings who fare amidst form,
And those who abide in the formless—
Not having understood cessation,
They come again to re-becoming.” [19]
Then Māra the Evil One, realising, “The bhikkhunī Cālā knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
Setting at Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhunī Upacālā dressed… she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding.
Then Māra the Evil One approached the bhikkhunī Upacālā and said to her: “Where do you wish to be reborn, bhikkhunī?”
“I do not wish to be reborn anywhere, friend.”
22. “There are Tāvatiṃsa and Yāma devas,
And devatas of the Tusita realm,
Devas who take delight in creating,
And devas who exercise control.
Direct your mind there
And you’ll experience delight.” [20]
23. “There are Tāvatiṃsa and Yāma devas,
And devatas of the Tusita realm,
Devas who take delight in creating,
And devas who exercise control.
They are still bound by sensual bondage,
They come again under Māra’s control.
24. All the world is on fire,
All the world is burning,
All the world is ablaze,
All the world is quaking.
25. That which does not quake or blaze,
That to which worldlings do not resort,
Where there is no place for Māra:
That is where my mind delights.”
Then Māra the Evil One, realising, “The bhikkhunī Upacālā knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
Setting at Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhunī Sīsupacālā dressed… she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding.
Then Māra the Evil One approached the bhikkhunī Sīsupacālā and said to her: “Whose creed do you approve of, bhikkhunī?”
“I don’t approve of anyone’s creed, friend.”
26. “Under whom have you shaved your head?
You do appear to be a recluse,
Yet you don’t approve of any creed,
So why wander as if bewildered?” [21]
27. “Outside here the followers of creeds
Place their confidence in views.
I don’t approve of their teachings;
They are not skilled in the Dhamma. [134]
28. But there is a scion of the Sakyan clan,
The Enlightened One, without an equal,
Conqueror of all, Māra’s subduer,
Who everywhere is undefeated.
29. Everywhere freed and unattached,
The One with Vision who sees all,
Who attained the end of all kamma,
Released in the extinction of acquisitions:
That Blessed One is my Teacher;
His is the teaching I approve.” [22]
Then Māra the Evil One, realising, “The bhikkhunī Sīsupacālā knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
Setting at Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhunī Selā dressed… she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding. [23]
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation and terror in the bhikkhunī Selā, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
30. “By whom has this puppet been created?
Where is the maker of the puppet?
Where has the puppet arisen?
Where does the puppet cease?” [24]
Then it occurred to the bhikkhunī Selā: “Now who is this…? This is Māra the Evil One… desiring to make me fall away from concentration.”
Then the bhikkhunī Selā, having understood, “This is Māra the Evil One,” replied to him in verses:
31. “This puppet is not made by itself,
Nor is this misery made by another.
It has come to be dependent on a cause,
When the cause dissolves then it will cease.
32. As when a seed is sown in a field
It grows depending on a pair of factors:
It requires both the soil’s nutrients
And a steady supply of moisture.
33. Just so the aggregates and elements,
And these six bases of sensory contact,
Have come to be dependent on a cause;
When the cause dissolves they will cease.” [25]
Then Māra the Evil One, realising, “The bhikkhunī Selā knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
Setting at Sāvatthī. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhunī Vajirā dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms. [26] When she had walked for alms in Sāvatthī [135] and had returned from her alms-round, after her meal she went to the Blind Men’s Grove for the day’s abiding. Having plunged into the Blind Men’s Grove, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day’s abiding.
Then Māra the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation and terror in the bhikkhunī Vajirā, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
34. “By whom has this being been created?
Where is the maker of the being?
Where has the being arisen?
Where does the being cease?”
Then it occurred to the bhikkhunī Vajirā: “Now who is this that recited the verse—a human being or a non-human being?” Then it occurred to her: “This is Māra the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from concentration.”
Then the bhikkhunī Vajirā, having understood, “This is Māra the Evil One,” replied to him in verses:
35. “Why now do you assume ’a being’?
Māra, have you grasped a view?
This is a heap of sheer constructions:
Here no being is found.
36. Just as, with an assemblage of parts,
The word ’chariot’ is used,
So, when the aggregates are present,
There’s the convention ’a being.’
37. It’s only suffering that comes to be,
Suffering that stands and falls away.
Nothing but suffering comes to be,
Nothing but suffering ceases.” [27]
Then Māra the Evil One, realising, “The bhikkhunī Vajirā knows me,” sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.