Theragatha
Chapter V — The Fives
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.
V.2[idx][pāḷi] — Vimala, the Former Courtesan
Intoxicated with my complexion
figure, beauty, and fame;
haughty with youth,
I despised other women.
Adorning this body
embellished to delude foolish men,
I stood at the door to the brothel:
a hunter with snare laid out.
I showed off my ornaments,
and revealed many a private part.
I worked my manifold magic,
laughing out loud at the crowd.
Today, wrapped in a double cloak,
my head shaven,
having wandered for alms,
I sit at the foot of a tree
and attain the state of no-thought.
All ties — human and divine — have been cut.
Having cast off all effluents,
cooled am I, unbound.
§
V.4[idx][pāḷi] — Nanda's Vision
"Sick, putrid, unclean:
look, Nanda, at this physical heap.
Through contemplation of the foul,
develop your mind,
make it one, well-centered.
As this [your body], so that.
As that, so this.
It gives off a foul stench,
the delight of fools."
Considering it thus,
untiring, both day and night,
I, with my own discernment
dissecting it,
saw.
And as I, heedful,
examined it aptly,
this body — as it has come to be —
was seen inside and out.
Then was I disenchanted with the body
and dispassionate within:
Heedful, detached,
calmed was I.
Unbound.
§
V.6[idx][pāḷi] — Mittakali
Going forth through conviction
from home into homelessness,
I wandered this place and that,
greedy for gain and offerings.
Missing out on the foremost goal,
I pursued a lowly one.
Under the sway of defilements
I surrendered the goal
of the contemplative life.
Then, sitting in my dwelling,
I suddenly came to my senses:
I'm following a miserable path.
I'm under the sway of
craving.
Next to nothing, my life —
crushed
by aging and illness.
Before the body breaks apart,
I have no time
for heedlessness.
After watching, as it actually was,
the rising and falling of aggregates,
I stood up with mind released,
the Awakened One's bidding
done.
§
V.8[idx][pāḷi] — Sona, Mother of Ten
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.
§
V.10[idx][pāḷi] — Patacara
[I thought:]
"Plowing the field with plows,
sowing the ground with seed,
supporting their wives and children,
young men gather up wealth.
So why is it that I,
consummate in virtue,
a doer of the teacher's bidding,
don't gain Unbinding?
I'm not lazy or proud."
Washing my feet, I noticed
the
water.
And in watching it flow from high
to
low,
my heart was composed
like a fine thoroughbred steed.
Then taking a lamp, I entered the hut,
checked the bedding,
sat down on the bed.
And taking a pin, I pulled out the wick:
Like the flame's unbinding
was the liberation
of awareness.
§
V.11[idx][pāḷi] — Patacara's Thirty Students
[Patacara taught:]
"Taking the pestle,
young men grind the corn.
Supporting their wives and children,
they gather up wealth.
Do the Awakened One's bidding,
which, having done,
you'll have no regret.
Intent on tranquillity of awareness,
do the Awakened One's bidding.
Quickly:
Having washed your feet,
go sit to one side."
Hearing these words,
Patacara's bidding,
they washed their feet
and retired to one side.
Intent on tranquillity of awareness,
they did the Awakened One's bidding.
In the first watch of the night,
they recollected their previous lives.
In the middle watch,
purified the divine eye.
In the last,
burst the mass of darkness.
Getting up, they bowed down to her feet.
"We have done your bidding.
Like the thirty devas honoring Indra,
unvanquished in battle,
we — three-knowledge women,
effluent-free —
will continue honoring you."
§
V.12[idx][pāḷi] — Canda, the Beggar
Before, I had fallen on evil times:
no husband, no children,
no relatives, friends,
no way to obtain clothing and food.
So, taking a staff and bowl in hand,
begging for alms from house to house,
feverish from the cold and heat,
I wandered for seven full years.
Then seeing a nun
obtaining food and drink,
I approached her and said:
"Let me go forth into homelessness."
She, Patacara, from sympathy,
let me go forth;
then, exhorting me,
urged me on to the highest goal.
Hearing her words,
I did her bidding.
Her exhortation was not in vain.
I'm a three-knowledge woman,
effluent-free.
