Verses of the Senior Nuns 13.4

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1. Verses of the Senior Nuns 13.4
2. The Book of the Twenties
3. Sundarī
4. “Before, good lady, when feeding
5. your departed children,
6. you’d be racked with despair
7. all day and all night.
8. Today, brahmin lady, you have fed
9. all seven children.
10. Vāseṭṭhī, what is the reason why
11. you’re not so filled with despair?”
12. “Many hundreds of children,
13. hundreds of family circles,
14. both mine and yours, brahmin,
15. have been fed in the past.
16. Having known the escape
17. from rebirth and death
18. I neither grieve nor lament,
19. nor do I despair.”
20. “Wow, Vaseṭṭhī, the words you speak
21. really are amazing!
22. Whose teaching did you understand
23. that you say these things?”
24. “Brahmin, the Awakened One
25. back at the city of Mithilā,
26. teaches the Dhamma so that living creatures
27. may abandon all suffering.
28. After hearing the perfected one’s teaching,
29. brahmin, which is free of all attachments,
30. having understood the true teaching there,
31. I’ve swept away grief for children.”
32. “I too shall go
33. to the city of Mithilā.
34. Hopefully the Buddha may release me
35. from all suffering.”
36. The brahmin saw the Buddha,
37. liberated, free of attachments.
38. He taught him the Dhamma,
39. the sage gone beyond suffering:
40. suffering, suffering’s origin,
41. suffering’s transcendence,
42. and the noble eightfold path
43. that leads to the stilling of suffering.
44. Having understood the true teaching there,
45. he chose to go forth.
46. Three days later
47. Sujāta realized the three knowledges.
48. “Please, charioteer, go;
49. take back this carriage.
50. Bidding my brahmin lady good health, say:
51. ‘The brahmin has now gone forth.
52. After three days,
53. Sujāta realized the three knowledges.’”
54. Then taking the carriage,
55. along with a thousand coins, the charioteer
56. bade the brahmin lady good health, and said:
57. “The brahmin has now gone forth.
58. After three days,
59. Sujāta realized the three knowledges.”
60. Hearing that the brahmin had the three knowledges,
    the lady replied:
61. “I present to you this horse and carriage,
62. O charioteer, along with 1000 coins,
63. and a full bowl as a gift.”
64. “Keep the horse and carriage, lady,
65. along with the thousand coins.
66. I too shall go forth in his presence,
67. the one of such splendid wisdom.”
68. “Elephants, cattle, jeweled earrings,
69. such opulent domestic wealth:
70. having given it up, your father went forth,
71. enjoy these riches Sundarī,
72. you are the family heir.”
73. “Elephants, cattle, jeweled earrings,
74. such delightful domestic wealth:
75. having given it up, my father went forth,
76. racked by grief for his son.
77. I too shall go forth,
78. racked by grief for my brother.”
79. “Sundarī, may the wish you desire
80. come true.
81. Leftovers as gleanings,
82. and cast-off rags as robes—
83. make do with these,
84. free of defilements regarding the next life.”
85. “Ma’am, while I am still a trainee nun,
86. my clairvoyance is clarified;
87. I know my past lives,
88. the places I used to live.
89. Relying on a fine lady like you,
90. a senior nun who beautifies the Sangha,
91. I’ve attained the three knowledges,
92. and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.
93. Give me permission ma’am,
94. I wish to go to Sāvatthī,
95. where I shall roar my lion’s roar
96. before the best of Buddhas.”
97. “Sundarī, see the Teacher!
98. Snow gold in tint,
    with sun-golden skin;
99. tamer of the untamed,
100. the Awakened One who fears nothing
     from any quarter.”
101. “See Sundarī coming,
102. liberated, free of attachments.
103. desireless, detached,
104. her task completed, without defilements.”
105. “Having set forth from Varanasi
106. and come to your presence, great hero,
107. your disciple Sundarī
108. bows at your feet.
109. You are the Buddha, you are the Teacher,
110. I am your rightful daughter, brahmin,
111. born of your mouth.
112. I’ve completed the task
     and am free of defilements.”
113. “Then welcome, good lady,
114. you’re by no means unwelcome.
115. For this is how the tamed come
116. bowing at the Teacher’s feet;
117. desireless, detached,
118. the task completed, without defilements.”