Verses of the Elder Bhikkhunīs

The Chapter of the Twelves

Verses of the Elder Uppalavaṇṇā

“We were mother and daughter,

but we also shared the same husband.

This terrifying and horrible situation

gave me a sense of urgency.

Damn impure sensual pleasures,

foul-smelling and painful,

where mother and daughter

share the same husband.

After seeing the drawbacks of sensual pleasures,

I saw the safety of renunciation.

I went forth in Rājagaha,

from the home life into homelessness.

I know my past lives,

I have purified my divine eye.

I am able to read the minds of others,

and I have purified the ear element.

I have attained psychic powers,

and reached the destruction of the influences.

I have realized the six special knowledges,

and completed the teaching of the Buddha.

I created with psychic powers

a four-horse chariot,

and went to pay homage at the feet of the Buddha,

the master of the world.”

“You are alone,

at the roots of a flowering Sal tree.

Without anyone with you,

you fool, are you not afraid of rogues?”

“Even if one hundred thousand rogues

were to band together like this,

not one hair would bristle from fear, nor would I waver.

So what could you do to me on your own, Māra?

I can disappear,

go inside your belly,

or stand in between your eyebrows,

where you cannot see me.

I have become the master of my own mind,

with the four bases of power well-cultivated;

I have realized the six special knowledges,

and completed the teaching of the Buddha.

Sensual pleasures are like the handle of an axe,

and one’s khandhas the executioner’s block.

The appealing sensual pleasures that you talk about

are no longer appealing to me.

In this way all fixation is annihilated,

the mass of darkness destroyed.

Thus be aware, Wicked One,

Death—you are destroyed!”

… The Elder Uppalavaṇṇā

The Chapter of the Twelves is finished.