39. Ambapālī (THI-AP39)

The Great Sage was Phussa Buddha,
like a garland of speckled rays.
I was that Buddha’s own sister,
born in Buddha’s kṣatriyan clan.

Having listened to his Teaching,
with a mind that was very clear,
giving him a large alms-giving
I aspired to achieve beauty.

Thirty-one aeons in the past,
Sikhi, Chief Leader of the World,
arose, the Bright Lamp of the World,
the Three Worlds’ Refuge, the Victor.

I’m then born in a brahmin clan,
in lovely Āruṇa City.
Angered about something, I cursed
a nun with liberated mind.

Misbehaved like a prostitute,
I dirtied the dispensation.
Having thus cursed the nun like that,
because of that evil karma,
I went to a horrific hell,
full of terrible suffering.
Fallen from there, again reborn
human, I was an ascetic.

For ten thousand different lifetimes,
I was fixed in prostitution;
thus I was not freed from evil,
as though I’d eaten strong poison.

In Kassapa’s dispensation,
I practiced celibate nunhood.
Due to that karma, I was born
in the city of the thirty.

When my last rebirth was attained,
come to be spontaneously,
I was born amidst mango boughs;
therefore I was “Mango-Guarded.”

Along with ten million beings,
gone forth in the dispensation,
I attained the unshaking state,
Buddha’s legitimate daughter.

I’ve mastered the superpowers
like the “divine ear” element.
I’m also a master, Great Sage,
of the knowledge in others’ hearts.

I remember my former lives;
my “divine eye” is purified.
All the defilements are destroyed;
I will not be reborn again.

In meaning and in the Teaching,
etymology and preaching,
this knowledge of mine was produced
in your presence, O Great Hero.

My defilements are now burnt up;
all new existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint.

Being in Best Buddha's presence
was a very good thing for me.
The three knowledges are attained;
I have done what the Buddha taught!

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught!

Thus indeed the bhikkhunī Ambapālī spoke these verses.

The legend of the bhikkhunī Ambapālī is finished

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

Legends of the Buddhist Saints (Apadāna) is released under the Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike license.

This is the first-ever complete translation of Apadāna into a Western language.

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