13.5. Subha: The Goldsmith's Daughter (THIG13.5)

"I was a child, with clean clothes,
when I first heard the Dhamma.
And within me, heedful,
was a break-through to the truth.

Then I arrived
at an enormous dissatisfaction
with all sensuality.
Seeing the danger
in self-identity,
I longed only
for renunciation.

Leaving my circle of relatives,
slaves, workers,
prosperous villages & fields,
delightful, enticing possessions,

I went forth,
abandoning not-insignificant wealth.
Having gone out through conviction
in the well-taught true Dhamma,

it wouldn't be proper for me —
aspiring to nothingness —
having cast off gold & silver
to take them back.

Gold & silver
don't buy Awakening,
don't buy peace.
This [gold] isn't proper for contemplatives.
This isn't noble wealth.

This is
greediness, intoxication,
delusion, bondage to dust,
suspicion, many troubles.
There's no lasting stability here.

It's to this extent that many, many men
— heedless, their hearts defiled —
opposing one another, create
conflicts, murder, bondage,

calamity, loss, grief, & lamentation.
Many misfortunes are seen
for those head-over-heels in sensuality.

So, my relatives:
Why do you, like enemies,
try to bind me to sensuality?
You know I've gone forth,
seeing the danger in sensuality.

Gold coin & bullion
can't put an end to fermentations.
Sensuality is an enemy,
a murderer,
hostile, arrows & bonds.

So, my relatives:
Why do you, like enemies,
try to bind me to sensuality?
You know I've gone forth
with shaven head, wrapped in a patchwork cloak.

Leftover alms-scraps, gleanings,
a robe made from cast-off cloth:
That's what's proper for me —
the requisites of one with no home.

The great seers have rejected sensuality,
both human & divine.
Released are they, in the place of security.
Arrived are they, in unshakeable ease.

So may I not come into union
with sensuality, in which no shelter is found.
It's an enemy, a murderer
— sensuality —
painful, like a mass of flame.

Greed:
an obstacle, fearful, threatened,
full of thorns,
very out-of-tune,
a great cause of delusion.

Sensuality:
a frightening attack,
like a snake's head
in which fools delight —
blinded, run-of-the-mill.

Because many people in the world
are stuck in the mud of sensuality,
unknowing,
they don't realize the end of birth & death.

Many people follow the path
to bad destinations
because of sensuality,
bringing disease on themselves.

Thus sensuality creates enemies.
It burns, is defiled.
It's the bait of the world,
constraining, the bondage of death,

maddening, deceptive, agitating the mind.
It's a net cast by Mara
for the defilement of living beings:

with endless drawbacks, much pain,
great poison,
giving little enjoyment, creating conflict,
drying up the good side [of the mind].

I, having caused much trouble like this
because of sensuality,
will not return to it,
as I always delight in Unbinding.

Doing battle with sensuality
in hopes of the cool state,
I will stay heedful, finding delight
in the ending of fetters.

I follow the path —
eightfold, straight,
griefless, stainless, secure —
over which great seers
have crossed."

See this Subha, the goldsmith's daughter,
standing firm in the Dhamma,
entering the imperturbable state,
doing jhana at the foot of a tree.

This is the eighth day of her going forth
confident, beautiful through the true Dhamma.
Trained by Uppalavanna,
she's a three-knowledge woman
who's left death behind;

freed from slavery, debtless,
a nun with developed faculties,
set loose from all ties,
her task done,
fermentation- free.

Sakka, lord of beings,
with his community of devas,
approaching her through supranormal power,
pays homage to her:
Subha the goldsmith's daughter.

Translated from the Pali by: Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

©2005 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.

Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, www.accesstoinsight.org

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