Guttā (THIG6.7)

Verses of the Senior Nuns 6.7

The Book of the Sixes

Guttā

Guttā, you have given up your child,

your wealth, and all that you love.

Foster the goal for which you went forth;

do not fall under the mind’s control.

Beings deceived by the mind,

playing in Māra’s domain,

ignorant, they journey on,

transmigrating through countless rebirths.

Sensual desire and ill will,

and substantialist view;

misapprehension of precepts and observances,

and doubt as the fifth.

O nun, when you have given up

these lower fetters,

you won’t come back

to this world again.

And when you’re rid of desire,¹

conceit, ignorance, and restlessness,

having cut the fetters,

you’ll make an end to suffering.

Having wiped out transmigration,

and fully understood rebirth,

hungerless in this very life,

you will live at peace.