Then we will go on to discuss a selection of the poems themselves, which deal with many specific teachings of the Buddha. Rhys Davids has included some of these background stories in Psalms of the Early Buddhists, and in the first part of this essay we will look at these stories and consider the themes they suggest that are relevant to contemporary students of Buddhist meditation. The background to the verses, including biographical information on the nuns who uttered them, is provided by the ancient commentary on the Therigatha by the venerable Acariya Dhammapala. The verses of the nuns, if systematically examined, can help serious Buddhist meditators to understand many central aspects of the Dhamma. However, at a deeper level the sex of the speakers is irrelevant, for the ultimate truths which they enunciate explain the universal principles of reality which are equally valid for men and for women. And when the theme of the poem is the mother-child bond, this is bound to be the case. In some respects, the inspiration from these poems may be stronger for women than for men, since these are in fact women's voices that are speaking. With their aid we will be able to work more effectively towards eliminating our mental defilements and towards finding lasting peace and happiness. These verses can assist us in developing morality, concentration and wisdom, the three sections of the path. Rhys Davids at the end of Psalms of the Sisters.įrom the poems of the enlightened nuns of the Buddha's time contemporary followers of the Noble Eightfold Path can receive a great deal of instruction, help and encouragement. Our discussion will also draw upon the verses of bhikkhunis from the Samyutta Nikaya (Kindred Sayings), included by Mrs. Rhys Davids' translations have sometimes been slightly modified.
We have used quotations from both translations here, referring to Psalms of the Early Buddhists by page number and to The Elders' Verses by verse number. Norman in prose under the title The Elders' Verses, II. Rhys Davids in verse under the title Psalms of the Early Buddhists: The Sisters and second in 1971 by K. The Therigatha has been published twice in English translation by the Pali Text Society, London: first in 1909 (reprinted in 1980) by C. Most of the poems we will consider come from the Therigatha, a small section of the vast Pali canon.
In this booklet we will be exploring poems composed by the arahant bhikkhunis or enlightened Buddhist nuns of old, looking at these poems as springs of inspiration for contemporary Buddhists.
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