The Victor, Padumuttara,
the One with Eyes for everything,
the Leader of the World, arose
a hundred thousand aeons hence.I was born in Haṁsavatī,
in a clan of millionaires then,
glistening with various gems,
endowed with supreme happiness.Having approached that Great Hero,
I heard him preaching his Dhamma.
Afterward, becoming pleased, I
approached the Victor for refuge.Having begged mother and father,
after inviting him, the Guide,
I fed the Buddha for a week,
together with his followers.At the end of those seven days,
the Charioteer of Men placed
a great nun in the foremost place
among those who have great wisdom.Hearing that, being overjoyed,
doing further good works for him,
the Great Sage, after bowing down,
I aspired to attain that place.Then the Victor said this to me:
“Let your aspiration succeed!
Deeds done for me with Assembly
will bear measureless fruit for you.In one hundred thousand aeons,
arising in Okkāka’s clan,
the one whose name is Gotama
will be the Teacher in the world.Worthy heir to that one’s Dhamma,
Dhamma’s legitimate offspring,
you’ll be she whose name is Khemā,
and will attain that foremost place.”Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and firm resolve,
discarding my human body,
I went to Tāvatiṁsa then.Fallen thence, I went to Yāma,
and then I went to Tusita,
and then to Nimmānarati,
and then Vāsavatti City.In whichever place I’m reborn,
in accordance with that karma,
everyplace I was made chief queen
of the gods who were the kings there.Fallen thence, in the human state,
everyplace I was made chief queen
of kings who turn the wheel of law,
and powerful regional kings.Having experienced success,
among gods as well as humans,
becoming happy everywhere,
I transmigrated for aeons.Then ninety-one aeons ago,
the World-Leader named Vipassi
arose, the One with Lovely Eyes,
with Insight into Everything.I went up to that World-Leader,
the Charioteer Among Men.
Hearing his exalted Teaching,
I went forth into homelessness.After living the holy life
during fully ten thousand years,
in that Wise One’s dispensation,
bent on effort, very learned,skillful in the heaps of causes,
expert in the Four Noble Truths,
clever, varied speaker, I was
one who’s done what the Teacher taught.Fallen thence I was reborn in
Tusita, with fame and splendor.
I surpassed the other gods there,
as the fruit of the holy life.In whichever place I’m reborn,
I’m very rich and prosperous,
intelligent and beautiful,
and my retinue is well-trained.Due to my karma, through effort
in the Victor’s dispensation,
I enjoy every attainment,
obtained with ease, pleasing the mind.Through the fruit of my good conduct,
nobody treats me with contempt,
even he who was my husband
in whichever place I’m reborn.In this present lucky aeon
Brahmā’s Kinsman, Greatly Famed One,
whose name was Koṇāgamana,
Best Debater, Buddha, arose.We were born in a very rich
clan at that time, in Benares:
Dhanañjānī, Sumedhā too,
along with me, the women three.We lay-donors gave a thousand
to the Sage, and a hermitage
for the Assembly, donating
that place to Him with Assembly.Fallen thence, all we three women
were reborn in Tāvatiṁsa
where we attained the foremost fame,
and just the same among people.In this present lucky aeon,
Brahma’s Kinsman, Greatly Famed One,
the Buddha known as Kassapa
was born, the Best of Debaters.The attendant of the Great Sage
was the ruler of men back then,
the king of Kāsi, named Kiki,
in Benares, greatest city.I was that king’s eldest daughter,
well-known by the name “Samaṇī.”
Hearing the Best Victor’s Teaching,
I chose to seek ordination.Our father did not permit it;
we stayed at home during that time,
comfortable royal maidens
doing our practice with vigor
in virginal celibacy,
for twenty times a thousand years,
fond of waiting on the Buddha,
the king’s seven joyful daughters.Samaṇī, and Samaṇaguttā,
Bhikkhunī, Bhikkhadāyikā,
Dhammā, and also Sudhammā,
and seventh Saṅghadāyikā,now I, and Uppalavaṇṇā,
Paṭācārā and Kuṇḍalā,
Kisāgotamī, Dhammadinnā,
and Visākhā is the seventh.Once when the Sun Among People
was preaching the marvelous Truth,
having heard it, I memorized
Mahānidānasuttanta.Due to those karmas done very well,
with intention and firm resolve,
discarding my human body,
I went to Tāvatiṁsa then.And now, in my final rebirth,
in Sāgalā, best of cities,
I am the Madda king’s daughter,
well-liked, held dear and beloved.All was peaceful in that city
when I was coming into birth.
After that, due to that virtue,
they gave the name “Khemā” to me.When I attained the prime of youth,
I was adorned with beauty and grace.
At that time my father gave me
to the great king, Bimbisāra.I was his best-beloved queen,
taking great pride in my beauty.
Thinking, “He speaks ill of beauty,”
I dodged the Compassionate One.At that time, King Bimbisāra,
with knowledge and great love for me,
after praising the Bamboo Grove,
brought singers to praise it for me:“We think that one who has not seen
the Bamboo Grove, so delightful,
nor the lair of the Well-Gone-One,
has not seen the garden named ‘Joy.’But one who’s seen the Bamboo Grove,
the ‘Joy’ that’s enjoyed by people,
that one’s seen the garden named ‘Joy,’
much enjoyed by the king of gods.Giving up the garden named ‘Joy,’
descending to the earth’s surface,
gods are satisfied, astonished,
seeing the lovely Bamboo Grove.What speaker can fully exclaim
its accumulated virtue,
produced by the merit of kings,
beautified by Buddha’s merit?”Hearing of its magnificence
which was delightful to my ears,
desiring to see that garden,
I then announced this to the king.Then the king, the lord of the earth,
along with a large retinue,
led me by procession to that
garden I was longing to see.“Go and look at the great riches
of that grove, pleasing to the eyes;
it always glows with radiance,
colored by the Buddha’s aura.”And when the Sage, out begging alms,
had entered Rajgir, best city,
at that very time I went out,
desiring to look at that grove.Then I entered that grove in bloom,
alive with varied bees buzzing,
full of Indian cuckoo songs,
and dances by a peacock-troupe,free of excess noise, uncluttered,
embellished with varied walkways,
with scattered huts and pavilions,
resplendent with diverse yogis.Wandering about there, I thought,
“my eyes are now proving their worth.”
Having seen in that very place
a youthful monk, I thought of him:“Staying in a delightful grove
like this, in early youth as though
it is the springtime, well-endowed
with a body which is pleasing,bald-headed, wrapped in saffron robes,
seated at the foot of a tree
he meditates, a Buddhist monk,
discarding sensual delight.Shouldn’t this auspicious Teaching
be practiced by old folks, after
they have lived the domestic life,
enjoying pleasure as they like?”Discerning that it was empty,
I approached the perfumed house, the
Victor’s home, but spied the Victor,
like the sun when it is rising,sitting happily by himself,
being fanned by a fine woman.
Seeing that scene, I thought like this:
“isn’t this Bull of Men wretched?The woman though, shining like gold,
eyes and face like pink lotuses,
with red lips, looking like jasmine,
pleasing to the mind and the eyes,with ears that are like golden swings,
firm breasts that look like water-jugs,
thin-waisted, a shapely behind,
fine thighs with charming ornaments,dressed in clothing of fine blue silk,
furnished with a border of red,
with unsatisfiable looks,
she has a smiling demeanor.”After seeing her, I thought this:
“Wow! This is a super-beauty!
Not ever in the past was seen
by my own eye such a beauty!”Then she was ravished by old age,
discolored, her face disfigured.
Her teeth fell out, her hair turned white,
her mouth was fouled with saliva,ears shriveled up, eyes formed cataracts,
breasts sagged and became repulsive;
wrinkles spread on all of her parts,
and veins popped out on that body,crooked-limbed, leaning on a cane,
jutting-ribbed, emaciated,
trembling, fallen onto the ground,
gasping for every breath she took.And then I was profoundly moved.
Marveled, my hair standing on end,
I said, “Woe on filthy beauty!
It is where only fools delight!”Then the Great Compassionate One,
discerning that my mind was moved,
happy, with a heart that was thrilled,
he spoke to me in these verses:“Khemā, see this complex heap as
diseased, disgusting and putrid.
It is oozing and it’s dripping,
the delight of foolish people.With one-pointed focus, steadfast,
fix your mind on impurity.
Remain mindful of the body;
be intent on disenchantment.Just as is this, so too is that;
just as is that, so too is this:
on the inside and the outside,
be detached from body-delight.Cultivate emancipation
and abandon latent conceit.
Then, through understanding conceit,
you’ll wander in tranquility.Those following the stream, excited with lust,
.
are making webs for themselves, like a spider;
others, cutting that away, are going forth,
indifferent, giving up the pleasures of lust.”Then the Charioteer of Men,
knowing my mental readiness,
in order to instruct me preached
Mahānidānasuttanta.Hearing that best suttanta, I
recalled my former memory.
Just standing there I was at peace;
I purified my “Dhamma eye”.Immediately falling down
before the feet of the Great Sage,
I spoke these words at that moment,
to confess offenses to him.“Praise to you, O Seer of All!
Praise to you, Home of Compassion!
Praise to you, Existence-Crosser!
Praise to you, Path to Deathlessness!Plunged into the thicket of views,
I was doped by passionate lust.
I now delight in discipline,
disciplined by your righteous trick.Without enjoyment because they
do not see Great Sages like you,
beings in the sea of being,
are undergoing much dis-ease.Though close I did not go to see
the World’s-Help, Non-Hostility,
the One who Made an End to Death;
I am confessing that offense.Beauty-obsessed, I did not go
to the Goodness-Giver, Great Friend,
suspecting he’d be unfriendly;
I am confessing that offense.”And then the One with Honeyed Speech,
the Great Compassionate Victor
sprinkling me with ambrosia said,
“Khemā, you should stay here with us.”Then after bowing down my head,
having circumambulated,
having gone, having seen the king,
I spoke these words to him just then.“O conqueror of enemies,
the righteous trick that you thought up!
Wishing to see the grove, I saw
the Sage, the One Free of Craving.If it’s pleasing to you, O king,
I’ll go forth in the Neutral One’s
dispensation, tired of beauty,
because of what the Sage told me.”Then pressing his hands together
the king, the lord of the earth, said,
“I permit you, O lucky one.
Let your going forth have success!”And then after my going forth,
when I had served for seven months,
watching lamp flames rising, falling,
my mind being profoundly moved,fed up with all conditioned things,
skillful in the heaps of causes,
passing over the four-fold flood,
I attained my arahantship.I’d mastered the superpower
called the “divine ear” element.
I also was a master of
the knowledge stored 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 the Buddha’s dispensation,
I have purified my knowledge
of meaning and of the Teaching,
etymology and preaching.Skilled in the purifications,
confident in Kathāvatthu,
and in the dispensation I’ve
mastered Abhidhammic method.Then, being asked subtle questions
in Toraṇavatthu, by the
queen, wife of the Kosala king,
I explained according to truth.At that time the king, approaching
the Well-Gone-One asked him as well.
Then the Buddha explained just as
those questions were explained by me.The Victor, thrilled at that virtue,
then placed me in the foremost place;
the Ultimate Man then dubbed me
“chief of the nuns with great wisdom.”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 Bhikkhunī Khemā spoke these verses.
The legend of Khemā Therī is finished.