Vipassana Fellowship ©
      Home
Vipassana Fellowship - Calm and Insight meditation inspired by the early Buddhist tradition.
Mindfulness meditation from the Theravada tradition for the spiritual development of people of all faiths & none. Online courses & support since 1997

Therigatha III

 


III.2 -- Uttama

Four times, five, I ran amok from my dwelling,
    having gained no peace of awareness,
    my thoughts out of control.
So I went to a trustworthy nun.
She taught me the Dhamma:
    aggregates, sense spheres, & elements.
Hearing the Dhamma,
    I did as she said.
For seven days I sat in one spot,
absorbed in rapture & bliss.
On the eighth, I stretched out my legs,
    having burst the mass
    of darkness.

III.3 -- Dantika & the Elephant

Coming out from my day's abiding
on Vulture Peak Mountain,
I saw on the bank of a river
    an elephant
emerged from its plunge.

A man holding a hook requested:
        "Give me your foot."
The elephant
    extended its foot.
The man
    got up on the elephant.

Seeing what was untrained now tamed
brought under human control,
with that I centered my mind --
    why I'd gone to the woods
        in the first place.


III.5 -- Ubbiri

"'Jiva, my daughter,'
you cry in the woods.
Come to your senses, Ubbiri.
        84,000
    all named Jiva
have been burned in that charnel ground.
For which of them do you grieve?"

Pulling out
    -- completely out --
the arrow so hard to see,
embedded in my heart,
he expelled from me
    -- overcome with grief --
the grief
over my daughter.

Today -- with arrow removed,
    without hunger, entirely
        Unbound --
to the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha I go,
    for refuge to
    the Sage.

Source: ATI - For Free Distribution Only, as a Gift of Dhamma.

Dhamma Essay:
Dukkha for Knowledge and Vision by Ayya Khema


Meditation | Resources | Pali Canon | Training | Parisa
Links | Books | Newsletter | Feedback | Donate
to know - to shape - to liberate

Site Copyright © 2024, Vipassana Fellowship and Course Publishing Ltd     [Terms of Service & Privacy Policy]