Excerpts from the Therigatha

 
V.4 -- Nanda's Vision  

     "Sick, putrid, unclean: 
     look, Nanda, at this physical heap. 
     Through contemplation of the foul, 
     develop your mind, 
     make it one, well-centered. 

         As this [your body], so that. 
         As that, so this. 
     It gives off a foul stench, 
     the delight of fools." 

     Considering it thus, 
     untiring, both day & night, 
     I, with my own discernment 
         dissecting it, 
             saw. 

     And as I, heedful, 
         examined it aptly, 
     this body -- as it actually is -- 
     was seen inside & out. 

     Then was I disenchanted with the body 
         & dispassionate within: 
     Heedful, detached, 
         calmed was I. 

             Unbound. 
 

 V.8 -- Sona, Mother of Ten  
 

     Ten children I bore 
     from this physical heap. 

     Then weak from that, aged, 
     I went to a nun. 
     She taught me the Dhamma: 
         aggregates, sense spheres, & elements. 

     Hearing her Dhamma, 
     I cut off my hair & ordained. 

     Having purified the divine eye 
     while still a probationer, 
     I know my previous lives, 
     where I lived in the past. 

     I develop the theme-less meditation, 
     well-focused oneness. 

     I gain the liberation of immediacy -- 
     from lack of clinging, unbound. 

     The five aggregates, comprehended, 
     stand like a tree with its root cut through. 

         I spit on old age. 
     There is now no further becoming. 
 
V.10 -- Patacara  

[I thought:] 

     "Plowing the field with plows, 
     sowing the ground with seed, 
     supporting their wives & children, 
     young men gather up wealth. 

     So why is it that I, 
         consummate in virtue, 
         a doer of the teacher's bidding, 
     don't gain Unbinding? 
     I'm not lazy or proud." 

     Washing my feet, I noticed 
             the 
             water. 

     And in watching it flow from high 
             to 
             low, 
         my heart was composed 
         like a fine thoroughbred steed. 

     Then taking a lamp, I entered the hut, 
         checked the bedding, 
         sat down on the bed. 

And taking a pin, I pulled out the wick: 
         Like the flame's unbinding 
         was the liberation 
             of awareness. 

 V.12 -- Canda, the Beggar 
 
 

     Before, I had fallen on evil times:
         no husband, no children,
         no relatives, friends,
         no way to obtain clothing & food.

     So, taking a staff & bowl in hand,
     begging for alms from house to house,
     feverish from the cold & heat,
     I wandered for seven full years.

     Then seeing a nun
     obtaining food & drink,
     I approached her & said:
         "Let me go forth into homelessness." 

     She, Patacara, from sympathy,
     let me go forth;
     then, exhorting me,
     urged me on to the highest goal.

     Hearing her words,
     I did her bidding.

     Her exhortation was not in vain.
         Endowed with the three knowledges,
         I'm effluent-free. 
Revised: Sun 5 July 1998 / Sat  29 August 1998
http://world.std.com/~metta/canon/khuddaka/therigatha/thig5.html