The Dhammapada Sahassa Vagga (The Thousands). Realising Impermanence is Best Yo ca vassasataṃ jīve, apassaṃ udayabbayaṃ Ekāhaṃ jīvitaṃ seyyo, passato udayabbayaṃ.(Dhp113) Though one should live a hundred years not understanding how all things arise and pass away, better is a single day’s life if one sees how all things arise and pass away. (Dhp 113) The Elder Nun Paṭācārā Paṭācārā was the daughter of a millionaire of Sāvatthī. When she was sixteen she fell in love and ran away with a servant. They lived a simple life in a remote village. When she was pregnant she wished to return to give birth in her family home. Her husband refused, fearing that he would be severely punished. Eventually, she left secretly on her own. He found out, and caught up with her. She gave birth on the way, and so turned back. When she became pregnant a second time, all happened as before, but it started to rain. Her husband went to cut wood to build a shelter, but was bitten by a poisonous snake and died. Paṭācārā waited in vain for her husband to return. She gave birth to her second child, and had to endure the storm the whole night, protecting her children with her own body. In the morning, she found her dead husband. She could do nothing but continue her journey, lamenting her loss. The river Aciravatī, which she had to cross, was in flood. Too weak to carry both children across at once, she left her little boy to wait on the bank, and carried her baby across, leaving it on the far bank. When she was halfway back, a hawk flew down to take her baby. She screamed at it, but it was too far away to be scared off. Her elder son, seeing his mother waving her arms, and hearing her shout, thought she was calling him. He jumped into the river, but was swept away by the current. Completely distraught now, she had to continue alone to Sāvatthī. When she arrived near her home, a certain man told her that her family home had been destroyed in the storm, and her parents and only brother had all perished, and were now being cremated. On hearing this, she went completely out of her mind. She lost her clothes, and as she wander naked around Sāvatthī, people pelted her with clods of earth and rubbish. She arrived at Jetavana monastery, where the Buddha was teaching the Dhamma. When the Buddha addressed her as “sister,” she regained her sanity,and became ashamed of her nakedness. A man threw her his cloak, which she put on. The Buddha listened to the story of her grief, and taught her about the suffering of saṃsāra, and how relatives are no protection for one still subject to birth and death. As she listened to the Dhamma, Paṭācārā realised nibbāna, gained Stream-winning, and asked to become a nun. From her patient and pleasant demeanour (Paṭitā cārattā) she became known as Paṭācārā. Some time later, while she was washing her feet, she noticed how the water flowed away in three stages — some drops of water flowed and subsided close to her, some farther away from her, some still farther away. This induced her to meditate on impermanence. The Buddha saw her with his Divine Eye and, projecting himself before her, uttered the above verse: “Though one should live a hundred years not understanding how all things arise and pass away…” At the conclusion of the verse Paṭācārā attained Arahantship.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 08:20:28 +0000
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