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Buddhism

Thig 6:8 · Vijayā

Thai temple painting: Prince Vessantara gives away the white elephant
Vessantara Jātaka, Chapter 2 (Himavanta Forest) · Thai, Rattanakosin, c. 1850–1870 · Walters Art Museum

Four times, five, I ran amok from my dwelling,

having gained no peace of awareness,

my thoughts out of control.

So, approaching a nun,

I cross-questioned her attentively.

She taught me the Dhamma:

aggregates, sense media, properties,

four noble truths,

five faculties,

seven factors for awakening,

the eightfold path

for attaining the highest goal.

Hearing her words,

I did her bidding.

In the first watch of the night,

I remembered past lives.

In the second watch of the night,

I purified the divine eye.

In the third watch of the night,

I burst the mass of darkness.

Then I stayed, suffusing1 my body

with rapture & pleasure.

On the seventh day, I stretched out my legs,

having burst the mass

of darkness.

Note

1. Reading pharitvā with the Thai edition.

See also: SN 36:31; Thig 3:2


Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licence, for free distribution only. Source: dhammatalks.org (Metta Forest Monastery).

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