The Victor, Padumuttara,
was a Master of Everything.
That Leader arose in the world
one hundred thousand aeons hence.

I was born in Haṃsavatī,
in a clan of millionaires then,
glistening with various gems,
endowed with supreme happiness.

Having approached that Great Hero,
I heard him preaching the Dhamma.
Then, pleasure born in my heart, I
approached the Victor for refuge.

Then the Victor praised as foremost
of those who follow discipline,
a Buddhist nun, modest, neutral,
careful about what’s allowed and not.

Then, with a heart full of pleasure,
wishing I were fixed in that place,
inviting the Ten-Powered One,
the World’s Leader, with Assembly,

after feeding them for a week,
giving them the monastic robes,
bowing my head down at his feet,
I spoke these words to that Buddha:

“If it meets with success, Leader,
I will become just like the one
who was praised by you, O Hero,
on the eighth day before today.”

Then the Teacher said this to me:
“Lucky one, fear not; breathe with ease.
In the not-yet-become future,
you will attain that wished-for place.

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,
the one known as Paṭācārā
will be the Teacher’s follower.”

At that time being overjoyed,
as long as life, heart full of love,
I attended on the Victor,
World’s Leader with his Assembly.

Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and firm resolve,
discarding my human body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa then.

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 his third royal daughter,
who was named Samaṇaguttā.
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,
Khemā and the nun named Bhaddā,
Kisāgotamī, Dhammadinnā,
and Visākhā is the seventh.

Due to those karmas done very well,
with intention and firm resolve,
discarding my human body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa then.

And now, in my final rebirth,
I’m born in a millionaire’s clan,
rich, prosperous, very wealthy,
in Śrāvasti, best of cities.

When I’d become a young woman,
overpowered by my own thoughts,
after seeing a man from the
country, I went away with him.

I had produced a single son;
the second one was in my womb.
At that time, I had determined,
“I’ll go see mother and father.”

My husband was not pleased at that.
Then, when he was on a journey,
I snuck out of the house alone,
to go to supreme Śrāvasti.

Then my husband came after me;
he caught up with me on the road.
Then my karma-born labor pains
began, and they were very cruel.

At the time for me to give birth,
a massive rain-cloud arose there,
and then my husband having gone
to find grass, was killed by a snake.

Then miserable and helpless,
in the throes of painful childbirth,
going toward a relative’s house,
seeing an overflowing stream,

carrying my newborn I crossed
to the stream’s other bank, alone.
After nursing my newborn son,
to help my other son to cross,

I turned; an osprey carried off
my wailing babe. Then the current
swept him away, my other son.
That I was overcome with grief.

Going to Śrāvasti city,
I heard that my kinsmen were dead.
Full of grief I said at that time,
extremely overcome with grief,

“Both of my sons have passed away,
my husband is dead on the road;
mother and father and brothers
are burning on a single pyre.”

Then I grew pale and thin, helpless;
I was in a low state of mind.
After that, while roaming I saw
him, the Charioteer of Men.

Then the Teacher said this to me:
“Do not grieve, child; breathe easily.
You should search after your own self;
why uselessly torment yourself?

There are no sons to give shelter,
not fathers nor even kinsmen.
There is no shelter with kinsmen
when one’s seized by the end-maker.”

After hearing the Sage’s speech,
I realized the first path fruit.
Having gone forth, in no long time,
I achieved my arahantship.

I’ve mastered the superpowers
like the “divine ear” element.
I know the hearts of others too,
I have done what the Teacher taught.

I remember my former lives;
my “divine eye” is purified.
Throwing off all the defilements,
I am purified, I’m stainless.

Then I learned the whole discipline,
in the All-Seeing-One’s presence,
and I recited it for him,
correctly in every detail.

The Victor, pleased by my virtue,
then placed me in that foremost place:
“Paṭācārā’s alone, foremost
of those who follow discipline.”

The Teacher’s been worshipped by me;
I have done what the Buddha taught.
The heavy load has been laid down,
the ties to existence severed.

The reason for which I went forth,
from my home into homelessness —
I have now achieved that purpose:
destruction of all the fetters.

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 Paṭācārā spoke these verses.

The legend of Paṭācārā Therī is finished.

The Summary:

Ekūposathikā, and too
Salaḷā and Timodakā,
Ekāsanappadā, Dīpā,
Nalamālī and Gotamī,
Khemā, Uppalavaṇṇā and
Paṭācārā the Buddhist nun.
There are four hundred verses here,
also ninety-six verses more.

The Ekūposathikā Chapter, the Second