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

I then lived in Haṃsavatī,
born in an undistinguished clan.
Having approached the Best of Men,
I went to him as my refuge.

And I listened to his Dhamma,
containing the Four Noble Truths,
supremely sweet like honey, which
brings happiness and mental peace.

One time the Hero, the Buddha,
was placing in that foremost place
a Buddhist nun who wore rough robes;
he praised her, the Ultimate Man.

Producing not a little joy,
hearing that Buddhist nun’s virtue,
doing service for the Buddha,
according to powers and strengths,

bowing down to that Hero-Sage,
I aspired to attain that place.
The Sambuddha approved of that
attainment of that foremost 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 named Kisāgotamī
will be the Teacher’s follower.”

At that time being overjoyed,
as long as life, heart full of love,
I attended on the Victor,
the Guide, providing requisites.

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 fifth royal daughter,
well-known by the name of Dhammā.
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 Khemā, Uppalavaṇṇā,
Paṭācārā and Kuṇḍalā,
the nun Dhammadinnā and I
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,
poor, without wealth, unprosperous,
but married into a rich clan.

Except my husband, the others
are pointing at me saying, “Poor!”
But after I became with child,
then I was loved by all of them.

When that lucky young boy of mine,
tender-bodied, comfortable,
as dear to me as my own breath,
then fell into Yama’s power,

grief-struck, voicing my misery,
teary-eyed, my mouth crying out,
carrying that young boy’s dead corpse,
I’m going around lamenting.

Then examined by one doctor,
approaching the Best Physician,
I said, “give me a medicine
to bring my son back to life, Sir.”

The Victor, Skilled in Crafty Speech,
said, “bring me a white mustard seed,
collected in whichever home
where people dying is not known.”

Then having gone to Śrāvasti,
not encountering such a house,
where could I get white mustard seed?
Thereupon I gained mindfulness.

Throwing away my baby’s corpse,
I went up to the World’s Leader.
Having seen me from a distance
the Sweet-Voiced One then said to me.

“Better than a hundred years’ life,
not seeing how things rise and fall,
is living for a single day,
seeing things rising and falling.

Not the condition of the village, or the town,
and also not the condition of one clan.
This is the condition of the entire world
with its gods: the impermanence of all that is.”

Upon hearing those two verses,
I purified my “Dhamma eye,”
then learned in the great Teaching,
I went forth into homelessness.

Then being one who had gone forth,
engaged in the dispensation,
after not a very long time,
I attained 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.

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.

In meaning and in the Teaching,
etymology and preaching,
my knowledge is vast and flawless,
through the Great Sage’s majesty.

I am wearing robes which are rough,
my saṅghāṭi being made of
a shroud picked up and brought from a
cemetery along the road.

The Victor, pleased by my virtue,
the Guide, among the multitudes,
then placed me in the foremost place
of those who wear robes which are rough.

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 Kisāgotamī spoke these verses.

The legend of Kisāgotamī Therī is finished.