[40. Selā[1]]
In this [present] lucky aeon,
Brahma’s Kinsman, Greatly Famed One,
[the Buddha] known as Kassapa
was born, the Best of Debaters. (1) [1323]
I’m born in a lay Buddhist clan,
in Śrāvasti, superb city.
Having seen that superb Victor,
and having heard [him] preach [Dhamma,] (2a-d)[2] [1324]
gone to that Hero for refuge,
I undertook morality.
Whenever that Great Hero, in
the midst of the great populace, (2e-f, 3a-b) [1325]
the Bull of Men was explaining
his own supreme Awakening,
things which formerly were unheard,
starting with “[life is] suffering,” (3c-f) [1326]
hearing that, [and] taking [it] up,
insight, thinking, wisdom, science,
and intuition rose in me,
and I asked the monks [about them]. (4) [1327]
In Kassapa’s dispensation,[3]
I practiced celibate [nunhood].[4]
Due to that karma, I was born
in the city of the thirty.[5] (5) [1328]
And now, in [my] final rebirth,
born in a large millionaire’s clan
having approached and having heard
the Buddha’s great truth-filled Teaching, (6) [1329]
having gone forth, in no long time,
I understood truth’s foundations;
casting away all defilements,
I achieved [my] arahantship. (7) [1330]
I’ve mastered the superpowers
[like] the “divine ear” element.
I’m also a master, Great Sage,[6]
of the knowledge in others’ hearts. (8) [1331]
I remember [my] former lives;
[my] “divine eye” is purified.
All the defilements are destroyed;
[I] will not be reborn again. (9) [1332]
In meaning and in the Teaching,
etymology and preaching,
[this] knowledge of mine was produced
in your presence, O Great Hero. (10) [1333]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (11) [1334]
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! (12) [1335]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (13) [1336]
Thus indeed the bhikkhunī Selā spoke these verses.
The legend of Selā Therī[7] is finished
The Summary:
The kṣatriyans and the brahmins,
likewise Uppaladāyikā,
Sigālamātā and Sukkā,
Abhirūpā, Aḍḍhakāsikā,
the prostitute, so too Puṇṇā,
and Ambapālī, Buddhist nun,
and Selā [then makes] the tenth one.[8]
There are two hundred verses here,
plus another forty-two more.[9]
The Kṣatriyan Chapter, the Fourth.[10]
And then there is the Summary of Chapters:
Sumedhā, Ekuposathā,
Kuṇḍalakesī Khattiyā
one thousand three hundred verses
mixed in with forty-seven [more].
Along with Uddāna verses
which are counted by those who know,
there are one thousand three hundred
verses plus fifty seven [more].[11]
The Therī-apadāna is Finished[12]
The Apadāna is Finished
“Stone,” known only here but treated as an historical nun by Malalasekera, DPPN II: 1290. BJTS reads Pesalā, here and elsewhere in this apadāna (= “Agreeable”) ↩︎
PTS presents this and the following verse as six-footed verses, presenting in a total of three verses the same material in the same order that BJTS presents in four verses. ↩︎
kassape jinasāsane, lit., “in the dispensation of the Victor, Kassapa [Buddha]” ↩︎
reading °brahmacchariyam with BJTS for PTS °brahmaccheram, lit., “the Brahma-life” “the holy life” “celibacy” ↩︎
i.e., the thirty-three gods. ↩︎
reading mahāmune with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS mahāmuni, Great Sage. ↩︎
this is the BJTS reading for PTS bhikkhunī Selā ↩︎
this line only in BJTS, which reads Pesalā here as elsewhere ↩︎
these final two feet enumerating the verses in the chapter, like most of the expected chapter summary, appears in BJTS but not in PTS. ↩︎
this appears only in BJTS, and appears before rather than after the chapter summary. ↩︎
this colophonic verse appears in BJTS only; PTS omits it ↩︎
this appears only in BJTS; PTS omits it ↩︎