| Twenty-six hundred years ago, Subbha the Buddhist | | | | dearer to me than your eyes, O nymph with the |
| nun was walking through a mango grove when a | | | | languid regard." |
| lustful young man blocked her path. | | | | Subbha the Nun: "You want to stray from the road, |
| Subbha the Nun: "What wrong have I done you that | | | | you want the moon as a plaything, you want to jump |
| you stand in my way? It's not proper my friend that a | | | | over Mount Sineru, you who have designs on one born |
| man should touch a woman gone forth (Buddhist nun | | | | of the Buddha (Ordained as a nun under the Buddha). |
| who has dedicated her life to finding enlightenment). I | | | | For there is nothing anywhere at all in the cosmos with |
| respect the (Buddha's) message, the training pointed | | | | its gods, that would be an object of passion for me. I |
| out by the one well gone, I am pure, without blemish; | | | | don't even know what that passion would be, for its |
| why do you stand in my way? You - your mind | | | | been killed, root and all, by the path. Like embers from |
| agitated, impassioned; and I, with a mind entirely freed. | | | | a pit - scattered, like a bowl of poison - evaporated, I |
| Why do you stand in my way?" | | | | don't even see what that passion would be, for it's |
| Young man: "You are young and not bad looking, what | | | | been killed by the path (Understanding how her mind |
| need do you have for going forth? (becoming a nun). | | | | works). Try to seduce one who hasn't reflected on |
| Throw off your (yellow) robes, come, let's delight in the | | | | this, or who has not followed the Buddha's teachings. |
| flowering grove. A sweetness they exude | | | | But try it with this one who knows and you suffer. For |
| everywhere, the towering trees with their pollen. The | | | | in the midst of praise and blame, pleasure and pain, my |
| beginning of spring is a pleasant season. Come, let's | | | | mind stands firm. Knowing the unattractiveness of |
| delight in the flowering grove. The trees with their | | | | things compounded, my mind cleaves to nothing at all. I |
| blossoming tips moan, as it were, in the breeze: what | | | | am a follower of the one well gone, riding the vehicle |
| delight will you have if you plunge into the grove alone? | | | | of the Eightfold Way: My arrow removed, effluent |
| Frequented by herds of wild beasts, disturbed by | | | | free, I delight, having gone to an empty dwelling (has |
| elephants rutting and aroused: you want to go | | | | seen through the illusion of self). For I have seen |
| unaccompanied into the great, lonely, frightening grove? | | | | well-painted puppets, hitched up with sticks and strings, |
| Like a doll made of gold, you will go about, like a | | | | made to dance in various ways. When the sticks and |
| goddess in the gardens of heaven, with delicate | | | | strings are removed, thrown away, scattered, |
| smooth kasi (hand woven) fabrics, you will shine, O | | | | shredded, smashed into pieces not to be found, in |
| beauty without compare. I would gladly do your every | | | | what will the mind there make its home? This body of |
| bidding if we were to dwell in the glade. For there is no | | | | mind which is just like that, when devoid of dhammas |
| creature dearer to me than you, O nymph with the | | | | (truths) doesn't function. When, devoid of dhammas, it |
| languid regard. If you do as I ask, happy, come live in | | | | doesn't function, in what will the mind there make its |
| my house. Dwelling in the calm of a palace, have | | | | home? Like a mural that you have seen, painted on a |
| women wait on you, wear delicate kasi fabrics, adorn | | | | wall, smeared with yellow paint, there your vision has |
| yourself with garlands and creams. I will make you | | | | been distorted, meaningless your human perception. |
| many and varied ornaments of gold, jewels and pearls. | | | | Like an evaporated mirage, like a tree of gold in a |
| Climb onto a costly bed, scented with sandalwood | | | | dream, like a magic show in the midst of a crowd - |
| carvings, with a well washed coverlet, beautiful, spread | | | | you run blind after what is unreal. (My eye) resembles |
| with a woolen quilt, brand new. (If you do not come | | | | a ball of sealing wax, set in a hollow, with a bubble in |
| with me), like a blue lotus rising from the water, where | | | | the middle and bathed with tears, eye secretions are |
| there dwell non human beings, you will go to old age | | | | born there too: the parts of the eye are all rolled |
| with your limbs unseen (covered with a nun's robe) if | | | | together in various ways." |
| you remain in the holy life." | | | | (Then, the nun Subbha plucked out one of her lovely |
| Subbha the Nun: "What do you assume of any | | | | eyes from its socket, and with mind unattached, she |
| essence, here in this cemetery grower (my body), filled | | | | felt no regret.) |
| with corpses (dead plants and animals that I have | | | | Subbha the Nun: "Here, take this eye. It is yours. |
| eaten), this body destined to break up? What do you | | | | (And straightaway she gave her eye to the young |
| see when you look at me, you who are out of your | | | | man. And straightaway the young man's passion |
| mind?" | | | | faded right there. And he begged her forgiveness.) |
| Young man: Your eyes are like those of a fawn, like | | | | Young man: "Be well, follower of the holy life. This sort |
| those of a sprite in the mountains. Seeing your eyes, | | | | of thing will never happen again. Harming a person like |
| my sensual delight grows all the more. Like tips they | | | | you is like embracing a blazing fire, it's as if I have |
| are, of blue lotuses, in your golden face - spotless: | | | | seized a poisonous snake. So may you be well. |
| Seeing your eyes, my sensual delight grows all the | | | | Forgive me." |
| more. Even if you should go far away, I will think only | | | | (And released from there, the nun Subbha went to the |
| of your pure, long lashed gaze, for there is nothing | | | | Buddha's presence, and when she saw him. |