Thig 5.9 - Verses of the Elder Bhaddā Kuṇḍalakesā
Translated by Bhikkhuni Soma
Source: https://suttacentral.net/thig5.9/en/soma
License: CC0-1.0

Verses of the Elder Bhikkhunīs
Chapter of the Fives
Verses of the Elder Bhaddā Kuṇḍalakesā
“In the past I would wander with only one robe,
my head shaved and my body covered in mud.
I would see the blameworthy as blameless,
and the blameless as blameworthy.
Having ventured out from my day’s abiding
at Vulture’s Peak Mountain,
I saw the stainless Buddha,
leading the monastic Saṅgha.
I knelt in respect before him,
my hands in añjali.
‘Come, Bhaddā!,’ he said.
That was my higher ordination.
I traveled to Aṅga, Magadha,
Vajji, Kāsi, and Kosala.
Free of debt, for fifty years
I ate the country’s almsfood.
Surely he accumulated so much merit,
that wise lay devotee,
who gave a robe to Bhaddā,
released from all fetters.”
The Elder Bhaddā Kuṇḍalakesā
