The Book of the Elevens

Kisāgotamī

thig10.1:1 “Pointing out how the world works, the sages have praised good friendship. Associating with good friends, even a fool becomes astute.

thig10.1:2 Associate with true persons, for that is how wisdom grows. Should you associate with true persons, you would be freed from all suffering.

thig10.1:3 And you would understand suffering, its origin and cessation, the eightfold path, and so the four noble truths.”

thig10.1:4 “‘A woman’s life is painful,’ explained the Buddha, <j>guide for those fit to train, ‘and for a co-wife it’s especially so. After giving birth just once,

thig10.1:5 some women even cut their own throat, while delicate ladies take poison. Being guilty of killing a person, they both undergo ruin.’”

thig10.1:6 “I was on the road, near to giving birth, when I saw my husband dead. I gave birth there on the road before I’d reached my own house.

thig10.1:7 My two children have died, and on the road my husband lies dead—<j>oh woe is me! Mother, father, and brother all burning up on the same pyre.”

thig10.1:8 “Oh woe is you whose family is lost, the suffering you have undergone has no measure; you have been shedding tears for many thousands of lives.”

thig10.1:9 “While staying in the charnel ground, I saw my son’s flesh being eaten. With my family destroyed, condemned by all, and my husband dead, I realized freedom from death.

thig10.1:10 I’ve developed the noble eightfold path leading to freedom from death. I’ve realized extinguishment, as seen in the mirror of the Dhamma.

thig10.1:11 I’ve plucked out the dart, laid down the burden, <j>and done what needed to be done.” The senior nun Kisāgotamī, her mind released, said this.