The nun Khema, Foremost in Wisdom (sutra)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly translation based on Ven. Thanissaro (aka Geoffrey DeGraff, Abbot of Wat Metta), Khema Sutta (SN 44.1)

Venerable Khema, the Buddha's chief female disciple (-William/flickr.com)

 

First Buddhist Women (Susan Murcott)

On one occasion the Blessed One was residing near the city of Savatthi at Jeta's Grove in the millionaire's monastery. At that time the nun Khema [the Buddha's chief female disciple, "foremost in wisdom"], wandering on tour among the Kosalan peopple, had taken up her residence between Savatthi and Saketa at Toranavatthu. 

Then King Pasenadi Kosala, while traveling from Saketa to Savatthi, took up a one-night residence between Savatthi and Saketa at Toranavatthu. He addressed a certain man, "Come, now, my good man. Find out if in Toranavatthu there is any Brahmin [priest] or wandering ascetic (shraman) I might visit today."

 

"As you wish, sire," the man replied. Having roamed all over Toranavatthu, he did not see any. However, he did see the nun Khema. And seeing her he went to King Pasenadi Kosala and reported: "Sire, in Toranavatthu there is no Brahmin or wandering ascetic of the sort your majesty might visit. But there is a [Buddhist] nun named Khema, a disciple of the Blessed One, worthy and rightly self-awakened.

Khema "foremost in wisdom"

"And of this lady this commendable report has spread: 'She is wise, competent, intelligent, learned, a fluent speaker, admirable in her ingenuity.' Let your majesty visit her."

 

King Pasenadi Kosala went to the nun Khema. When he arrived, he bowed and sat respectfully to one side. Sitting there he said: "Now then, lady, does the Tathagata [the "Wayfarer," the Buddha] exist after death?"

 

"This, great king, has not been declared by the Blessed One: 'The Tathagata exists after death.'"

 

"Well then, lady, does the Tathagata not exist after death?"

 

"Great king, this too has not been declared by the Blessed One: 'The Tathagata does not exist after death.'"

 

"Then does the Tathagata both exist and not exist after death?"

"This also has not been declared by the Blessed One: 'The Tathagata both exists and does not exist after death.'"

 

"Well then, does the Tathagata neither exist nor not exist after death?"

 

"This, too, has not been declared by the Blessed One: 'The Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist after death.'"

 

"Now, lady, when asked if the Tathagata exists after death, you [answer no to each of the four exhaustive options]. Now, what is the cause, what is the reason, why that has not been declared by the Blessed One?"

 

Khema, Buddha, and Uppalavanna? (BreenJones)

"Very well, then, great king, I will question you in return about this very same matter. Answer as you see fit. What do you think, great king: Do you have an accountant or actuary or mathematician who can count the grains of sand in the river Ganges as 'so many grains of sand,' or 'so many hundreds of grains of sand,' or 'so many thousands of grains of sand,' or 'so many hundreds of thousands of grains of sand'?"

 

"No, lady."

 

"Then do you have an accountant or calculator or mathematician who can count the water in the great ocean as 'so many buckets of water,' or 'so many hundreds of buckets of water,' or 'so many thousands of buckets of water,' or 'so many hundreds of thousands of buckets of water'?"

 

"No, lady. But why is that? The great ocean is deep, boundless, hard to fathom!"

 

"Even so, great king, any physical form by which one describing the Tathagata would describe him -- that the Tathagata has abandoned, its root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future rearising. Freed from the classification of form, great king, the Tathagata is deep, boundless, hard to fathom, like the ocean. 

Modern Theravada "ten precept nun" dressed in white in Burma (As1974/flickr.com)

 

"'The Tathagata exists after death' does not apply. 'The Tathagata does not exist after death does not apply. 'The Tathagata both exists and does not exist after death' does not apply. 'The Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist after death' does not apply.

 

"Any feeling... Any perception... Any mental formation...

"Any consciousness [form, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are the Five Aggregates of Clinging unenlightened beings cling to and regard as self] by which one describing the Tathagata would describe him -- that the Tathagata has abandoned, its root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future rearising. 

"Freed from the classification of consciousness, great king, the Tathagata is deep, boundless, hard to fathom, like the ocean. 'The Tathagata exists after death' does not apply. 'The Tathagata does not exist after death' does not apply. 'The Tathagata both exists and does not exist after death' does not apply. 'The Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist after death' does not apply."

• The Commentary and Sub-commentary try to go further than this discourse and to describe the Liberated One's indescribability. To paraphrase: He is freed from the classification of form [and the other aggregates] because for him there will be no rearising [rebirth] of form and so on in the future, after passing into final nirvana. In addition, he is deep in terms of the depth of his character and the depth of his qualities. As for any description in terms of "a being" which might be used in relation to someone with such deep qualities, when one sees the inapplicability of the description "being," owing to the (future) non-rearising of the Five Aggregates of Clinging, one sees that none of the four statements with regard to the Tathagata are invalid after passing into final nirvana. [Wayfarer is an early English translation of the term Tathagata, which means "welcome one" and "well gone one," sometimes translated in Mahayana Buddhism as "Thus Come One." He is gone-and-going, after having arisen and arrived. He is a welcome teacher of freedom destined for complete freedom.] This explanation, which borrows from Sister Vajira's verse in SN 5.10, misses an important point raised in SN 22.36 and SN 23.2. In SN 22.36 the Buddha states that one is measured and classified by what one is obsessed with or clinging to. If one is not obsessed with anything and no longer clinging even unconsciously, then one is not measured or classified by it in the here and now. In SN 23.2 the Buddha points out that the term "being" or "becoming" (bhava) applies only where there is craving and passion [rooted in ignorance/unenlightenment and therefore leading to the future rearising of a rebirth-linking consciousness, which entails rebirth in samsara yet again for the umpteenth time]. The Tathagata, freed from craving and passion, is indescribable in the present, even though he obviously still functions in the present. SN 22.86 elaborates on this point in great detail. Another problem raised by the Commentary's explanation for this brief discourse is how it would define the Tathagata's qualities and character, for what are they composed of aside from the aggregates.

Then King Pasenadi Kosala, delighting in and approving of the nun Khema's words, got up from his seat, bowed, and -- respectfully keeping her to his right -- departed.

 

Asking the Buddha

A great Indian king (maha raja) meets the Buddha.

At another time he went to the Blessed One. When he arrived, he bowed, and sat respectfully to one side. Sitting there [he asked the Buddha the same four questions asked of the nun Khema, and he received precisely the same responses and analogies. Then he exclaimed:]

 

"Amazing, venerable sir! It is astounding how the meaning and phrasing of the teacher and disciple agree, coincide, and do not diverge from one another with regard to the supreme teaching! 

 

Recently, venerable sir, I visited the nun Khema. And when I arrived I asked her regarding this matter, and she answered me with the same words, the very same phrasing as the Blessed One. Amazing, venerable sir! It is astounding how the meaning and phrasing of the teacher and disciple agree, coincide, and do not diverge from one another with regard to the supreme teaching!

 

"Now, venerable sir, we must go. Our duties are many, and many are our responsibilities."

 

"Then do as you see fit, great king."

 

So King Pasenadi Kosala, delighting in and approving of the Blessed One's words, got up from his seat, bowed, -- respectfully keeping the Blessed One to his right -- departed.