Therigatha Morning Puja

Uneasy at heart, I thought -

this is the wrong way,

a fever of longing controls me.  

I went up to a nun

I thought I could trust.

She taught me the Dharma,

the elements of body and mind,

 the nature of perception,

and earth, water, fire and air.

 

I heard her words

and sat down beside her.

Now I live

in the joy of the teaching.

 

The Buddha taught

Seven Factors of Enlightenment.

They are ways to find peace

and I will develop them all.

 

I will watch the elements of mind and body

rise and fall away.

I will see them

as they really are.

 

I am cutting myself free

of all the obsessions of mind.

 

I have found what is vast and empty,

the unborn.

It is what I longed for.

I am a true daughter of the Buddha,

always finding joy

in peace.              

 

REFUGES AND PRECEPTS

 

Life is short.

Age and sickness gnaw away.

I have no time for carelessness

before this body breaks.

 

The whole world is burning.

The whole world is in flames.

The whole world is blazing.

The whole world shakes.

 

But the Buddha taught me

the unshakeable Way.

Ordinary people don’t practise it,

and there is nothing to which

you can compare it. 

 

I will practise the Great Eightfold Way

straight to the undying.

I will come to the great peace

I will look into the mirror of the Dharma.

The great darkness will be torn apart.

 

 

These verses are taken from the words of Uttama, Vaddhesi (Thig 5.1), Sisupacala, Kisa Gotami and Mittakali.  

The translations are by Susan Murcott, First Buddhist Women. 

 

Maitrisiddhi has rearranged the order of verses and reworded some lines to fit those on the path, rather than bhikkhunis who have already reached full Enlightenment.