SHE, too, having made her resolve under former Buddhas, and heaping up good of age-enduring efficacy in this and that rebirth, so that in her the root of good (karma) was well planted, and the requisites for emancipation were well stored up, was, in this Buddha-era, reborn at Sāvatthī, in a certain clansman's family, and called Uttarā. Come to years of discretion, she heard Paṭācārā preach the Norm, became thereby a believer, entered the Order, and became an Arahant. And, reflecting on her attainment, she exulted thus:
Now this Sister, one day, when under Paṭācārā she had established herself in an exercise, went into her own dwelling, and seating herself cross-legged, thought: 'I will not break up this sitting until I have emancipated my heart from all dependence on the Āsavas.' Thus resolving, she incited her intellectual grasp, and gradually clarifying insight as she progressed along the Paths, she attained Arahantship, together with the power of intuition and thorough grasp of the Norm. Thus contemplating nineteen subjects 289 in succession, with the consciousness that 'Now have I done what herein I had to do,' she uttered in her happiness the verses given above, and stretched her limbs. And when the dawn arose, and night brightened into day, she sought the Therī's presence, and repeated her verses.
287 See Ps. xlvii., xlviii.
288 Lit., consider the sankhāras as other, not as self.
289 Why 'nineteen' I am unable to explain. They may be bodhipakkhiyā dhammā–e.g., the satipaṭṭhānas, the bojjhangas, and the Path=nineteen factors.
She, too, having made her resolve under former Buddhas, and heaping up good of age-enduring efficacy in subsequent rebirths, was, in this Buddha-era, reborn in Magadha, at the village of Nālaka, 290 the child of Surūpasārī, the Brahminee. And on her name-giving day they called her Cālā. 291 Her younger sister was Upacālā, and the youngest Sīsūpacālā, and all three were junior to their brother Sāriputta, Captain of the Norm. Now, when the three heard that their brother had left the world for the Order, they said: 'This can be no ordinary system, nor ordinary renunciation, if one like our brother have followed it!' And full of desire and longing, they too renounced the world, putting aside their weeping kinsfolk and attendants. Thereupon, with striving and endeavour, they attained Arahantship, and abode in the bliss of Nibbana.
Now, Cālā Bhikkhunī, after her round and her meal, entered one day the Dark Grove to take siesta. Then Māra came to stir up sensual desires in her. Is it not told in the Sutta?
Again, Cālā Bhikkhunī, after her round in Sāvatthi and her meal, entered one day the Pleasant Grove for siesta. And, going on down into the Dark Grove, she sat down under a tree. Then Māra came, and, wishing to upset the consistency of her religious life, asked her the questions in her Psalm. When she had expounded to him the virtues of the Master, and the guiding power of the Norm, she showed him how, by her own attained proficiency, he was exceeding his tether. Thereat Māra, dejected and melancholy, vanished. But she discoursed in exultation on what both of them had said, as follows:
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Lo here! a Sister who the fivefold sense 292 Māra.
Why now and whereto art thou seen thus garbed Cālā.
'Tis they that are without, caught in the net 293 |
290 Called also Nāla-village. Sāriputta seems to have continued, at times, to reside there (Saŋy. N., iv. 251), and it was there that he died (ibid., v. 161).
291 These three Sisters are all included in the Bhikkhunī-Saŋyutta as having been tempted by Māra; but there Cālā's reply is put into Sīsupacālā's mouth, Upacālā's is given to Cālā, and Sīsupacālā's is given to Upacālā. See Appendix.
292 The five indriyas, replacing, in the higher life, the importance, in worldly things, of the five senses–viz., faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and insight.
293 'Sectaries' are termed pāsaṇḍā. The Commentary connects the word with pāso, snare, net, but by a false etymology. The origin of the term is obscure. 'Without' (ito bahiddhā)–i.e., not of us.
294 Cf. Ps. xxiv.
295 Cf. Pss. xxxv., xxxvi.
Her story has been told in the foregoing number. Like Cālā, she, too, as Arahant, exulted, after Māra had tempted her in vain, as follows:
296 Cf. Appendix, where this is spoken to Cālā.
297 =Ps. xxxv.
298 Lit., 'cutting (loss) of hand or foot,' referring generally, says the Commentary, to the thirty-two constituents of the body (read kāyākārā for kammakarā).
