Last week when we discussed the poems written by Buddhist monks and nuns, there were two that were of particular interest to me: in the Theragatha, Chapter 6, Verse 9 “Jenta, the Royal Chaplain’s Son” and in the Therigatha, Chapter 5, Verse 2 “Vimala: The Former Courtesan.” They are similar to each other in that the two poems are about people who are in someway conceited before understanding or realizing that being an individual is not important when focusing on the way of the Buddha. The Theragatha verse is about an arrogant man who mainly focuses on his psychological sense of self before realizing there is more in life than just focusing on himself. The Therigatha verse is about a woman who focuses on her physical beauty before understanding Buddhism and becoming a nun. These poems show how monastic followers of Buddhismstarted as regular people but were awakened by the teachings of Buddha.
“Jenta, the Royal Chaplain’s Son” was an arrogant man who “wandered about, regarding no one as [his] equal or better… [he] bowed down to no one, not even mother, father, or those commonly held in respect.” He was “drunk” on his self-importance, only focused on himself, considering no one else to be superior until “seeing the ultimate leader” (Theragatha 6.9). But as soon as he meets the ultimate leader, he completely abandons his arrogance and conceitedness: “the conceit “I am” is extracted, all forms of pride, destroyed” (Theragatha 6.9). He gives up his egotism completely, letting go of himself and his individualism to be apart of the monastic life. When he realizes that being prideful is not how he should be living life, he understands that giving up his vanity is the right thing to do and chooses to be a follower of Buddhism.
“Vimala: The Former Courtesan” was a beautiful woman who became a prostitute until realizing should become a nun. She was “intoxicated with [her] complexion figure, body, & fame” (Therigatha 5.2). Her physical appearance was what separated her from other women. She used her body like a “hunter with a snare laid out” (Therigatha 5.2). Her conceitedness comes from her physical body. Living as a prostitute until realizing that giving up her mind allows her to be free. She no longer cares for her physical attributes and is able to “attain the state of no-thought” and become “unbound” (Therigatha 5.2). In this case, after deciding to not care about the way she looked, she was able to disconnect herself from earthly ties and focus on meditation.
These two poems demonstrate two separate but similar ways that regular people came to understand the importance of not being egotistical. They learned that there was more than just focusing on themselves, that Buddhism would allow them to be free from their arrogant minds. These poems also reveal that its possible for any person, no matter how conceited, to accept Buddhism.
When discussing initiation into monastic life, there seems to be an emphasis on the process of divorcing oneself from owning and being consumed by tangible possessions. While that is a large component, the Buddhist monastic community is more complex than that. This post brings to light the significance of attitudes, particularly self-centric ones. The two poems provided demonstrate instances in which people identified their attachment to themselves based on their consumptions with their status and appearance, which does not coincide with Buddha’s teachings. They transformed themselves into more humble beings by essentially detaching themselves from themselves. It seems to me that giving up inanimate objects is not too difficult in terms of how instantaneous and provable it is. However, changing a particular mindset seems to be a much more drawn out process that cannot be proven in terms of knowing the feelings someone actually harbors internally.
I like how you present two parallel poems here from the Theragatha and Therigatha. While reading these poems it was clear that there were similar stories from each compilation but because there were so many to read I couldn’t keep straight which ones directly correlated. Thanks to your post we can see that men and women often found their way to becoming monks and nuns in similar ways, which could perhaps be another argument for why men and women should be seen as equals in Buddhism.
These two poems did not stand out to me before we discussed them in class briefly, so bringing them together for comparison not only showed me how important interpreting them individually is, but how the stories of these two people can be compared. It makes me wonder how many people came to adopt a Buddhist lifestyle after realizing their own truths. People from all different backgrounds come together to learn and live under the umbrella of Buddhism. This shows that Buddhism is accepting and can be accepted by anyone who is willing to follow the path.