The Life Stories of the Nuns – 2120
4. Ven. Paṭācārā
Aspiration in the Past
The future Paṭācārā was reborn into a rich man’s family in the city of
Haṁsavatī during the time of Buddha Padumuttara. On one occasion, while she
was listening to a discourse by the Buddha, she saw a nun being named as the
foremost among those who were most learned in the Vinaya Rules. She aspired
to that honour. And after making an extraordinary offering to the Buddha, she
expressed her desire for the honour of being declared as the foremost female
monastic in Vinaya learning. Buddha Padumuttara predicted that her wish
would be fulfilled.
One of the Seven Daughters of King Kikī
After filling her whole life with meritorious deeds, the future Ven. Paṭācārā
passed away and was reborn in the Deva realm and subsequently the human
world or the Deva realm in turn. During the time of Buddha Kassapa, she was
reborn as the third of the seven illustrious daughters of King Kikī of Bārāṇasī.
Her name was Bhikkhunī. She and the six sisters remained spinsters, living a life
of chastity for their whole lifespan of 20,000 years. Together with her sisters,
they donated a big monastic complex.
Ascetic Life in Her Final Existence
The king’s daughter, the future Ven. Paṭācārā, after passing away from that
existence, was reborn in the Deva realm. For the innumerable years of the
intervening period between the two Buddhas she enjoyed celestial pleasures.
During the time of Buddha Gotama, she was reborn as the daughter of a rich
man of Sāvatthī.
When she came of age, she fell in love with a servant of her father’s household.
When
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her parents arranged for her betrothal to the son of another rich
man, she warned her lover on the day before the betrothal, that unless he was
prepared to elope with her, their love affair would be ended. The man was true
to her. He eloped with her, taking whatever little savings he had set aside. The
two lovers ran away stealthily and took shelter in a small village three or four
leagues away from Sāvatthī.