THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
1402
‚Why, DhammadinnÈ, anyone, male or female, who practices the Dhamma
according to the Doctrine, with due diligence can become heirs to the Buddha, in
the matter of the Dhamma. If one has sufficing condition, i.e. a built-up of past
merit for attaining the Path-Knowledge, the Supramundane is realisable.‛ answered
VisÈkhÈ.
‚If so, my lord, give me permission to become a
bhikkhunÊ
.‛
‚Very well, my dear, I am glad you aspire for the Supramundane. I have not
suggested it to you only because I did not know your aptitude.‛
VisÈkhÈ then immediately went to see King BimbisÈra who asked him: ‚O Rich Man,
what is your purpose in seeing me at this untimely hour?‛
‚Great King,‛ VisÈkhÈ said, ‚DhammadinnÈ wishes to become a
bhikkhunÊ
.‛
‚What shall I provide DhammadinnÈ with?‛
‚Great King, I want just-two things: the golden palanquin and the tidying up of tile
city.‛
The King complied with these two requests.
Great Ceremony on DhammadinnÈ becoming A BhikkhunÊ
VisÈkhÈ had DhammadinnÈ bathed in scented water, fitted out gorgeously, and got her
seated in the palanquin. Then, surrounded by all her relatives (and the husband's relatives)
she was carried to the
bhikkhunÊs’
‘monastery’ through the city whose environment was
rich with the fragrance of incense and flowers. At the
bhikkhunÊs’
‘monastery’, VisÈkhÈ
requested the
bhikkhunÊ
-elders to admit his wife DhammadinnÈ into the Order of
BhikkhunÊs. ‚O rich man,‛ they said, ‚forbear if she has been at fault for once or twice.‛
(They thought that VisÈkhÈ was forsaking his wife.)
‚Venerable‛, VisÈkhÈ replied, ‚My wife has no fault whatever, she is taking up the
monastic life of her own accord.‛
Thereupon, a
bhikkhunÊ
who was adept at the Vinaya gave DhammadinnÈ instructions to
reflect on the loathsomeness of the body, beginning with reflecting on the group of its five
constituent parts, namely, hair, body hair, nails, teeth, and skin. Then she shaved
DhammadinnÈ's hair, donned her with the robes. VisÈkha then made obeisance to
BhikkhunÊ DhammadinnÈ and said: ‚Venerable, be happy in the monastic life in the
Teaching. The Buddha has taught us the Doctrine which is superb in the beginning, in the
middle, and in the end.‛ Then he went home.
From the day DhammadinnÈ became a
bhikkhunÊ
, she received much respect and many
gifts from the people. In seeing so many visitors, she had little time left to meditate alone.
(Thus this much is the account of DhammadinnÈ, taken from the Commentary on Majjhima
NikÈya
,
M|la paÓÓÈsa, C|Ävedalla Sutta).
DhammadinnÈ TherÊ considered thus: ‚VisÈkhÈ has made an end of
dukkha
even while
remaining in household life. I, as a
bhikkhunÊ
, must make an end of
dukkha
.‛ She went to
her preceptor
bhikkhunÊ
and said: ‚Venerable, I am tired of living in this place which is full
of five kinds of sense pleasures. I would like to go and live in a nunnery at a small
village.‛ The preceptors knew well that DhammadinnÈ's wish could not be ignored as she
came of a high class family, and so they took her to a nunnery at a small village.
Due to her meditative exercises, in her many past existences, in seeing through the nature
of conditioned phenomena, DhammadinnÈ did not take long to gain Insight and attained
arahatship together with the Four Discriminate Knowledges. Then knowing her own
attainment, she considered which place would suit her to help others attain Enlightenment.
There was nothing much she could do in the small village whereas in RÈjagaha she could
help her own kith and kin. So she decided to return to RÈjagaha and, requesting her
preceptors to accompany her, she returned to RÈjagaha.
VisÈkhÈ’s Questions on The Doctrine
When VisÈkhÈ learnt that DhammadinnÈ TherÊ had returned to RÈjagaha, he was eager to