Therīgāthā 52

Verses of the Senior Nuns 6.3

The Book of the Sixes

Khemā

1 “You’re so young and beautiful!

I too am young, just a youth.

Come, Khemā, let us enjoy

the music of a five-piece band.”

2 “This body is rotting,

ailing and frail,

I’m horrified and repelled by it,

and I’ve eradicated sensual craving.

3 Sensual pleasures are like swords and spears;

the aggregates are their chopping block.

What you call erotic delight

is now no delight for me.

4 Relishing is banished in every respect,

and the mass of darkness is shattered.

So know this, Wicked One:

you’re beaten, terminator!”

5 “Worshiping the stars,

serving the sacred flame in a grove;

failing to grasp the true nature of things,

foolish me, I thought this was purity.

6 But now I worship the Awakened One,

supreme among men.

Doing the Teacher’s bidding,

I am released from all suffering.”