{"collection":"Khuddaka Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_thig14.1/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_thig14.1","id":"suttacentral_thig14.1","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/thig14.1/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Khuddaka Nikaya"],"text":"Going to the lovely mango grove of J\u012bvaka, the nun Subh\u0101 was held up by a rascal. Subh\u0101 said this to him: \u201cWhat harm have I done to you, that you stand in my way? Respectable sir, it\u2019s not proper that a man should touch a woman gone forth. This training was taught by the Holy One, it is a serious matter in my teacher\u2019s instructions. I am pure and rid of blemishes, so why do you stand in my way? One whose mind is clouded against one unclouded; one who is lustful against one free of lust; unblemished, my heart is freed in every respect, so why do you stand in my way?\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re young and flawless\u2014 what will going-forth do for you? Throw away the ocher robe, come and play in the blossom grove. Everywhere, the scent of pollen wafts sweet, born of the flowering woods. The start of spring is a happy time\u2014 come and play in the blossom grove. And trees crested with flowers cry out, as it were, in the gale. But what kind of fun will you have if you plunge into the woods all alone? Frequented by packs of predators, and cow elephants aroused by rutting bulls; you wish to go without a friend to the deserted, awe-inspiring forest. Like a doll made of glittering gold, like a nymph wandering the park of bright vines, your matchless beauty will shine in graceful clothes of delicate K\u0101sian cloth. I\u2019ll be under your sway, if we are to stay in the forest. I love no creature more than you, O pixie with such captivating eyes. Were you to take up my invitation\u2014 \u2018Come, be happy, and live in a house\u2019\u2014 you\u2019ll stay in a longhouse sheltered from wind; let the ladies look to your needs. Dressed in delicate K\u0101sian cloth, put on your garlands and your cosmetics. I\u2019ll make all sorts of adornments for you, of lustrous gold and gems and pearls. Climb onto a costly bed, its coverlet so clean and nice, with a new woolen mattress, so fragrant, sprinkled with sandalwood. As a blue lily risen from the water remains untouched by men, so too, O chaste and holy lady, your limbs grow old unshared.\u201d \u201cThis carcass is full of putrefaction, it swells the charnel ground, for its nature is to fall apart. What do you think is so essential in it that you stare at me so crazily?\u201d \u201cYour eyes are like those of a doe, or a pixie in the mountains; seeing them, erotic delight swells in me all the more. Your eyes are like a blue lily\u2019s bud in your flawless face <j>shining like coruscant gold. Seeing them, sensual excitement swells in me all the more. Though you may wander far, I\u2019ll still think of you, with lashes so long and eyes so bright. I love no eyes more than yours, O pixie with such bashful eyes.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re setting out on the wrong road! You\u2019re looking to take the moon for your toy! You\u2019re trying to leap over Mount Meru! You, who are hunting a child of the Buddha! For in this world with all its gods, there will be no more lust anywhere in me. I don\u2019t even know what kind it could be, it\u2019s been smashed root and all by the path. Cast out like sparks from fiery coals, it\u2019s worth no more than a bowl of poison. I don\u2019t even see what kind it could be, it\u2019s been smashed root and all by the path. Well may you try to seduce the type of lady who has not reflected on these things, or who has never attended the Teacher: but <em>this</em> is a lady who knows\u2014now you\u2019re in trouble! No matter if I am reviled or praised, or feel pleasure or pain: I stay mindful. Knowing that conditions are ugly, my mind clings to nothing. I am a disciple of the Holy One, riding in the carriage of the eightfold path. The dart pulled out, free of defilements, I\u2019m happy to have reached an empty place. I\u2019ve seen brightly painted dolls and wooden puppets, tied to sticks and strings, and made to dance in many ways. But when the sticks and strings are taken off\u2014 loosed, disassembled, dismantled, irrecoverable, stripped to parts\u2014 on what could the mind be fixed? That\u2019s what my body is really like, without those things it can\u2019t go on. This being so, on what could the mind be fixed? It\u2019s like when you saw a mural made by painting yellow orpiment on a wall, and your vision was deceived by that\u2014 the perception \u2018human\u2019 is pointless. Like an illusion cast before you, or a golden tree in a dream, you chase what is hollow, blind one, like a painted doll among the people. Like a ball in a socket, with a pupil in the middle, and tears, and mucus comes from there as well, different eye-parts are lumped together.\u201d Having plucked it out, the fair-eyed lady was undismayed, unchained in mind. \u201cCome now, take this eye,\u201d she said, and gave it to the man right then. And right then he lost his lust, and asked for her forgiveness: \u201cMay you be well, O chaste and holy lady; such a thing will not happen again. Attacking a person such as this is like holding on to a blazing fire, or grabbing a deadly viper! May you be well, please forgive me.\u201d When that nun was released she went to the presence of the excellent Buddha. Seeing the one with excellent marks of merit, her eye became just as it was before.","title":"Subh\u0101 of J\u012bvaka\u2019s Mango Grove","tradition":"Khuddaka Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":937}