11.3 The Story about the Elder Uttarī
Uttarittherīvatthu
Dhp 148
CST4: Uttarātherīvatthu
Burlingame: The Aged Nun
The elderly bhikkhunī Uttarī still walked on almsround at the age of one hundred and twenty years; while walking one day she met the Buddha, but stumbled and fell down; the Buddha spoke a verse warning of her coming death.
Keywords: Old Age, Death, Decay, Bhikkhunīs
**
“This body is worn out,”
It seems that this bhikkhunī continued her almsrounds until she was 120 years old. One day as she was returning from her almsround with food in her bowl, she met a certain bhikkhu in the street. She asked permission of him to give him the food in her bowl, and he consented to accept it. So she gave him all she had, and then she had none. On the second day and again on the third day she met the same bhikkhu in the same place, gave him all the food she had, and then had none left for herself.
Now on the fourth day, as she was going her rounds, she met the Teacher in a certain place which was much crowded. She stepped back, and as she did so, the skirt of her robe slipped down and she trod on it. Unable to keep her feet, she tumbled and fell down. The Teacher came up to her and said: “Sister, your body is worn out with old age; at a time not far distant it will suffer dissolution.” So saying, he pronounced the following verse:
148. Parijiṇṇam-idaṁ rūpaṁ, roganīḷaṁ pabhaṅguraṁ,
bhijjati pūtisandeho, maraṇantaṁ hi jīvitaṁ.
This body is worn out, a nest
of disease, perishing, putrid,
the putrid body will come to
destruction, for life ends in death.
At the end of the teaching that Elder attained the fruition of Stream-entry, and many people had benefit from the Dhamma teaching.
