26.20 The Story about the Bhikkhunī Khemā
Khemābhikkhunīvatthu

Dhp 403

Burlingame: Khemā the Wise

Compare: Dhp-a 26.12

One day Sakka visited the Buddha to listen to his teachings, and at that time Elder Khemā came flying through the air to pay her respects to the Buddha, and quickly departed; Sakka asked who it was, the Buddha told him and spoke a verse about her.

Keywords: Bhikkhunīs, Foremost Disciples

**

“The deeply wise sagacious one,” [30.292] this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence on Mount Vulture’s Peak with reference to the bhikkhunī Khemā.

For one day, immediately after the first watch, Sakka, the Lord of the Devas, came with his retinue of Devas, sat down, and listened to the Teacher as he discoursed in his usual pleasant manner on the Dhamma. At that moment the bhikkhunī Khemā said to herself: “I will go see the Teacher,” and drew near to the presence of the Teacher. {4.169} But when she saw Sakka, she worshipped the Teacher, poised in the air as she was, turned around, and departed. Sakka saw her and asked the Teacher: “Who was that, venerable Sir, that drew near to your presence, and then, poised in the air as she was, saluted you and turned around and departed?” The Teacher replied: “That, great king, was my daughter Khemā, possessed of great wisdom, knowing well what is the path and what is not the path.” So saying, he pronounced the following verse:

403. Gambhīrapaññaṁ medhāviṁ,
maggāmaggassa kovidaṁ,
uttamatthaṁ anuppattaṁ,
tam-ahaṁ brūmi brāhmaṇaṁ.

The deeply wise sagacious one,
skilled in what is path and not path,
who has reached the ultimate good,
that one I say is a Brahmin.

At the end of the teaching many reached the fruition of Stream-entry and so on.

 

last updated: August 2024