Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Therigatha · 13.3

Cāpā

Cāpā — The Book of the Twenties · Poem 3 of 5

Setting
A dialogue at home, then a third-person account following Kāḷa alone to the Nerañjarā River
Speaker
Cāpā and Kāḷa in extended confrontation, closing in third-person narration of his own path
Form
Twenty-one verses, mostly four lines, several extending to six
Length
under 3 minutes to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching text for this poem in other Buddhist literatures.
Difficulty
★★★★★ — one of this collection's most dramatically intense confrontations, and its own speaker's attainment is never stated

Why this text

This poem is attributed to Cāpā, a senior nun — yet it narrates almost entirely someone else's story. Her former partner Kāḷa announces he is returning to ascetic life; she fights to keep him with every appeal she has, including a threat against their own son; he refuses completely; and the poem's final verses, in the third person, follow only his arrival at full awakening. No statement of Cāpā's own path appears anywhere in the text.

Reading guide

A poem named for her, narrating his story instead

Kāḷa's opening declaration — ‘having cut Cāpā's bond, I'll go forth once again’ — opens a poem that will track his return to the path in detail, while Cāpā's own eventual realization, though the colophon names her a senior nun, is never directly stated in the verses themselves.

An escalating series of appeals, and their most extreme point

Cāpā's attempts to hold him move from persuasion to beauty (‘when I am so very beautiful, how can you abandon me?’) to their child, and finally to a direct threat: ‘I'll strike him to the ground right here, with a stick or with a knife!’ Kāḷa's reply is unflinching — he will not return, ‘not even for the child's sake’.

A single act of devotion, amid total confrontation

After every appeal fails, Cāpā's own final words in the poem ask Kāḷa to carry her respects to the Buddha and ‘dedicate my religious donation’ — her one explicit act of faith, entrusted entirely to the man she could not keep.

A third-person close, following only his path to the end

The poem's last verses shift to plain narration: Kāḷa reaches the Nerañjarā River, hears the Buddha teach the four noble truths, goes forth, and ‘attained the three knowledges, and fulfilled the Buddha's instructions’ — a poem attributed to a nun, closing entirely on a man's completed journey.

Key terms

Cāpā — this poem's attributed speaker, whose own path to realization is never directly stated within the verses themselves.
Kāṷa — Cāpā's former partner, a onetime ascetic turned hunter, whose return to the path and full attainment this poem actually follows to its conclusion.
itthirūpa — “a woman's figure” or beauty — named by Kāḷa as the kind of trap that catches righteous ascetics, in his own words to Cāpā.
amata padaṅ — “the state free of death” — what Kāḷa hears the Buddha teaching at the Nerañjarā River.
dakkhiṇa — a religious donation or dedication — the single act of devotion Cāpā asks Kāḷa to carry to the Buddha on her behalf.

The text

The text in full: their extended confrontation, her single act of devotion, and a third-person account of his path to full attainment. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Once I carried a hermit’s staff, but these days I hunt deer. My desires have made me unable to cross from the awful marsh to the far shore. Thinking me so in love with her, Cāpā kept our son happy. Having cut Cāpā’s bond, I’ll go forth once again.”

§2“Don’t be mad at me, great hero! Don’t be mad at me, great sage! If you’re mired in anger you can’t stay pure, let alone be fervent.” “I’m going to leave Nālā! For who’d stay here at Nālā! With their figures, the women trap ascetics who live righteously.”

§3“Please, Kāḷa, come back to me. Enjoy pleasures like you did before. I’ll be under your control, along with any relatives I have.” “Cāpā, if even a quarter of what you say were true, it would be a splendid thing for a man in love with you!”

§4“Kāḷa, I am like a sprouting iris flowering on a mountain top, like a blossoming pomegranate, like a patala tree on an isle; my limbs are anointed with yellow sandalwood, and I wear the finest Kāsi cloth: when I am so very beautiful, how can you abandon me and leave?”

§5“You’re like a fowler who wants to catch a bird; but you won’t trap me with your captivating form.” “But this child, my fruit, was begotten by you, Kāḷa. When I have this child, how can you abandon me and leave?”

§6“The wise give up children, family, and wealth. Great heroes go forth like elephants breaking their bonds.” “Now, this son of yours: I’ll strike him to the ground right here, with a stick or with a knife! Grieving your son, you will not leave.”

§7“Even if you feed our son to jackals and dogs, I’d never return again, you bitch, not even for the child’s sake.” “Well then, sir, tell me, where will you go, Kāḷa? To what village or town, city or capital?”

§8“Last time we had followers, we weren’t ascetics, we just thought we were. We wandered from village to village, to cities and capitals. But now the Blessed One, the Buddha, back on the bank of the Nerañjara River, teaches the Dhamma so that living creatures may abandon all suffering. I shall go to his presence, he shall be my Teacher.”

§9“Now please convey my respects to the supreme protector of the world. Circling him to your right, dedicate my religious donation.” “This is the proper thing to do, just as you have said to me. I’ll convey your respects to the supreme protector of the world. Circling him to my right, I’ll dedicate your religious donation.”

§10Then Kāḷa set out back to the bank of the Nerañjara River. He saw the Awakened One teaching the state free of death: suffering, suffering’s origin, suffering’s transcendence, and the noble eightfold path that leads to the stilling of suffering. He paid homage at his feet, circling him to his right, and conveyed Cāpā’s dedication; then he went forth to homelessness. He attained the three knowledges, and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.

· · ·

Self-check quiz

Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 10
What does Kāḷa announce at the start of this poem?
Correct: A. Opening the confrontation the rest of the poem follows.
Question 2 of 10
What does Cāpā say when persuasion by beauty fails?
Correct: B. The confrontation's most extreme point, met with an unflinching refusal.
Question 3 of 10
How does Kāḷa respond to Cāpā's threat against their son?
Correct: D. A complete, unwavering refusal.
Question 4 of 10
What is Cāpā's own final act within this poem?
Correct: B. Her one explicit act of devotion, entrusted to the man she could not keep.
Question 5 of 10
Whose path does this poem's closing verses actually follow, in the third person?
Correct: D. The poem closes entirely on his completed journey, not hers.
Question 6 of 10
Is Cāpā's own realization directly stated anywhere in this poem's text?
Correct: C. Despite being attributed to a 'senior nun', the poem never states her own path directly.
Question 7 of 10
What does Kāḷa say women's beauty does to righteous ascetics?
Correct: A. His own framing, offered as his reason for leaving.
Question 8 of 10
What does the Buddha teach, according to this poem's closing verses, at the Nerañjarā River?
Correct: B. The standard teaching Kāḷa hears and then acts on directly.
Question 9 of 10
What position does this poem hold in the Book of the Twenties?
Correct: C. Following Thig 13.2, continuing the Book of the Twenties.
Question 10 of 10
What does 'dakkhiṇa' mean?
Correct: D. Her one explicit gesture of faith within the entire poem.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousThig 13.2 · Rohinī