Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Therigatha · 5.8

Soñā

Soñā — The Book of the Fives · Poem 8 of 12

Setting
No narrative setting beyond what the verses state; no closing attribution
Speaker
The nun Soṇā, describing a full lay life raising children before her ordination in old age
Form
Five four-line verses
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching text for this poem in other Buddhist literatures.
Difficulty
★★★☆☆ — closes on one of this collection's most direct, defiant single lines

Why this text

Soṇā's account opens with an entire lay lifetime already lived: ‘I gave birth to ten sons... then, when feeble and old, I approached a nun’. The teaching she receives repeats, for a third time in this collection, the exact phrase given to Uttamā in Thig 3.2 and the unnamed nun in Thig 5.1 — and the poem closes on a line unlike any other in the book: a direct curse against old age itself.

Reading guide

A full lay life, before any renunciation

‘I gave birth to ten sons in this form, this bag of bones’ opens with an entire worldly lifetime already complete — ordination arriving only ‘when feeble and old’, later in life than most accounts in this collection.

A teaching phrase used for a third time

‘She taught me the Dhamma: the aggregates, sense fields, and elements’ repeats, word for word, the same compound term — ‘khandhāyatanadhātuyo’ — already used for Uttamā's teacher in Thig 3.2 and the unnamed nun's teacher in Thig 5.1: a recurring, formulaic instruction given across three different women's accounts.

A specific term for a swift attainment

‘I achieved the immediate liberation, quenched by not grasping’ uses a distinctive term, ‘anantarāvimokkha’, naming her release as immediate rather than gradual — a specific claim about the pace of her final breakthrough.

A curse against old age, unlike anything else in this book

‘Curse you, wretched old age!’ is addressed directly to old age itself, immediately after she states that the five aggregates ‘remain, but their root is cut’ — one of the most vivid, unguarded single lines anywhere in this collection.

Key terms

Soñā — this poem's speaker, whose account of raising ten children precedes her ordination in old age.
khandhāyatanadhātuyo — “the aggregates, sense fields, and elements” — the same teaching phrase used in Thig 3.2 and Thig 5.1, now given for a third time.
anantarāvimokkha — “immediate liberation” — a distinctive term for her final breakthrough, naming its pace as immediate rather than gradual.
pañcakkhandhā — the five aggregates, described in this poem's closing verse as remaining, but with their root cut.
jarā — “old age” — addressed directly and cursed in this poem's most vivid line.

The text

The text in full: five verses. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1I gave birth to ten sons in this form, this bag of bones. Then, when feeble and old, I approached a nun.

§2She taught me the Dhamma: the aggregates, sense fields, and elements. When I heard her teaching, I shaved off my hair and went forth.

§3When I was a trainee nun, my clairvoyance was clarified, and I knew my past lives, the places I used to live.

§4I meditate on the signless, my mind unified and serene. I achieved the immediate liberation, quenched by not grasping.

§5The five aggregates are fully understood; they remain, but their root is cut. Curse you, wretched old age! now there’ll be no more future lives.

· · ·

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
How does this poem's opening verse describe Soṇā's earlier life?
Correct: A. A full lay lifetime already lived, before any renunciation.
Question 2 of 10
When did Soṇā approach a nun and begin her monastic path?
Correct: C. Ordination arriving later in life than most accounts in this collection.
Question 3 of 10
What phrase does her teacher use, identical to Thig 3.2 and Thig 5.1?
Correct: D. The same compound term, now given for a third time in this collection.
Question 4 of 10
What distinctive term does the poem use for her final breakthrough?
Correct: A. Naming the pace of her release as immediate, not gradual.
Question 5 of 10
What does this poem's most vivid closing line address directly?
Correct: B. 'Curse you, wretched old age!' — one of the most unguarded lines in this collection.
Question 6 of 10
What does the poem say about the five aggregates, just before this curse?
Correct: B. A precise image: continued existence, without the root that once drove it.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'jarā' mean?
Correct: D. The direct object of this poem's most vivid line.
Question 8 of 10
How does this poem's opening compare to most other accounts in this collection?
Correct: B. A fuller worldly life lived first, than in most poems in this book.
Question 9 of 10
What position does this poem hold in the Book of the Fives?
Correct: D. Following Thig 5.7, continuing the Book of the Fives.
Question 10 of 10
How many times, counting this poem, has the phrase 'khandhāyatanadhātuyo' now appeared in this collection?
Correct: C. Thig 3.2, Thig 5.1, and now this poem — a recurring, formulaic instruction.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousThig 5.7 · Sakulā