Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Therigatha · 6.4

Sujātā

Sujātā — The Book of the Sixes · Poem 4 of 8

Setting
A park outing, then a monastic dwelling encountered on the way home
Speaker
The nun Sujātā, narrating an entirely unsought encounter and its result
Form
Six 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
★★★☆☆ — insight found entirely by chance, mid-pleasure outing

Why this text

This poem opens with no religious intent whatsoever: ‘adorned with jewelry and all dressed up... I left my house and took myself to the park’. Only on the way home, entering a monastic dwelling simply ‘to see’ it, does Sujātā encounter the Buddha at all — and finds ‘the stainless Dhamma, the state free of death’ on the spot, still in the middle of an ordinary day's outing.

Reading guide

A pleasure outing, described in full

‘Adorned with jewelry and all dressed up, with garlands, and sandalwood makeup piled on... taking food and drink, staples and dainties in no small amount’ opens the poem with no hint of spiritual seeking — a detailed account of preparing for an ordinary day of enjoyment.

An encounter entirely by accident

‘Returning to my own house, I saw a monastic dwelling, and so I entered the Añjana wood at Sāketa’ — she enters not seeking teaching, but simply to look, on her way back from the park she had already visited.

Insight on the spot, mid-outing, before any renunciation

‘Right there I found the stainless Dhamma, the state free of death’ places her realization at the exact moment of this accidental visit — still dressed for pleasure, not yet having renounced anything.

Formal renunciation, only afterward

‘Then, having understood the true teaching, I went forth to homelessness. I've attained the three knowledges’ separates this initial, unsought insight from her later, formal ordination — two distinct steps, not one event.

Key terms

Sujātā — this poem's speaker, whose first encounter with the Dhamma happens entirely by accident.
uyyāna — the “park” she visits for pleasure, the destination of her outing before her accidental encounter.
Añjana vana — the Añjana wood at Sāketa, the monastic dwelling she enters simply to look at, on her way home.
lokapajjota — “the light of the world” — her own epithet for the Buddha, seen for the first time at this dwelling.
amataṅ padaṅ — “the state free of death” — what she says she found ‘right there’, at the moment of this unsought visit.

The text

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

§1I was adorned with jewelry and all dressed up, with garlands, and sandalwood makeup piled on, all covered over with decorations, and surrounded by my maids.

§2Taking food and drink, staples and dainties in no small amount, I left my house and took myself to the park.

§3I enjoyed myself there and played about, and then, returning to my own house, I saw a monastic dwelling, and so I entered the Añjana wood at Sāketa.

§4Seeing the light of the world, I paid homage and sat down. Out of compassion the Clear-eyed One taught me the Dhamma.

§5When I heard the great seer, I penetrated the truth. Right there I found the stainless Dhamma, the state free of death.

§6Then, having understood the true teaching, I went forth to homelessness. I’ve attained the three knowledges; the Buddha’s bidding was not in vain.

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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 is Sujātā doing at the start of this poem?
Correct: B. No religious intent at all in the poem's opening verses.
Question 2 of 10
How does Sujātā come to encounter the Buddha's teaching?
Correct: C. An entirely unsought visit, on the way back from the park.
Question 3 of 10
When does the poem say she found 'the stainless Dhamma'?
Correct: B. Insight arriving in the middle of an ordinary day's outing.
Question 4 of 10
What had Sujātā already done earlier that same day, before this encounter?
Correct: C. The pleasure outing described in the poem's opening verses.
Question 5 of 10
What does the poem say happened only afterward, once she understood the true teaching?
Correct: A. Formal renunciation, kept distinct from her initial, unsought insight.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'lokapajjota' mean?
Correct: D. Named at the moment she first sees him.
Question 7 of 10
How is Sujātā dressed at the moment of her first encounter with the Buddha's teaching?
Correct: D. Insight arrives before any change in her outward circumstances.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'Añjana vana' name?
Correct: C. The specific site of her accidental encounter.
Question 9 of 10
What position does this poem hold in the Book of the Sixes?
Correct: A. Following Thig 6.3, continuing the Book of the Sixes.
Question 10 of 10
What makes this poem's sequence distinctive among accounts in this collection?
Correct: B. One of this collection's most incidental paths to realization.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousThig 6.3 · Khemā