Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Therigatha · 6.6

Mahāpajāpati Gotamī

Mahāpajāpati Gotamī — The Book of the Sixes · Poem 6 of 8

Setting
No narrative setting beyond what the verses state; no closing attribution
Speaker
The nun Mahāpajāpati Gotamī, addressing the Buddha directly, then reflecting more broadly
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
★★★☆☆ — opens with unusually direct, personal homage

Why this text

This poem opens with an exclamation rare in this collection's register: ‘Oh Buddha, my hero: homage to you!’, before mapping her own attainment directly onto the four noble truths. Partway through, it turns to an unusual reflection on her own past lives — not as one identity repeated, but as a shifting sequence of family roles across genders and generations — before closing with praise directed not at herself, but at the Buddha's own mother.

Reading guide

Homage, exclaimed rather than stated

‘Oh Buddha, my hero: homage to you! Supreme among all beings’ opens with a directness and warmth distinct from the calmer register of most poems in this collection — an address, not only an account.

Attainment mapped onto the four noble truths directly

‘All suffering is fully understood; craving—its cause—is dried up; the eightfold path has been developed; and cessation has been realized by me’ states her attainment in the four truths' own structure, one clause for each.

Past lives, remembered as shifting family roles

‘Previously I was a mother, a son, a father, a brother, and a grandmother’ is an unusually direct acknowledgment that rebirth crosses gender and generation — not the same identity recurring, but a sequence of different family positions entirely.

A closing turn, praising someone else entirely

The poem's final verse shifts away from her own attainment to praise Māyā, the Buddha's birth mother: ‘it was truly for the benefit of many that Māyā gave birth to Gotama’ — ending not on her own realization, but on gratitude directed outward.

Key terms

Mahāpajāpati Gotamī — this poem's speaker, whose homage to the Buddha opens the poem directly.
aṭṭhaṅgika magga — the eightfold path, named as developed among the four elements of her attainment.
mātā putto pitā bhātā ayyakā — “mother, son, father, brother, and grandmother” — the sequence of past-life family roles she recounts, crossing gender and generation.
vikkhīṇo jātisaṅsāro — “transmigration through births is finished” — the collection's standard closing formula, used here mid-poem rather than at its very end.
Māyā — the Buddha's birth mother, praised directly in this poem's closing verse for the benefit her son brought to many.

The text

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

§1Oh Buddha, my hero: homage to you! Supreme among all beings, who released me from suffering, and many other beings as well.

§2All suffering is fully understood; craving—its cause—is dried up; the eightfold path has been developed; and cessation has been realized by me.

§3Previously I was a mother, a son, a father, a brother, and a grandmother. Failing to grasp the true nature of things, I transmigrated without reward.

§4Since I have seen the Blessed One, this bag of bones is my last. Transmigration through births is finished, now there’ll be no more future lives.

§5I see the disciples in harmony, energetic and resolute, always staunchly vigorous—this is homage to the Buddhas!

§6It was truly for the benefit of many that Māyā gave birth to Gotama. He swept away the mass of suffering for those stricken by sickness and death.

· · ·

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 open?
Correct: B. An unusually warm and direct address, distinct from this collection's calmer register.
Question 2 of 10
What framework does the second verse use to state her attainment?
Correct: C. Suffering understood, craving's cause dried up, the path developed, cessation realized.
Question 3 of 10
What does the poem say about her own past lives?
Correct: C. An unusual acknowledgment that rebirth crosses both gender and generation.
Question 4 of 10
Who does the poem's closing verse praise?
Correct: A. A shift away from her own attainment, praising someone else entirely.
Question 5 of 10
What does the poem say Māyā's giving birth to Gotama accomplished?
Correct: B. Framed as a benefit extending far beyond her own son.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'vikkhīṇo jātisaṁsāro' mean?
Correct: D. The collection's standard closing formula, appearing before this poem's actual end.
Question 7 of 10
What does the poem's fifth verse describe seeing?
Correct: B. Named directly as itself a form of homage to the Buddhas.
Question 8 of 10
How does this poem's opening tone compare to most other poems in this collection?
Correct: A. A distinctive register for this collection.
Question 9 of 10
What position does this poem hold in the Book of the Sixes?
Correct: D. Following Thig 6.5, continuing the Book of the Sixes.
Question 10 of 10
What does 'māta putto pitā bhātā ayyakā' name?
Correct: C. Crossing gender and generation across her past lives.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousThig 6.5 · Anopamā