- Tathālokā Bhikkhunī
- Jun 29, 2020
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 1
Tathālokā Therī
#HerStoryOurStory #WomeninBuddhism #AsalhaPuja #EsalaPoya #AshadhaPurnima #AsaḷhaPunnami #DhammaDay #DhammacakkappavattanaDiwas #WheelTurningDay #EtadaggaUpasika #UpasikaSavika #anusavannappasannānaṁ #sotapanna #streamentry
Now, as we approach the Asalha (Asadha) Full Moon Anniversary of the Buddha's first teaching, the time comes for her story to be told:
This is Kāḷī Kururagharikā, the first of the Buddha's woman disciples to enter the noble Arahanta Path, and become an Ariyā Sāvikā, on the Asadha Full Moon, at the time of the Buddha's first teaching "Setting Into Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma," the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.
"But wait!" you might say. "I've read and listened to the sutta" and it only mentioned the five monks, the pañca vaggiya bhikkhus. And i've seen sculptures, paintings, videos, etc. - only the Buddha and the five bhikkhus are there!" And yes, this is true. But it's not the whole story.
According to the Pāli-text Tipitaka Sutta Pitaka and commentaries, while the Buddha was first teaching, there were many spirits and heavenly beings that came to know that the Buddha had arisen in the world, and that the Dhamma was now being taught, effectively.
Now at this time Kāḷī Kururagharikā was pregnant with a child who was spiritually precocious. Kāḷī travelled more than a 1000 kms from her wealthy merchant husband's home in Kururaghara (Osrey's Haunt 迦梨迦) in Avantī (the present Malwa Plateau) to her parents home in Rājagaha (Rājagṙha, contemporary Rajgir) to give birth. There she went out to take fresh air in the breeze on her balcony.
While standing on the "lion's cage" balcony area above the roof (sīha pañjare), she overheard two of those beings in exited conversation, speaking about the Buddha and his teaching, who they had just become aware of. These two were yakkha spirits named Sātāgira and Hemavata, and they spoke animatedly of the awesomeness and excellence of the Buddha, and of his teaching.
Listening to their expression of the Buddha and his Dhamma, Kāḷī, became profoundly mindful and attentive, felt a spiritual thrill and wonder, and saddha (confidence, trust, faith) and then pīti (joy, bliss) and pasaddhi (inspiration, tranquility) arose, and in those moments, the factors of awakening arose together and she too opened her Dhamma eye, entered the stream of the noble ones, plunged into the arhanta path, and become a Sotapatipanna. Seeing Nirvāna (Nibbāna) for herself (passana), plunging into the Deathless, she became irreversible in the Path.
Kāḷī Kururagharikā was the second person in the world, the first woman, and the first householder, to experience the profound benefits of the Buddha's teaching for herself, under the Asalha full moon, in consequence of the Buddha's first teaching, "Setting into Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma".
Later, when the Buddha was speaking about his foremost disciples (as related in the Numerical Discourses of the Buddha book one), the Buddha highlighted ten of his exemplary leading women householder upāsikā disciples, Ariyā Sāvikā Kālī Kururagharikā was spoken of by him as etadaggā (foremost, the leader) among his upāsikā disciples in anusavannappasannānaṁ, those who see into the Dhamma while hearing of the Buddha and his teachings ~ even expressed indirectly! (AN.i.26)
Kāḷī of Kururagharikā became a soṭapanna (stream-enterer) and on that very night the child who was to come to be known as Soṇa Koṭikaṇṇa in Pāli (Sanskrit: Śroṇa Koṭikarṇa) was born.
Later Kāḷī returned to her home in Kururagharikā, and there she supported and inquired further into the Buddha's teaching from one of his arahant disciples who was excellent at explaining and expounding upon it: Mahā Kaccāna (Skt: Katyāyana). At that time Mahā Kaccāna lived near by and often visited her home. Soṇa was quite attached to him, and was later ordained by him. Three years later he received the upasampadā (full bhikkhu ordination), and, with Mahā Kaccāna’s leave, visited the Buddha. When Soṇa went to visit the Buddha, Kāḷī send a rug for the Buddha's Gandhakuti dwelling, for his sitting and lying down meditation. Soṇa won praise from the Buddha for his eloquence, the joyful expression again reverberated through the ten thousand-fold deva realm, and his mother, far away, heard about this from the devas.
When Soṇa returned, again, she asked him to relate and expound upon the teaching as he had for the Buddha, and listening to her own son's anussavana-- the Buddha's teaching conveyed to her--greatly delighting her mind and heart.
Kāḷī of Kururagharikā is first and seniormost in our Buddha Gotama's dispensation among the Ariyā Sāvikās, women who have entered the Noble Path, the stream of awakening (sabbamātugāmānam antare pathamakasotāpannā sabbajetthikā, AA.i.133ff; SnA.i.208f) . She was the devoted friend and constant companion of Kātiyānī, another of the Buddha's great upāsikā disciples, also highly-accomplished, and praised by the Buddha (AA.i.245).
A conversation between her and Mahā Kaccāna is related, where she asks him for a detailed exposition of one of the stanzas in the Kumāripañhas. The stanza occurs at SN.i.126 Mahā-Kaccāna explains, and his explanation deals with the ten kasinas. AN.v.46f.
"‘I’ve reached the goal, peace of heart.
‘Atthassa pattiṃ hadayassa santiṃ,
Having conquered the army of the likable and pleasant,
Jetvāna senaṃ piyasātarūpaṃ;
alone, practicing absorption, I awakened to bliss.
Ekohaṃ jhāyaṃ sukhamanubodhiṃ,"
Such a beautiful and heart-touching Dhamma teaching on "the gratification, the danger and the escape" and on the kasina concentration meditations.
This is arahanta Mahā Kaccāna to Upāsikā Kāḷī of Kururaghara, the Kālī Sutta of the Numerical Discourses of the Buddha. Bhante Sujato's translation.
There is a Chinese parallel to this sutta and these verses.
Also available in Vietnamese, together with her story. And Kālī Sutta in Vietnamese.
Images in this post:
In the original Sarnath Dhammacakka image of the Buddha's first teaching here, please note the five bhikkhus together with one laywoman and a child (on the viewer's left). This image has been copied many times, always including the Buddha and the five first disciples, and sometimes, but not always faithfully including the laywoman and child.
People ask, "who is she? - she doesn't appear in the sutta?" Some speculate she was the donor of the image, and she may have been. Or her presence may be in memory of the women with child who entered the Ariyā Sāvikā Sangha under the same Asalha Full Moon, proving the Buddha's teaching, from the very first, highly effective for both man- and woman-kind, for human-kind, all of our dear humanity.
You can see the laywoman and child clearly in the final closeup image.
Notes:
Kāḷī Kururagharikā's name as described in the scripts of several Buddhist canons:
(Sinhala) කුරරඝරික කාලී උපාසිකා
Myanmar: ကုလဃရမြို့သူ ကာဠီဥပါသိကာ
Khmer: កាឡី ឧបាសិកា កុររឃរិកា
Bengali: কাল়ী উপাসিকা কুররঘরিকা
Chinese: 拘拉拉迦拉人葛麗優婆夷
Thai กาลี: เมืองกุรรฆระ ในอวันตีชนบท ครั้งนั้นแล อุบาสิกาชื่อกาลี (alternate spelling กาฬี: นางกาฬี อุปาสิกา ผู้เลื่อมใสโดยได้ยินได้ฟังตาม).
...
From: Parallels for AN 10.26 Kāḷī Sutta (AN v 46): AN 10.26 (AN v 46). Retrieved from Sutta Central on Tue Jun 30 2020 12:33:20 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time).
Addendum:
A further greatly impressive story is told of the first noble laywoman disciple of the Buddha, Ariyā Sāvikā Kālī of Kuraraghara, in the Dhammapada Commentary (at DhA.iv.103f).
"One who abides in amity, benevolence and kindness, with clarity, brilliance, joy and confidence as they look into the Buddha's teaching: delving into the source of peace, experiences the tranquil, the unconditioned, the blissful."
Mettāvihāri yo bhikkhu, pasanno Buddhasāsane;
Adhigacche padaṃ santaṃ, saṅkhārūpasamaṃ sukhaṃ.
- the Buddha, beginning his virtual teaching to the 900 bhikkhus of Kuraraghara, Dhammapāda v. 368
The story ~
One day, Upāsikā Kāḷī came to know that her son, then an arahant bhikkhu had, in his sublime wanderings, returned to the land of Avantī, to his home town of Kuraraghara. Wishing her local people to be able to hear the Dhamma, she arranged for a pavilion, a great Dana meal offering, and invited Arahant Soṇa Thera to speak on the Dhamma.
Upāsikā Kāḷī went to offer the great Dana feast and to listen to the Teaching. She left only one member of her house staff behind to guard the house, bringing all others with her to listen to the teaching. As her husband was a wealthy merchant, the house was heavily fortified and normally well guarded. The text says that 900 thieves (not 1000!) has been awaiting a chance to break in, and as the procession of the household set forth to hear the Dhamma, they saw their opportunity.
One thief was stationed to watch Upāsikā Kāḷī for her and her household's return from the monastery, and directed to kill her if she started homeward while the thieves were in the house. When the thieves entered her house, the one remaining staff member ran to the monastery to inform Upāsikā Kāḷī.
But Ariyā Sāvikā Kāḷī Kururagharikā would not be disturbed, and sent her back. Again the staff member went and tried to inform her, and again, undisturbed, she was turned away. Then that thief who was stationed near Kālī to watch for her return saw her extraordinary piety, and he became filled with great remorse.
At the end of Arahanta Soṇa's Dhamma teaching, that man, once a thief, begged her forgiveness. Eventually, when they found out what had happened, according to the story, all nine hundred of the thieves became greatly impressed and remorseful, and experiencing a major life-transforming collective change of heart, joined the Bhikkhu Sangha under Upāsikā Kāḷī's son Bhikkhu Soṇa Kutikanna. (I imagine that Ariyā Sāvikā Kāḷī then became one of the great supporters of the new, greatly-enlarged, Buddhist monastic community of Avanti at Kururaghara.)
Inspired, well-instructed, and practicing well, on the day the Bhikkhu Sangha of 900 became arahants, to bless, rouse, encourage and instruct them, the Buddha appeared before them virtually through a mentally-manifested radiance of light (the Tathāgata's "āloka" after which i'm named).
...
I imagine this mural of Ariyā Sāvikā Kāḷī painted on the walls of Royal Buddhist temple Wat Pho in Bangkok tells this story. So much loving-appreciation seeing the expression on Ariyā Sāvikā Kāḷī's face as she, through her developed meditation, sees the Buddha virtually through his live streamed light image projection (āloka/obhāsa)".
This image is a cropping of the full wall mural published on Photo Dharma by Venerable Anandajoti Thero here.
The entire collection of The Murals of the Great Disciples of the Buddha in the Hall of the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand, is published here (Ariyā Sāvikā Kāḷī Kuraragharikā's are numbered 228-234):
The chanting of this portion of the Buddha's teachings in wonderful Indian style by Bhaskar Salve ' Kamalveer ' and Rajesh Chandra on YouTube.
Found again!
Ariyā Sāvikā Upāsikā Kuraragharikā Kālī appears this time "at the roof of the world" - on the pinnacle of the Queen's Chedi (Noppapolbhumisiri-chedi) at Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand, outside Chiang Mai.
The Queen's Chedi tile fresco depicts the story elements of (1) the two yakkha spirits who were avidly discussing the Buddha and his Dhamma (at the top of the relief), who Kālī overheard, leading to her gaining stream-entry; and (2) the impressive story of the foundation of the Avanti Sangha from the Dhammapada Commentary below, showing Ariyā Sāvikā Kālī herself (viewer's mid-left), her household staff-woman who is trying to let her know her home is being robbed (below middle), and the thief who has been sent to watch her when he demands to know why she cares more about the Buddha's teaching than her home being robbed (viewer's right).
Thanks to Marlai Ouch of Cambodian School of San Francisco ( CSSF ): Here is the audio-video recording for ឧបាសិកា កាឡី Upāsikā Kāḷī's story in Khmer.
Somehow it is her time to shine forth again...
Coming upon this today (in Chinese):
聞得信第一女居士──迦梨（Kāḷī）
迦梨（Kāḷī）是在喬達摩佛教法時期，第一位證悟的女居士。她在證悟前未曾見過佛，未曾聞過法，也不曾見過僧。僅以聽聞兩位夜叉的對話，了解佛陀殊勝的功德，她即證得須陀洹果
Thank you to all of the supporters of our Dhammadharini Support Foundation, the religious non-profit charity, that supports our Dhammadharini Bhikkhunī Sangha, and our HerStory Women in Buddhism Initiative. Thanks to them, the computer, the internet, the seat, the floor upon which the sit sits, the food giving energy, the robes clothing the body... all were offered through their great dedication. If you would like to join in and be a part of these offerings together, please go to dhammadharini.net/support.
Originally published June 29, 2020 on Facebook