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Tathālokā Therī
March 3, 2024


 Special commemorative post for “Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī & the Courageous 500 Parinibbāna Day March 3-4 2024”


I’m so glad to see this event this year, at the ground of the Mahāprajāpatī Parinirvāna pilgrimage site pointed out to and recorded by venerable Tripitaka Master pilgrim Xuanzang, a revitalization of Buddhist heritage.


Using this like a scrapbook to keep my happy memories, i post this here.


Kudos to Nava Nalanda Mahavihara Deemed University Nalanda and the Retracing Bodhisattva Xuanzang project, and to all who gathered with great dedication.


Time, Place and Date of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Parinibbāna

The time the venerable Xuanzang learned of and recorded the stupa in this area of the Vaishali region commemorating Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī’s entry into parinibbāna (ultimate nirvāna at the time of the bodily death of an arahanta) in the 7th century CE, was more more than a thousand years after the Buddha.


At that time, there were still three stupas remaining dedicated to the Buddha’s foster mother and senior most bhikkhunī disciple Mahāprajāpatī Gotamī Therī, which he recorded seeing along his pilgrimage journey. These three stupas spanned her last monastic life as a leading disciple of the Buddha, and Bhikkhunī Sangha leader.


  1. the Mahāpajāpatī robe-offering stupa at Nigrodhārāma outside the ancient palace city of Kapilavastu in Nepal, where Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī first expressed her wish to enter monastic life to the Buddha when offered robes she had herself woven;

  2. the royally-offered great bhikkhunīs' monastery Rājakārāma of Sāvatthi (Srāvasti) nearby to Anatapindika's monastery in Jeta's grove (Jetavāna) where Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī and hundreds of bhikkhunīs often sojourned;

  3. the ruins of the Parinibbāna Stupa of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī outside of Vaishali (Vesali) which once (and still?) enshrined (or enshrines?) the post-cremation relics of this great leading arahatī.



These stupas, and the tradition of specially commemorating Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī’s Parinibbāna, is older than that. It is a great story, passed down in the canonical texts of multiple Southern and Northern Buddhist traditions, recorded in Pāli, Chinese and Tibetan traditions.


I’ve posted earlier about these, as 3 out of 4 of these traditional versions include the date (implied but not recorded in the Pāli texts), which we are celebrating today.


There may be even more language renditions than those i’ve mentioned above in SE Asian manuscript traditions, where the “Pajāpatī Nibbāna” is part of the “Sāvaka Nibbāna” manuscript and recitation traditions which record the stories of the great disciples of the Buddha. These manuscripts are in Pāli and in local languages, recorded in various old SE Asian Dhamma-lipi scripts.


Among these manuscript traditions, the parinibbāna of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī and of Rāhulamātā Bimbā Yasodharā aka Bhadda Kaccānā Therī appear in multiple South and Southeast Asian manuscripts.


But Mahāpajāpatī’s Parinibbāna Story is not hers alone. Per all the traditions, the five hundred Sakayānī bhikkhunīs with whom she went forth into monastic life together, and cofounded the Buddha’s Bhikkhuni Sangha, and who like her all became arahants within a short time after entering monastic life, when they learned of her intention to enter parinibbāna, wished to as well.

The same was true for leading bhikkhunī foremost in wisdom, Khemā Therī.


With the Buddha’s permission and blessings, they entered Parinibbāna all together.

It was really a great “going out”. In fact, the Pāli-text Gotamī Therī Apadāna says that in some ways, it was even greater than the Buddha’s own Parinibbāna, which was to come three months less one week later.



English translations of the very similar Chinese and Tibetan translations are also freely available (see links at the bottom of this post below).


Why “three months less one week later”?

It is because the Buddha announced his own decision to enter Parinibbāna, at age 80, three months beforehand, on the Magha full moon, which often falls in March. He then travelled around giving final teachings to his disciples leading up to his Mahāparinibbāna on the Vesak Full Moon Buddha Day.


Mahāpajāpatī however, at age 120, had already lived a very long life of enormous generosity, compassion, and dedication. It was said that 120 was about the maximum lifespan in those days, and yet in some ways she was observed, per the texts, to still be in some ways surprisingly quite youthful in appearance. But she did not wish to outlive her son, the Buddha.


 She herself says that she wished to go while the Sangha was all still completely united and in harmony, something that was clearly very important to her, as reflected in her virtually identical Therīgāthā and Therī Apadāna verses, which i’ve shared earlier here:


≿━━━━━━━━༺❀༻━━━━━━━━≾

from the Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therīgāthā

Āraddhavīriye pahitatte,

Niccaṁ daḷhaparakkame;

Samagge sāvake passe,

Esā buddhāna vandanā.


161. Energetic from the start and resolute,

Constantly making effort

And unified – see these disciples:

Now that’s homage to the Buddha!


from the Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Apadāna

v 171. (VRI Vipassana Research Institute CST)


‘‘‘Āraddhavīriye pahitatte,

niccaṃ daḷhaparakkame;

Samagge sāvake passa,

etaṃ buddhānavandanaṃ.


 He said, "Look close at my disciples,

 in harmony, and vigorous,

 energetic, resolute,

 that's how to bless a buddha." (72)

- translated by Jonathan Walters


 “'See the disciples all together, putting forth energy,'

[he replied,] resolute, always with strong effort.

This is homage to the Buddhas.' (75)

- translated by William Pruitt for the Pāli Text Society

≿━━━━━━━━༺❀༻━━━━━━━━≾


With these final words, I also rejoice in the practice of our Bhikkhunīs, Sāmanerīs and Anagārikās here with us at Dhammadharini during this winter retreat, practicing with such dedication, kindness and care:


“'See the disciples all together, putting forth energy,' resolute, always with strong effort.

This is homage to the Buddhas.'


I would also like to bless those bhikkhunīs among us here at Dhammadharini who, after our Dhammadharini commemorative program today, will be entering into their own silent, secluded intensive personal retreat periods, up to the end of this retreat time.

There is so much benefit in this time. I wish that all contributors may share in the blessings and benefits together. And, for any gathered, desirous of merit, who can receive this sharing of blessings, may these be for you - gladly - for your long term benefit and happiness, and so too for me and all of us as well.


Sādhu sādhu sādhu! Anumodami!



 

English translations of the Chinese and Tibetan translations, very similar to but not identical to the Pāli, are freely available here:





 

Addenda:


The images in this post come from here - this news is what i was rejoicing about.


 With you at heart:

To experience the ambiance of this very special place, welcome to watch and listen to this video prepared by Upāsikā Dr. Marlai Ouch of Cambodian Bhikkhuni Sangha Initiative-អភិវឌ្ឍថេរវាទភិក្ខុនីសង្ឃខ្មែរដំបូង and Global Compassion and Engagement on pilgrimage with the first four members of Khmer (Cambodian) international bhikkhunī sangha. Wonderful!

 

Q: What does "Magha* Masam Krishna Paksha Asthami *Falgun Indian Calendar" mean??

A: It means the waning half moon lunar quarter following the February full moon -- that's the Mahapajapati & 500 Bhikkhuni Founders Parinibbana date! -- every year. On the lunar calendar.

Explanation: This year 2024, the February 🌕 was one week ago on Feb 23rd-24th. The waning half moon lunar quarter 🌗 is today, March 3rd-4th.

Why two days? Because we are global. For me in the US, right now it is March 3rd 🌎, while in India right now it is March 4th 🌏.


Q: What's the date in Pāli?

A: In Pāli, Mahāpajāpatī Parinibbāna Day is on the Phagguṇa* Māsaṁ Kaṇḥha Pakka Aṭṭhamī. *This is for lunar calendars where the first day of the month follows the full moon 🌕 ( = 🌖) .

*A2. However, in some Indic calendars, the month begins on the day following the new moon 🌚 ( = 🌒), rather than the day following the full moon, on those calendars, this date is the Magha Māsaṁ Kaṇḥha Pakka Aṭṭhamī.

✨ Either way, that's the "eighth day" lunar quarter Uposatha following the Magha Puṇṇamī Uposatha. ✨

Complex? - Yes, that is our beloved diverse humanity 💛 .

So, you see why the requests for the calendar...

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Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī & the Courageous 500 Parinibbāna Day

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