Tathālokā Therī
October 5, 2023

Remembering and honoring our great awakened foremother, Arahatī Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, today on her Arahatship Day,* with profound reverence.
*See below for more on her Arahatship Day
In her memory, i share the names and forms of these three great stupas offered in her honor long ago, recognizing their meaningfulness and importance, as the Buddha himself did, meanwhile mindful that we, with regards to arahantas, as to ourselves, should not be too strongly identified with names and forms.
Reading the venerable bhikkhu pilgrim Tripitaka Dharma Master Xuanzang 玄奘 三藏法師, we see that there were at least three famed stupas/ pagodas/ cetiyas established dedicated to the most venerable Mahā Prajāpatī Gotamī: at Vesali=Vaishali, at Sāvatthi=Srāvasti, and at Kapilavatthu=Kapilavastu Nigrodhārāma.**
**The identification of these, as many of the ancient pilgrimage sites, is provisional. The detailed pilgrimage diary of the Venerable Xuanzang has been a great boon and help in re-identifying many sites which were lost, in seeking out still lost sites, and in re-questioning some earlier identifications. See the page Retracing Bodhisattva Xuanzang for more on this great work.

The old "SI-YU-KI Buddhist Records of the Western World" 大唐西域記 in Samuel Beal's English translation (source)
If one were to read only the old "SI-YU-KI Buddhist Records of the Western World" 大唐西域記 in Samuel Beal's English (as i initially did), you might not know that "towers" meant "stupas" 窣堵波.*** Or you might think there were only two of these "towers" related to "the Buddha's maternal aunt Prājapatī" 佛姨母 鉢邏闍鉢底 (the venerable Xuanzang notes the older pronunciation of her name was Pajāpatī 波闍波提). However, reading the Classical Han Chinese preserved in Taisho Tripitaka (as i later did), one learns there are three.
***What is translated into English as a "tower" here are the Chinese characters 窣堵波, which is the Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit stupa (स्तूप). In Chinese, the word 塔 is also used as transliteration of the Indic thepe, thope, thup, thupa. Also known as a cetiya / chaitya / chedi ; pagoda or dagoba.
Perhaps someone keen-minded may have noticed that i mentioned "three famed stupas/ pagodas/ cetiyas established dedicated to the most venerable Mahāprajāpatī Gotamī: at Vesali=Vaishali, at Sāvatthi=Srāvasti, and at Kapilavatthu=Kapilavastu" -- but i only showed images of two records here, missing Vesali / Vaishali. That's because Samuel Beal's English translation shown above does not include translation of this part. I checked the Chinese text, and it is there!
去此不遠有窣堵波,是菴沒羅女故宅,佛姨母等諸苾芻尼於此證入涅槃。
"Not far from there is a stupa. It was built at the old house of Ambapālī, and the Buddha's maternal aunt and many other bhikkhunīs have entered Nibbāna here." (Source)
And then it all got easier, and much more accessible. In the 2016 BDK Tripitaka English translation of T2087 as "Great Tang Record of the Western Regions" shared here--now available in free PDF-- all three stupas commemorating the venerable Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī are clearly and well and properly translated as such. And the text is searchable.

2016 BDK Tripitaka English translation of T2087 as "Great Tang Record of the Western Regions"
Details of the Stupa locations:
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.

Description of the Robe-Offering Stupa in "Great Tang Record of the Western Regions"
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.

Description of the Rājakārāma Stupa in "Great Tang Record of the Western Regions"

At Sāvatthi / Srāvasti 室羅伐悉底國:
Highlighted:
- stupa 窣堵波
- Prajāpatī (Pajāpatī) 鉢邏闍鉢底 (波闍波提)
[0899a17] 法堂側不遠,故基上有窣堵波,是佛姨母鉢邏闍鉢底(唐言生主。舊云波闍波提,訛也)苾芻尼精舍,勝軍王之所建立。次東窣堵波,是蘇達多(唐言善施。舊曰須達,訛也)故宅也。
The Buddha Exhumed page, has offered a video, also based on Xuanzang here, proposing this location for the stupa marking Mahāpajāpatī's Sanghārāma.
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.

Description of the Parinibbāna Stupa in "Great Tang Record of the Western Regions"

"In Vaishali / Vesali...
Three miles to the northeast in the district of Kalyan...there is a stupa built at the old residence of Ambapālī [which she donated to the Sangha]; the Buddha's maternal aunt [Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī] and the other bhikkhunīs have entered [Pari]Nibbāna here."
[0908b22] 伽藍東北三里有窣堵波,是毘摩羅詰(唐言無垢稱。舊曰淨名,然淨則無垢,名則是稱,義雖取同,名乃有異。舊曰維摩詰,訛略也)故宅基趾,多有靈異。去此不遠有一神舍,其狀壘甎,傳云積石,即無垢稱長者現疾說法之處。去此不遠有窣堵波,長者子寶積之故宅也。去此不遠有窣堵波,是菴沒羅女故宅,佛姨母等諸苾芻尼於此證入涅槃。
Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Parinibbāna Stupa site location based on Xuanzang-
See big circle upper right quadrant yellow dot: "Map.2. Sacred landscape of Vaiśālī as described by Xuanzang".

"Map.2. Sacred landscape of Vaiśālī as described by Xuanzang" from Retracing Bodhisattva Xuanzang Project
Kudos to the Retracing Bodhisattva Xuanzang Project!
These photos below show the ancient mound identified with the Mahāpajāpatī stupa that is the yellow dot inside the large white circle above -
from Deepak Anand's "Sacred Landscape of Vaishali":

In the Early Buddhist Teachings, the Buddha is recorded as speaking of four types of persons as worthy of stupas, namely, the Samma Sambuddhas, the solitary buddhas (paccekabuddhas), the Arahant disciples of the Buddha (sāvaka and sāvikā buddhas) and those who have entered the Arahant Path (stream-enterers and beyond), as well as righteous universal leaders (cakkavātirāja).
Scholars note secondary texts that record bhikkhunīs and sāmanerīs honoring and venerating great leading arahatī Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī's relics and images on festival days until the first century BCE, as well as the presence of venerated leading bhikkhunīs after the Buddha's time. Their existence is well recorded in South Asia up into at least the 10th century (around fifteen centuries years after the Buddha), and from the 5th thru 21st centuries in East Asia.
It is noteworthy that 5th century monastic pilgrim Faxian also visited and recorded stupas marking great events in the life of other leading bhikkhunī disciples of the Buddha. These include a stupa connected to one of his two chief leading bhikkhunī disciples (aggasāvikā): the venerable Uppalavaṇṇā Therī, who the Buddha commended as foremost among all of his bhikkhunī disciples in spiritual powers, at Sankassa aka Sankissa, the site of her great miracle, still extant in ruined form.
There are no bhikkhunī disciples stupas mentioned so frequently by the venerable Xuanzang as those of the late most venerable maternal aunt and foster mother of the Buddha, who was the founding mother and leader of his Bhikkhunī Sangha, Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, whose arahatship we remember today.
Living Contemporary Places of Pilgrimage: Revival of a Living Heritage
This past winter, our good friend Upāsikā Dr. Marlai Ouch went on pilgrimage to India and visited all three of these ancient sacred sites, together with her Mother, her Dhamma son (a Buddhist monk who has served as a pilgrimage guide in India in past years), two bhikkhunīs who we know well who have stayed with us at Dhammadharini, Ven Mettajivi Bhikkhuni and then-newly-ordained Ven Dhammānusārī Bhikkhunī, and four sāmanerīs.
I share Upāsikā Marlai's pilgrimage photos from the site where (1) Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī first requested to enter monastic life; (2) where she lived a great many of her nearly 40 years as a bhikkhunī with the Bhikkhunī Sangha, and (3) the area of her Parinibbāna and place of the enshrinement of at least some of her crematory relics.
1. the Mahāpajāpatī robe-offering stupa at Nigrodhārāma:

Image from Marlai's post and associated YouTube video
2. The royally-offered great bhikkhunīs' monastery Rājakārāma of Sāvatthi (Srāvasti):

From Marlai's post on Rājakārāma near Jetavana in Sāvatthi, and associated YouTube video
3. The ruins of the Parinibbāna Stupa of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī outside of Vaishali (Vesali):

From Marlai's post on her pilgrimage visit to this sacred place, and the associated YouTube video
Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī's Arahatship Day
Per distinguished senior monastic author Sayadaw Dr. Nandamālābhivaṁsa, rector of International Theravāda Buddhist Missionary University (ITBMU), offered on his 75th birthday (in 2015). The Sayadawgyi notes in his "Bhikkhunī-Sāsana in the Theravāda Tradition" (p 33) that Pāli-text records Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī Therī's Day of Arahathood to be the eighth day after her ordination with the Buddha.
"As for Bhikkhunī Pajāpatī Gotamī, she carried out the role of a leader to open the path for women to entering into the sāsana. After the 8th day of her ordination, she became an arahant and passed away at the ripe age of 120 years."
From the Aggatherivatthu:
Evaṁ upasampannā pana Mahāpajāpatī,
Then, after her higher ordination, Mahāpajāpatī,
Satthāraṁ upasaṅkamitvā abhivādetvā, ekamantaṁ aṭṭhāsi,
after approaching the Teacher and bowing down, stood on one side,
athassā Satthā Dhammaṁ desesi.
and the Teacher taught the Dhamma to her.
Sā Satthu santike va kammaṭṭhānaṁ gahetvā, Arahattaṁ pāpuṇi.
After taking a meditation subject in the presence of the Teacher, she attained Liberation.
(93 While listening to the Saṁkhittasuttaṁ, AN 8.53.)
The commentary says:
Iminā ca pana ovādena Gotamī Arahattaṁ pattā. ti
With this advice Gotamī attained Liberation.
(Source)
- from the Therīgāthā -
“Homage to you, Buddha, Hero!
Best of all beings,
who released me and many others
from suffering.
“Buddha vīra namo tyatthu,
sabbasattānamuttama;
yo maṃ dukkhā pamocesi,
aññañca bahukaṃ janaṃ.
All suffering is fully understood,
craving, its cause, has been made to wither,
the Eightfold Path has been developed,
and I have attained cessation.
sabbadukkhaṃ pariññātaṃ,
hetutaṇhā visositā;
bhāvito aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo,
nirodho phusito mayā.
In the past I was a mother, a child,
a father, a brother,
and a grandmother.
Blind to the truth,
I returned again and again,
never finding in the darkness what I sought.
Mātā putto pitā bhātā,
ayyakā ca pure ahuṃ;
yathābhuccamajānantī,
saṃsariṃhaṃ anibbisaṃ.
I have seen the Bhagavant—
indeed, this is my last body.
Destroyed is rebirth in saṁsāra,
now there is no coming back
to any state of being.
Diṭṭho hi me so bhagavā,
antimoyaṃ samussayo;
vikkhīṇo jātisaṃsāro,
natthi dāni punabbhavo.
See the disciples on the path—
established in energy, self-directed,
always making a sincere effort:
this is paying homage to the Buddhas!
Āraddhavīriye pahitatte,
niccaṃ daḷhaparakkame;
samagge sāvake passe,
esā buddhāna vandanā.
Indeed, for the benefit of many beings,
Māyā gave birth to Gotama.
Sickness, death,
and the mass of suffering are vanquished.”
Bahūnaṃ vata atthāya,
māyā janayi gotamaṃ;
byādhimaraṇatunnānaṃ,
dukkhakkhandhaṃ byapānudī”ti.
Noting that, per the Therīgāthā, in their songs of liberation, the venerable bhikkhunīs Sāmā Therī, Uttamā Therī, and Subhā Therī, also all related having attained Arahatship on the eighth day after their entering monastic life and ordaining.