Patacara is bereft of all her family
Patacara was the daughter of a rich man from
Savatthi. She was very beautiful and was well guarded by her
parents. But one day, she fell in love and eloped with a young
attendant of the family and went to live in a village far away
from Savatthi. In due course she became pregnant. As the time for
confinement drew near, on several occasions she asked permission
from her husband to return to her parents in Savatthi, but her
husband, fearing that he would be beaten up by her parents,
discouraged her. So, one day, while her husband was away, she set
out for the home of her parents. Her husband managed to catch up
with her on the way and pleaded with her to return home, but she
refused. Since the delivering time was due, she gave birth to a
son near a bush. After the birth of her son, she returned home
with her husband.
Then, she became pregnant again and she made
the same request as before and received the same answer. As the
time for the second confinement drew near she again set out for
the home of her parents in Savatthi, taking her son with her. Her
husband followed her and caught up with her on the way; but her
time for delivery was coming on very fast and it was also raining
heavily. The husband went to look for a suitable place and while
he was clearing a little patch of land, he was bitten by a
poisonous snake, and died on the spot. Patacara while waiting for
his return, gave birth to her second son. In the morning, she
searched for her husband, but only found his dead body. Full of
grief, and blaming herself for the death of her husband, she
continued on her way to her parents.
Because it had rained incessantly the whole
night, the river was swollen so it was not possible for her to
cross the river carrying both her sons. Leaving the elder boy on
one bank of the river, she crossed the stream with her day-old
son and left him on the other bank. She then went back for the
elder boy. While she was in the middle of the river, a hawk
hovered over the baby thinking it was a piece of meat. She
shouted to frighten away the hawk, but it was all in vain; the
hawk carried the baby away. Meanwhile, the elder boy heard his
mother shouting from the middle of the river and thought she was
calling for him. He tried to go to his mother, but was carried
away by the strong current. Thus, Patacara lost her two sons as
well as her husband.
So she wept and lamented loudly, 'A son is
carried away by a hawk, another son is carried away by the
current, my husband is also dead, bitten by a poisonous snake!'
Then, she met a man from Savatthi and fearfully asked after her
parents. The man replied that due to a violent storm in Savatthi
the previous night, the house of her parents had fallen down and
that both her parents, together with her only brother had died,
and had been cremated. On hearing this tragic news, Patacara went
stark mad. She did not even notice that her clothes had fallen
off from her and that she was half-naked. She went about the
streets, shouting out, 'Woe is me!'
At this time the Buddha was preaching at the
Jetavana monastery, and he saw Patacara at a distance; so he
willed that she should come to the congregation. The crowd seeing
her coming tried to stop her saying, 'Don't let the mad woman
come in. 'But the Buddha told them not to prevent her coming in.
When Patacara was close enough to hear him, he told her to
control her mind and to keep calm. As she became aware of
herself, she realised that she did not have her skirt on and
quietly sat down. Someone gave her a piece of cloth to cover
herself. She then told the Buddha how she had lost her sons, her
husband, her parents, and her only brother.
The Buddha consoled her, 'Patacara, have no
fear; you have now come to one who can protect you and can really
guide you. Throughout this round of existences (samsara),
the amount of tears you have shed on account of the death of
sons, husbands, parents and brothers is voluminous.' Then, the
Buddha expounded to her the Anamatagga Sutta,which dealt
with countless existences, and she felt relieved and calmed. The
Buddha added that one should not worry too much about those who
were gone, but that one should purify oneself and strive to
realise Nibbana. On hearing this discourse Patacara
realised the uncertainty and futility of existence and became
established in the Path that leads to the attainment of
liberation from Samsara.
Patacara became a bhikkhuni. One day, she was
cleaning her feet with water from a water-pot. As she poured the
water for the first time, it flowed only a short distance and
disappeared; then she poured for the second time and the water
went a little farther, but the water she poured for the third
time went the farthest. As she looked at the flow and the
disappearance of water poured out successively for three times,
she came to perceive clearly the three stages in the life of
beings. The Buddha, seeing her through his supernormal powers
from the Jetavana monastery sent forth his radiance and exhorted
her, 'Patacara, you are now on the right path, and you now have
the true perception of the component things (khandhas)
of life. One who does not perceive the impermanence,
unsatisfactoriness and insubstantiality of the component things
is useless even if he were to live for a hundred years.' Soon
after, Patacara attained Arahanthood.
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