Biography (5) Dhammadinnā Therī

(a) Her Past Aspiration

The future Dhammadinnā Therī was born into a poor working class family in the city of Haṃsāvatī, during the time of Buddha Padumuttara. She was wise and virtuous. One day, when the Venerable Sujātā, the Chief Disciple of Buddha Padumuttara, went on his almsround, she met him in the course of carrying water and personally offered him her share of ration (a cake) for the day. The Venerable, as a mark of appreciation for her devotion, and intending to bestow welfare on her due to her meritorious deed, sat down and ate the cake immediately.

The Venerable had just arisen from dwelling in the attainment of Cessation, a condition which is conducive to immediate fruition of the merit.

The devotion, in the labourer girl slave, grew by leaps and bounds that she cut her (luscious) hair and sold it for whatever little price it could fetch. With that meagre but well-earned money, she bought a meal and offered it to Venerable Sujātā at her house. When the master of the slave girl heard this news, he was so pleased with her noble conduct that he gave his son in marriage to her and she became the Rich Man’s (her master) daughter-in-law.

One day, she visited the Buddha’s monastery together with her mother-in-law. When listening to the Buddha’s sermon, she saw the Buddha naming a bhikkhunī as the foremost in expounding the Doctrine. She had a great desire to be honoured with the same title in future time. So, she made an extraordinary offering to the Buddha and His Sangha and aspired to that position. Buddha Padumuttara prophesied that her wish would be fulfilled during the time of Buddha Gotama.

Her Existence as Royal Treasurer

The future Dhammadinnā Therī lived a meritorious life and after her life span had ended, she passed away and was reborn in the deva realm. Thereafter, she was reborn only in the human world or the deva-world. Ninety-two world-cycles ago, she was reborn as the wife of a rich man, who was the official royal treasurer to three princes who were half brothers of the Buddha. She had a very generous mind so that when someone asked for one she would give two. (Regarding the story of the Treasurer and his wife read Chapter 15.)

Her Existence as One of The Seven Daughters of King Kikī

The rich man’s wife had a life full of meritorious deeds. When she passed away, she was reborn in the deva realm. During Buddha Kassapa time, she was reborn as Princess Sudhammā, the sixth of the seven daughters of King Kikī of Bārāṇasī. Along with the other sisters, she remained a spinster, leading a noble chaste life for the whole life span of twenty-thousand years, and was a joint donor, with her sisters, of a great monastic complex to the Sangha.

(b) Becoming A Bhikkhunī in Her Last Existence

Princess Sudhammā spent the whole of her life doing meritorious deeds and at her death, she was reborn in the deva realm. Subsequently, for innumerable years, she was reborn either in the deva-world or the human world. During the time of Buddha Gotama, she was reborn into the family of a rich man in Rājagaha. When she was of marriageable age, she married a rich man named Visākhā and she was called Dhammadinnā (the Rich Man’s wife).

Visākhā and Dhammadinnā, ninety-two world-cycles ago, were also a rich couple, as the Royal Treasurer and wife during Buddha Phussa time, who were noted for their liberality. Visākhā, the rich man, was one of the one hundred and one disciples of the Buddha, who gained Stream-Entry Knowledge on the day the Buddha arrived in Rājagaha (on the full moon in the month of Pyatho (January) in the year 103 of the Great Era). He was a close friend of King Bimbisāra.

After having become an ariya as Stream-Enterer, Visākhā, on a later occasion, listened to the Buddha’s discourse and gained sakadāgāmī-phala (a Once Returner) and then on a later day anāgāmī-phala (a Never-Returner). Once he became a Never-Returner, his outlook and behaviour changed visibly. For whereas he would go home with expectancy to see his wife, his face full of smiles, he was now looking staid, his mien composed and mind tranquil.

His wife Dhammadinnā was, as usual, looking through the window with a long motif carved at the sill, awaiting his return. When she saw the sedate attitude of her husband treading home, it struck her as strange. “What has gone wrong?” she thought. She went down the stair and stretched out her hand to him at the landing. Although it was his custom to take hold of his wife’s welcoming hand and go up the stairs (speaking amiably together), on that day, he withdrew his hand instead of holding hers. “Perhaps I shall find out about this at the table,” she thought to herself. But at the morning meal, he did not sit at table together with his wife as usual, but took his meal alone in silence, like an elderly bhikkhu engaged in meditation. “Perhaps I shall find out about this in the evening,” she thought to herself.

But when evening came, Visākhā did not go into their inner chamber, instead, he had a separate room prepared for him with a wooden cot on which he slept alone. His wife now started worrying. “Is my husband in love with another woman? Or has someone tried to cause misunderstanding between us? Or has he seen some fault in me?” These wild unfounded speculations gnawed at her innocent heart. After two or three days she could not bear it any further silently and standing by his side meekly, her joined palms raised in salutation to her husband, she awaited how he would respond.

Then he said:

“Why do you come near me at this untimely hour?”

“Untimely, yes, my lord. But you have changed now. What’s the matter with you? Is there another woman beside me?”

“No, Dhammadinnā, there is none.”

“Then, has someone put in a wedge between us?”

“No, there is none of the sort.”

“In that case, do you see any fault in me?”

“No, Dhammadinnā, you have no fault whatever.”

“If so, why do you stay aloof from me as though we were total strangers and not husband and wife? You have not talked to me much these few days.”

When confronted thus by his wife, Visākhā pondered: “Supramundane Dhamma is a profound thing, not easy to explain like mundane matters. If possible, it had better be kept to oneself. But now, if I did not talk about it Dhammadinnā would certainly take it amiss and be broken hearted.”

Thus thinking to himself, Visākhā said to her:

“Dhammadinnā, after I have listened to the Buddha’s discourses, I have comprehended the Supramundane Dhamma. One who comprehends the Supramundane finds mundane affairs incompatible with him. If you would agree, there are forty crore worth of treasures that your parents have endowed to us, and another forty crore worth of treasures that my parents have endowed to us, these eighty crore worth of treasures, I would bequeath to you as sole owner, and treat me just as a mother or an elder sister. I shall be content with whatever manner you might look after me. Or, if you so choose, you may take all those wealth with you and go back to your parents' house. If you have no other man to give your heart, I shall look after you as my younger sister or as my daughter.”

On hearing these momentous and frank words from her husband, Dhammadinnā was deeply satisfied. She thought to herself: “It is no ordinary man to say such things. My husband surely must have comprehended the Supramundane Dhamma. But is the Supramundane solely for men? Is it possible for a woman to understand it?”

Pondering thus, she said to her husband: “My lord, is the Supramundane Dhamma solely for men? Are women also capable of knowing it?”

“Why, Dhammadinnā, anyone, male or female, who practices the Dhamma according to the Doctrine, with due diligence can become heirs to the Buddha, in the matter of the Dhamma. If one has sufficing condition, i.e. a built-up of past merit for attaining the Path-Knowledge, the Supramundane is realisable.” answered Visākhā.

“If so, my lord, give me permission to become a bhikkhunī.”

“Very well, my dear, I am glad you aspire for the Supramundane. I have not suggested it to you only because I did not know your aptitude.”

Visākhā then immediately went to see King Bimbisāra who asked him: “O Rich Man, what is your purpose in seeing me at this untimely hour?”

“Great King,” Visākhā said, “Dhammadinnā wishes to become a bhikkhunī.”

“What shall I provide Dhammadinnā with?”

“Great King, I want just-two things: the golden palanquin and the tidying up of tile city.”

The King complied with these two requests.

Great Ceremony on Dhammadinnā becoming A Bhikkhunī

Visākhā had Dhammadinnā bathed in scented water, fitted out gorgeously, and got her seated in the palanquin. Then, surrounded by all her relatives (and the husband’s relatives) she was carried to the bhikkhunīs’ ‘monastery’ through the city whose environment was rich with the fragrance of incense and flowers. At the bhikkhunīs’ ‘monastery’, Visākhā requested the bhikkhunī-elders to admit his wife Dhammadinnā into the Order of Bhikkhunīs. “O rich man,” they said, “forbear if she has been at fault for once or twice.” (They thought that Visākhā was forsaking his wife.)

“Venerable”, Visākhā replied, “My wife has no fault whatever, she is taking up the monastic life of her own accord.”

Thereupon, a bhikkhunī who was adept at the Vinaya gave Dhammadinnā instructions to reflect on the loathsomeness of the body, beginning with reflecting on the group of its five constituent parts, namely, hair, body hair, nails, teeth, and skin. Then she shaved Dhammadinnā’s hair, donned her with the robes. Visākha then made obeisance to Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā and said: “Venerable, be happy in the monastic life in the Teaching. The Buddha has taught us the Doctrine which is superb in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end.” Then he went home.

From the day Dhammadinnā became a bhikkhunī, she received much respect and many gifts from the people. In seeing so many visitors, she had little time left to meditate alone. (Thus this much is the account of Dhammadinnā, taken from the Commentary on Majjhima Nikāya, Mūla paṇṇāsa, Cūḷvedalla Sutta).

Dhammadinnā Therī considered thus: “Visākhā has made an end of dukkha even while remaining in household life. I, as a bhikkhunī, must make an end of dukkha.” She went to her preceptor bhikkhunī and said: “Venerable, I am tired of living in this place which is full of five kinds of sense pleasures. I would like to go and live in a nunnery at a small village.” The preceptors knew well that Dhammadinnā’s wish could not be ignored as she came of a high class family, and so they took her to a nunnery at a small village.

Due to her meditative exercises, in her many past existences, in seeing through the nature of conditioned phenomena, Dhammadinnā did not take long to gain Insight and attained arahatship together with the Four Discriminate Knowledges. Then knowing her own attainment, she considered which place would suit her to help others attain Enlightenment. There was nothing much she could do in the small village whereas in Rājagaha she could help her own kith and kin. So she decided to return to Rājagaha and, requesting her preceptors to accompany her, she returned to Rājagaha.

Visākhā’s Questions on The Doctrine

When Visākhā learnt that Dhammadinnā Therī had returned to Rājagaha, he was eager to know why, after having gone to live in a small village, she returned so soon. He would go to her and find out but he did not wish to ask a plain question whether she was quite at home with monastic life. Rather, he would pose profound questions relating to the five aggregates that are the objects of clinging (i.e. about sakkāyadiṭṭi), and judge her mind from the way she answered. So after paying homage to her, he sat in a suitable place and asked her doctrinal questions concerning the five aggregates that are the objects of clinging. (The series of these profound questions and answers may be found in Mūlapaṇṇāsa, 5-Cūḷayamaka vagga, 4-Cūḷavedalla Sutta.)

Dhammadinnā answered all the questions put to her by Visākhā as promptly as a racing horse gallops away and so precisely as if lotus stems were cut down by a sharp blade. Visākhā realized the high intellect of Dhammadinnā and proceeded from matters relating to the (three) lower magga-knowledges which was his limit of knowledge. He then proceeded to matters relating to arahatta-magga which he had not attained himself but about which he had merely hearsay knowledge. Dhammadinnā knew that Visākhā could properly ask about matters pertaining to the anāgāmī-phala, and that he had exceeded his limitation of knowledge when he asked:

“Venerable, what is the counterpart of Nibbāna?” She answered: “Friend Visākhā, your question has gone too far. It is not possible for you to reach the limit of such questionings. (It is not possible for him to reach the limit of such questionings because he has asked what the counterpart of Nibbāna is, whereas Nibbāna is unique and has no counterpart.) Indeed, friend Visākhā, the Noble Practice of Purity consisting of three kinds of training tends to Nibbāna, has its ultimate goal in Nibbāna, and ends in Nibbāna. Friend Visākhā, if you so desire, go to the Bhagavā and ask him to explain this matter. And bear in mind the explanation of the Bhagavā.”

Then Visākhā approached the Buddha and related to the Buddha all that had been said between him and Dhammadinnā Therī. When the Buddha heard the details of the questions and answers that took place between them, He said: “Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā is free of all forms of Craving, either of the past, or the future, or the present khandha (aggregates).”

Then the Buddha spoke in verse thus:

“(Visākhā,) he who does not cling to the aggregates that are past, future, or present, who is free from moral intoxicants and attachment him I call a Brāhmana (i.e., an arahat)."

——Dhammapada, V. 421——

By the end of the discourse, many in the audience attained Enlightenment and its Fruition at the various levels.

Then the Buddha praised Dhammadinnā, “Visākhā, layman devotee, Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā is wise. Visākhā, she is of great knowledge. Visākhā, had you asked Me the answers to those questions I, too, would have answered them in the same way Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā had answered. These are the answers to the questions. Bear in mind the answers given by Dhammadinnā." (This event was an immediate cause of Dhammadinnā being designated as the foremost bhikkhunī in expounding the Doctrine.)

(Herein, it should be remembered that the discourse given by Dhammadinnā, when endorsed by the Buddha in those clear terms, becomes a discourse of the Buddha Himself. It is like in the case of a message (written by a writer) properly endorsed and sealed by the King’s seal, becomes the King’s message. Other discourses by other disciples that have the Buddha’s endorsement also became the Buddha’s discourses.)

(c) Dhammadinnā Therī being designated as The Foremost Bhikkhunī

On one occasion, when the Buddha was staying at the Jetavana monastery in Sāvatthi, and naming distinguished bhikkhunīs, He declared:

“Bhikkhus, among My bhikkhunī-disciples who are skilled in expounding the Doctrine, Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā is the foremost (etadagga).”