[178] Having gone forth in the dispensation of the Blessed One Vipassī, of Sikhī and of Vessabhū, of the sage Kakusandha, of Konāgamana the stable one (tādī), and of the Buddha Kassapa, I was a bhikkhunī accomplished in virtue, prudent, with faculties restrained;
of great learning, a bearer of the Dhamma, an inquirer into the meaning of the Dhamma; and, having learned them, a hearer of the dhammas and one who sat close in attendance.
Teaching the dispensation of the Conqueror (jina) in the midst of the people I was; and because of that great learning I despised those of amiable conduct.
And now, in my last existence, in Sāvatthī, best of cities, I was born of a water-jar slave woman (kumbhadāsī) in the house of Anāthapiṇḍika.
Gone to fetch water, I saw a twice-born brahmin, a Vedic scholar (sotthiya), afflicted by the cold in the midst of the water; and seeing him I said this:
"A carrier of water, I have always gone down into the water even in the cold, terrified by fear of my masters' rod, harassed by fear of their angry words. But of what are you afraid, brahmin, that you always go down into the water? With trembling limbs you feel the cold intensely."
"Though you surely know, good lady Puṇṇikā, you question me — one doing wholesome kamma, warding off evil kamma. Whoever, whether old or young, commits an evil deed, even he, by ablution in water, is released from that evil deed."
As he was coming up out of the water I declared to him a saying endowed with the Dhamma and its meaning; and having heard it, deeply stirred, he went forth and became an arahant.
Since, born into a family of slaves, I filled up the hundred that lacked one, my name therefore became "Puṇṇā" [the Full], and they made me a freedwoman.
Then, having gained the glad approval of the merchant (seṭṭhi), I went forth into homelessness; and in no long time I attained arahantship.
I have mastery of the psychic powers (iddhi) and of the divine ear-element (dibbasotadhātu); I have mastery of the knowledge penetrating the minds of others (cetopariyañāṇa), O Great Sage.
I know my former abodes; the divine eye (dibbacakkhu) has been purified; all my taints (āsava) are utterly destroyed; now there is no renewed existence.
In meaning, in dhamma, in language, and likewise in perspicacity, my knowledge (ñāṇa) is stainless and pure, through the power of the best of Buddhas.
Through mental development (bhāvanā) I am of great wisdom; through learning, truly learned; through conceit (māna) I was born in a low family — for kamma does not perish.
My defilements (kilesa) have been burnt away: I dwell without taints. Like a she-elephant that has burst her bonds, I dwell without taints.
Truly welcome was my coming into the presence of the best of Buddhas! The three true knowledges (vijjā) have been attained; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
The four analytic insights (paṭisambhidā), and also these eight liberations (vimokkha), and the six superknowledges (abhiññā) have been realized; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
Thus indeed did the bhikkhunī Puṇṇikā utter these verses.
The Apadāna of the Therī Puṇṇikā is concluded.
The Ninth: The Apadāna of the Therī Ambapālī (39)
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.