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Publication of Three Discourses concerning Mahapajapati Gotami

Posted on December 20, 2014December 20, 2014 by Ānandajoti

Mahapajapati Gotami

I recently completed work on the translation of three discourses from the Anguttaranikāya (Bk 8 51-51) along with a complete translation of the commentaries, which are now published on Ancient Buddhist Texts.

The first discourse concerns the establishment of the Community of nuns; the second the qualities required by a monk to be fit to teach the nuns; and the third is the discourse that led to Ven. Gotamī’s Liberation.

This has been rather longer in the making than I expected because first of all interpretation of some of the commentary was rather problematic. I was fortunate enough to have Dr. Junko Matsumura to provide some expert help with that.

Secondly the material itself is rather involved as it concerns the establishment of the Community of nuns, and the very controversial way this is presented in the first of the discourses, which insists on eight serious rules (garudhamma) that should be agreed to, and the Buddha saying the life of his Dispensation (Sāsana) will be halved by women being accepted into the Sangha.

It is quite clear to me, working on the material over the past few months, that neither of these things can be original to the establishment of the Community of nuns, and that both the garudhammas and the dire warnings are later additions.

The complications already present in the discourse are compounded in the Commentary which seems for one thing to be envisioning a different time-frame to the discourse itself, besides other things. All of this, and more, is discussed in the Introduction.

I had the benefit of consulting with Ayyā Tathālokā Bhikkhunī over many of these issues, and the work is better informed because of that input.

The work is available in two very different versions, the first with the Pāḷi text and a line-by-line translation of the discourse and its commentary, meant more for the student of Pāḷi:

Text and Translation

the second has only the English discourse and not the commentary, but it also has a reading of the translation embedded in the text, so if you want to listen rather than read you can do so here:

English translation (without the commentary)

mp3s for download

The material is also made available in various formats: html, pdf, epub, mobi and mp3, and I hope the work will go some way to help people understand some of the issues involved in the debate about the nuns’ ordinations.

4 thoughts on “Publication of Three Discourses concerning Mahapajapati Gotami”

  1. Mario Galle (Buddhist Monk) says:
    March 5, 2015 at 11:59 pm

    Anandajoti,
    Dear Dharma Friends:

    I am a Buddhist monk and I wish to thank you very much for your kind and generous Dharma giving. Now I will start reading your books and materials. If you think it is good to tranlate some of your books from english to spanish, I am able to do it. Just tell me what books could be the best for the begginners. In my country, Chile, South America, Buddha Dharma came some thirty years ago, and ninety-nine per cent of the people are christians (some seventeen million). So, there are maybe three thousand Buddhist (and less than one hundred meditate in a daly practice). They still have a christian view (mainly devotional) of the Buddhist practice and study. In Buddha’s Dharma, Gassho!

    Kunchok Phuntzok
    (Mario Galle.)

  2. Anandajoti says:
    March 6, 2015 at 6:43 am

    Dear Ven., very good to hear from you, and I am happy you want to translate some of the works into Spanish, and you are most welcome to do so. As I don’t know what people in Chile would really be interested in, you might just have a look here: http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/English-Texts/ET-index.htm, and explore the various categories, and see what you think would be most useful. If you need any help please contact me via email: anandajoti@gmail.com

  3. Hariom says:
    March 15, 2020 at 10:13 am

    Ven Anandajoti and Ven Kunchok Bhantes,
    I feel blessed with Piti to read your above conversation- a monk asks permission offering his will of serving Buddhism, and another monk opens his heart giving every permission to do so. The world would be so much pleasant place if more of the people in this world would even try to understand this conversation, and much better if they would really follow its notion.
    May all beings be happy!
    Hariom Shrestha

  4. Ānandajoti says:
    March 15, 2020 at 10:53 am

    Thank you very much for your kind comment, Hariom. Yes, we must all work together for the betterment of the world and mankind.

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