A Zen Koan and a Therigatha

Therigatha are the earliest recorded stories of Buddhist Vikkuni, Koan is a story in Zen Buddhism of Japan.

The Buddhist nun Ryonen was born in the 17th century in Japan. She was a poet and a ravishing beauty. Things changed and she became acutely aware of the impermanence of life. It was then that she desired to be a Buddhist monk. Later on she went on to become the head of a zen temple and worked for the suffering children.

For the story of Ryonen please go through my post:

Ryonen’s Face

This is one of the first Koan about women in the zen buddhist tradition.
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Amrapali lived in Vaishali around 500 BCE, 2700 years ago. She was a ravishing beauty, for whom the mighty Ajatashatru of Magadha attacked Vaishali and burnt the great city to marry her. They had a son.
Here again Amrapali becomes acutely aware of the impermanence of beauty and wanted to join Buddha as a vikkuni.

When the Buddha refused to grant her wish, she boldly questioned him,
“When the monks were spiritually strong enough, they would not be swayed by a mere face of a woman.”
Later on Amrapali went on to become the head of Buddha Vikkuni sangha.
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Amrapali is mentioned in the ancient Pali text both in Buddhist and Jain literature.

She was a contemporary of Buddha. The Mahaparinirvana Sutta which dates to 500 BCE says that Amrapalli donated her mango grove to the Buddha where he had preached the famous Ambapallika Sutta. That makes her one of the earliest female character in the world literature.

Both the stories though sourced from different society and different timeline, have a singular idea that struck me.

“A ravishing beauty who had dominated the sensuous life in her youth, suddenly became acutely aware about the impermanence of life and beauty. Both renounce their luxurious life and go on again to dominate the monastic life.

Both stories boldly underline the impermanence of wealth, beauty, name and fame, A true Buddhist philosophy.