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Song of a Former Courtesan
person
Don't believe everything you thinkThe liminal space Veteran
It is inspiring to remember that from a Buddhist point of view, "Every saint has a past, every sinner a future."
Vimala Theri (Thig 5.2), a Buddhist nun at the time of the Buddha, awakened and, attaining full enlightenment, recorded her experience in a hymn. The Therigatha, a collection of such hymns (gatha), reveals her story:
Young and overbearing --
drunk with fame, beauty,
with my figure, its flawless appearance --
I despised other women.
Heavily made up, I leaned
against the brothel door
and flashed my wares. Like a hunter,
I laid my snares to surprise fools.
I even taught them a trick or two
as I slipped my clothes off
and bared my secret places.
O how I despised them!
Today, head shaved, wrapped
in a single robe, an almswoman,
I move about, or sit at the foot
of a tree, empty of all thoughts.
All ties to heaven and earth
I have cut loose forever.
Uprooting every obsession,
I have put out the fires.
http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com/2012/08/song-of-former-courtesan.html
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