When is a Sutta not a Sutta?

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# When is a Sutta not a Sutta? 
*Facts & Fantasies in translations of the Therīgāthā*

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## What is the Therīgāthā? The facts.
- A collection of verses by ancient bhikkhunis included in the Pali Tipitaka. 
- One of the oldest spiritual texts by women anywhere in the world, and a unique testament to the spiritual accomplishments of ancient Indian women, preserved for 2,500 years in their own voices.

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## English translations
- C.A.F. Rhys Davids
- K.R. Norman
- William Pruitt
- Susan Murcott
- Andrew Schelling and Anne Waldman
- Charles Hallisey
- Thanissaro
- Usula P. Wijesuriya
- Mahendra
- Sujato & Walton
- Gnanananda
- Hellmuth Hecker & Ayya Khema

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## What is the Therīgāthā? The fantasy.
A book of original poetry has been published claiming to be a translation of the Therīgāthā. It’s actually a work of original poetry by a modern American man.
> “The First Free Women: poems of the Early Buddhist nuns,” Matty Weingast, Shambala Publications, 2020.

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## But is FFW really a translation?
- Matty Weingast: “not a translation”
- Shambhala: “in general we have not positioned this as a new translation”

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## Endorsements by Buddhist teachers on Amazon (1)
- “the words of these liberated women are transmitted”
- “These are fresh, powerful, poetic translations that bring our ancient wise women to life”
- “inspiringly poetic translation”
- “renditions of the enlightenment songs of the early Buddhist nuns”
- “rarely heard female voices”
- “the voices are distinctly female”

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## Endorsements by Buddhist teachers on Amazon (2)
- “beautifully translated collection of poems”
- “voices of the first bhikkhunis in this contemporary rendering of the Therigatha”
- “voices of these awakened Buddhist women can be heard”
- “Hearing the awakened heart expressed in such distinctive strong, clear, feminine voices”
- “fresh rendering of these ancient words will be of interest to anyone looking for feminine Buddhist voices”

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## Vijayā (Thig 6.8, part 1)

<table><tr><th>Therīgathā</th><th>Weingast</th></tr><tr><td>
Four or five times 
I left my dwelling; 
I had failed to find peace of heart, 
or any control over my mind. 
I approached a nun 
and politely questioned her. 
She taught me the Dhamma: 
the elements and sense fields, 
the four noble truths, 
the faculties and the powers, 
the awakening factors, and the eightfold path 
for the attainment of the highest goal.

</td>
<td>
When everyone else was meditating, 
I’d be outside circling the hall. 
Finally I went to confess. 
I’m hopeless, I said. 
The elder nun smiled. 
Just keep going, she said. 
Nothing stays in orbit forever. 
If this circling is all you have, 
why not make this circling your home?
</td>
</tr>
</table>

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## Vijayā (Thig 6.8, part 2)

<table><tr><th>Therīgathā</th><th>Weingast</th></tr><tr><td>

After hearing her words, 
I did her bidding. 
In the first watch of the night, 
I recollected my past lives. 
In the middle watch of the night, 
I purified my clairvoyance. 
In the last watch of the night, 
I shattered the mass of darkness. 
I then meditated pervading my body 
with rapture and bliss. 
On the seventh day I stretched out my feet, 
having shattered the mass of darkness.
</td>
<td>
I did as she told me, 
and went on circling the hall. 
If you find yourself partly in 
and partly out— 
if you find yourself drawn to this Path 
and also drawing away— 
I can assure you, 
you’re in good company. 
Just keep going. 
Sometimes the most direct path isn’t a straight line. 
</td>
</tr>
</table>

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## Bhaddā Kāpilānī (Thig 4.1, part 1)

<table><tr><th>Therīgathā</th><th>Weingast</th></tr><tr><td>
Kassapa is the son and heir of the Buddha, 
whose mind is immersed in samādhi. 
He knows his past lives, 
he sees heaven and places of loss, 
and has attained the end of rebirth: 
that sage has perfect insight. 
It’s because of these three knowledges 
that the brahmin is a master of the three knowledges.
</td>
<td>
Red Hair 
After our wedding, 
my husband and I put on robes together 
and soon went our separate ways. 
Not exactly what most would call a honeymoon. 
Is that what love looks like? 
Maybe— 
when you see what love is 
and what it isn’t.

</td></tr></table>

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## Bhaddā Kāpilānī (Thig 4.1, part 2)

<table><tr><th>Therīgathā</th><th>Weingast</th></tr><tr><td>

In exactly the same way, Bhaddā Kāpilānī 
is master of the three knowledges, destroyer of death. 
She bears her final body, 
having vanquished Māra and his mount. 
Seeing the danger of the world, 
both of us went forth. 
Now we are tamed, our defilements have ended; 
we’ve become cooled and quenched.
</td>
<td>
Marriage is hard. 
The good times come and go. 
True love doesn’t throw a curtain 
over the whole world 
and imprison whoever it cares about the most 
on an empty stage. 
When the mind is free, 
it’s free of expecting 
more than is reasonable 
from any one person.
</td></tr></table>

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## Mahāpajāpati Gotamī (Thig 6.6, part 2)

<table><tr><th>Therīgathā</th><th>Weingast</th></tr><tr><td>
Oh Buddha, my hero: homage to you! 
Supreme among all beings, 
who released me from suffering, 
and many other beings as well. 
All suffering is fully understood; 
craving—its cause—is dried up; 
the eightfold path has been developed; 
and cessation has been realized by me. 
Previously I was a mother, a son, 
a father, a brother, and a grandmother. 
<td>
I know you all. 
I have been your mother, your son, your father, your daughter. 
You see me now in my final role—kindly grandmother. 
It’s a fine part to go out on. 
You might have heard how it all began— 
when my sister died and I took her newborn son to raise as my own. 
People still ask, Did you know then what he would become? 
What can I say? 
What mother doesn’t see a Buddha in her child?
</td></tr></table>

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## Mahāpajāpati Gotamī (Thig 6.6, part 1)

<table><tr><th>Therīgathā</th><th>Weingast</th></tr><tr><td>
Failing to grasp the true nature of things, 
I’ve transmigrated without reward. 
Since I have seen the Blessed One, 
this bag of bones is my last. 
Transmigration through births is finished, 
now there’ll be no more future lives. 
I see the disciples in harmony, 
energetic and resolute, 
always staunchly vigorous— 
this is homage to the Buddhas! 
It was truly for the benefit of many 
that Māyā gave birth to Gotama. 
He swept away the mass of suffering 
for those stricken by sickness and death.</td>
<td>
He was such a quiet boy. 
The first time he reached for me. 
The first time I held him while he slept. 
How could I not know? 
To care for all children without exception 
as though each will someday be the one to show us all the way home.

This is the Path.

</td></tr></table>

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## What FFW is not

- A translation
- An adaptation, a re-imagining, or a rendering
- Represention of women’s voices
- Buddhist scripture

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## What FFW is

- Original poetry loosely inspired by the Therīgāthā.
- A man, pretending to be a woman, offering advice to women.
- Voices of brown-skinned, Asian renunciate women are erased and replaced by the voice of a white American layman.
- Spiritual and cultural appropriation.
- Orientalist, racist, sexist.

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## What lessons can we draw?

- Feelings are not the truth
- Don’t believe marketing

The Dhamma is perfect just as it is: there is nothing to be added or taken away.

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## What can I do?

*First Free Women* should be withdrawn from publication.

- Contact Shambala Publications directly:
     - email: editors@shambhala.com
     - facebook: @ShambhalaPublications
     - instagram: @shambhala_publications
- Leave a review at Goodreads.
- Leave a review at Amazon.
- Add your voice to the threads on reddit and the SuttaCentral forum.

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# When is a Sutta not a Sutta? 
*Facts & Fantasies in translations of the Therīgāthā*