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Life Worth Living is an initiative of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School.
How does a good life feel?
The Subhā Therīgāthā & Joyful Equanimity
Life Worth Living Team
"...For in the midst of blame and praise, joy and sorrow, my mindfulness stands firm, knowing that the conditioned is foul, my mind clings not to anything at all.”
Listen on
A young Buddhist nun goes to great lengths to show how enlightenment has allowed her to live in peace.
Pairings
Our responses to life's big questions are meant to form a coherent whole—a vision of life worth living. A response to one question will fit well with certain responses to other questions, but it will be incompatible with others. We've provided the "Pairs Well With" and "Pairs Poorly With" sections for this article to help you consider these questions of coherence.
When we think of how “the good life” should feel, we might be drawn to think of emotions we notice when we feel great: joy, happiness, pleasure, love. The experiences of these feelings seem unanimously good. For this reason, it can be a difficult sell to suggest the good life should feel anything less than the very best these feelings have to offer.
But the Therīgāthā, verses from early enlightened nuns in the Buddhist tradition, suggests that the joyful equanimity of enlightenment is a far worthier feeling than any physical or emotional experiences of pleasure. Enlightenment breaks the never-ending cycle of desire we’re naturally inclined to, instead leading us to a state of peace and tranquility. In the following excerpt, Subhā, a beautiful young nun, goes to great lengths to show her would-be-seducer how enlightenment has allowed her to detach from bodily pain and pleasure, and to live in peace instead.
[.alt-blockquote]“While the nun Subhā was going to the delightful Jīvaka‘s mango grove, a rogue stops her.[…][.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote][The rogue:] “You are young and not bad-looking […] what good is going-forth for you? Throw away your brown robes! Come let us delight in the flowering grove! […] What delight is there for you, if you were to plunge alone into the grove?[…][.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote]Your eyes are like a fawn‘s […] Gazing at your eyes, my sensual delight grows all the more. Gazing at your eyes in your spotless face like gold, comparable to a lotus bud, my sensual delight grows. Even if you‘re gone far away, I shall remember you, your long eye-lashes, your pure gaze. For no eyes are dearer to me than yours” […][.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote][Subhā:] “You wish to go by the wrong path, you seek the moon for sport, You wish to leap over Mount Meru, you long for one who is Buddha-born. There is no lust for me anywhere here in the world with its devas: I know not what it would be like: for, it has been killed down to the root by the [Buddhist] path. […][.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote]If it were for one unreflective, or one who has not served the Teacher, you could have lusted for someone like that—but having lusted for this one who knows, you will grieve! For in the midst of blame and praise, joy and sorrow, my mindfulness stands firm, knowing that the conditioned is foul, my mind clings not to anything at all.” […][.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote]Plucking it out, Subhā, the one beautiful to behold, and with detached mind, unattached, said, “Come, take you this eye!” She gave it to the man at once.[.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote]And at once his passion ceased, and right there he begged for her forgiveness: ”Be whole again, brahmacarini [who lives the holy life], such a thing will not happen again! In violating such a person, in embracing such a blazing fire, I have seized a venomous serpent! Be whole again! Forgive me!”[.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote]And then freed from him, the nun went before the noble Buddha. Seeing him with the marks of noble merit, her eye became whole again as before.”[.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote-attribution]-Subhā Therīgāthā[.alt-blockquote-attribution]
Questions
- Subhā likely felt physical pain when she pulled her eye out. How does her example of non-attachment despite (excrutiating) bodily discomfort change your thinking about enlightenment?
- Have you ever noticed a cycle of desire in your own life, where getting what you wanted prompted more desire?
- What differences are there between apathy and detachment?
- This story exemplifies confronting sexual harassment with non-attachment. What are the dangers in this? Is this ideal?
- How would pursuit of enlightenment and non-attachment change your approach to social advocacy?
- How would your life today change if you prioritized feeling tranquil and peaceful? Are there emotions you imagine missing the feeling of? Why might that be?
Context
- Read the Subhā Therīgāthā
Pairings
Our responses to life's big questions are meant to form a coherent whole—a vision of life worth living. A response to one question will fit well with certain responses to other questions, but it will be incompatible with others. We've provided the "Pairs Well With" and "Pairs Poorly With" sections for this article to help you consider these questions of coherence.
When we think of how “the good life” should feel, we might be drawn to think of emotions we notice when we feel great: joy, happiness, pleasure, love. The experiences of these feelings seem unanimously good. For this reason, it can be a difficult sell to suggest the good life should feel anything less than the very best these feelings have to offer.
But the Therīgāthā, verses from early enlightened nuns in the Buddhist tradition, suggests that the joyful equanimity of enlightenment is a far worthier feeling than any physical or emotional experiences of pleasure. Enlightenment breaks the never-ending cycle of desire we’re naturally inclined to, instead leading us to a state of peace and tranquility. In the following excerpt, Subhā, a beautiful young nun, goes to great lengths to show her would-be-seducer how enlightenment has allowed her to detach from bodily pain and pleasure, and to live in peace instead.
[.alt-blockquote]“While the nun Subhā was going to the delightful Jīvaka‘s mango grove, a rogue stops her.[…][.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote][The rogue:] “You are young and not bad-looking […] what good is going-forth for you? Throw away your brown robes! Come let us delight in the flowering grove! […] What delight is there for you, if you were to plunge alone into the grove?[…][.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote]Your eyes are like a fawn‘s […] Gazing at your eyes, my sensual delight grows all the more. Gazing at your eyes in your spotless face like gold, comparable to a lotus bud, my sensual delight grows. Even if you‘re gone far away, I shall remember you, your long eye-lashes, your pure gaze. For no eyes are dearer to me than yours” […][.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote][Subhā:] “You wish to go by the wrong path, you seek the moon for sport, You wish to leap over Mount Meru, you long for one who is Buddha-born. There is no lust for me anywhere here in the world with its devas: I know not what it would be like: for, it has been killed down to the root by the [Buddhist] path. […][.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote]If it were for one unreflective, or one who has not served the Teacher, you could have lusted for someone like that—but having lusted for this one who knows, you will grieve! For in the midst of blame and praise, joy and sorrow, my mindfulness stands firm, knowing that the conditioned is foul, my mind clings not to anything at all.” […][.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote]Plucking it out, Subhā, the one beautiful to behold, and with detached mind, unattached, said, “Come, take you this eye!” She gave it to the man at once.[.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote]And at once his passion ceased, and right there he begged for her forgiveness: ”Be whole again, brahmacarini [who lives the holy life], such a thing will not happen again! In violating such a person, in embracing such a blazing fire, I have seized a venomous serpent! Be whole again! Forgive me!”[.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote]And then freed from him, the nun went before the noble Buddha. Seeing him with the marks of noble merit, her eye became whole again as before.”[.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote-attribution]-Subhā Therīgāthā[.alt-blockquote-attribution]
Questions
- Subhā likely felt physical pain when she pulled her eye out. How does her example of non-attachment despite (excrutiating) bodily discomfort change your thinking about enlightenment?
- Have you ever noticed a cycle of desire in your own life, where getting what you wanted prompted more desire?
- What differences are there between apathy and detachment?
- This story exemplifies confronting sexual harassment with non-attachment. What are the dangers in this? Is this ideal?
- How would pursuit of enlightenment and non-attachment change your approach to social advocacy?
- How would your life today change if you prioritized feeling tranquil and peaceful? Are there emotions you imagine missing the feeling of? Why might that be?
Context
- Read the Subhā Therīgāthā
Pairs Well With
- Minimizing the importance of circumstances in a good life
- Stoic ideas about the dangers of attachment
Pairs Poorly With
- Embrace of emotions like anger in the pursuit of justice (see Jennings, “Righteous Indignation”)
- Oscar Wilde’s high evaluation of sorrow
- Debatable: utilitarian identification of pleasure and reduction of pain as the only things desirable for their own sake (see Mill, Utilitarianism)
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