Thig 6:6  Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī

Awakened! Hero! Homage to you,

highest of all beings—

you who’ve released me

and many other people

from suffering!

I’ve     comprehended all stress,

dried up craving, the cause,

developed the eightfold path,1

and touched cessation.

Before I was mother, son,

father, brother,

grandmother.

Not knowing things as they were,

I wandered on

without respite.

But now that I’ve seen the Blessed One,

this is my last body-heap.

Birth & wandering-on

are totally ended.

There is now

no further becoming.

I see the disciples gathered,

their persistence aroused,

resolute, constant

in strong exertion:

This is the worship of the Buddhas.2

Truly for the benefit of the many

did Māyā3 give birth to Gotama,

thrusting away the mass of pain

of those mired in illness & death.

Notes

1. Reading bhavit’aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo with the Thai edition.

2. See DN 16 on the topic of how homage is best shown to the Buddha.

3. Mahāpajāpatī’s sister, the Buddha’s mother.

See also: AN 8:51; AN 8:53