213. Associating with noble friends has been praised by the Great Sage, the Buddha, for the well-being of the world. Through the association of noble friends, even a fool becomes wise.
214. One should associate with wise, noble people. It is through this association that one’s wisdom is increased. The one who associates with wise, noble people is liberated from all suffering.
215. The one who associates with wise, noble people comprehends the Four Noble Truths: suffering, the arising of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the Noble Eightfold Path.
216. The Great Teacher, the incomparable tamer of people, said that the life of a woman is painful. It is truly painful to be a co-wife under one husband. Because of pain some women only give birth once.
217. During labour, some women slit their throats because of unbearable pain. These suffering women take poison to escape pain and die. In some miscarriages both the mother and baby die.
218. When I was ready to give birth, I left to go see my parents. But before I reached their house, I gave birth along the way. I also saw my husband lying dead in the forest.
219. My life was miserable. I witnessed the death of my two sons and my husband. I saw the funeral pyre on which the bodies of my mother, father and sister were being burnt.
220. [The Buddha:] Miserable woman, with family and wealth destroyed, you have suffered immeasurable pain. You have shed tears for thousands of births in this saṁsāra.
221. Wandering in this cycle, I have lived in cemeteries, I have eaten the flesh of my own children, my families have been destroyed, I have been disgraced by everyone. My husbands died in accidents, but in this life I achieved the deathless, Nibbāna, the ultimate freedom.
222. I developed the Noble Eightfold Path leading to deathlessness. I achieved ultimate freedom. I experienced all these attainments through the mirror of the Dhamma.
223. I have cut out the dart of sorrow. I have lowered the heavy load of defilements. What had to be done to end suffering has been done. These were said by the enlightened Nun Kisāgotamī, who has a fully liberated mind.
These verses were said by Arahant Nun Kisāgotamī.
