(Sumber gambar: Pribadi)
22. YA Paṭācārā Theri
Beliau lahir di sebuah keluarga kaya di Sāvatthi dan, ketika masih gadis muda, jatuh cinta dengan seorang pelayan ayah beliau. Kemudian, beliau menjadi hamil karena hubungan dengan pelayan tersebut, meninggalkan rumah beliau dan tinggal di suatu tempat.
Sebelum kelahiran anak kedua beliau, beliau minta sang suami membawa beliau ke rumah orang tua beliau. Dalam perjalanan ke sana beliau melahirkan anak kedua dan sang suami membangun sebuah tempat berteduh untuk melindungi beliau dari hujan. Seekor kobra datang dan menggigit sang suami sehingga meninggal dunia dengan seketika. Sambil menangis, beliau memegang anak pertama beliau, menggendong bayi yang baru lahir tersebut di satu sisi dan berjalan kaki ke Sāvatthi. Dari suatu tempat beliau menyebrang Sungai Aciravati sambil menggendong bayinya di satu sisi. Kemudian, beliau meletakkan bayi tersebut di tepi sungai. Ketika beliau sedang menyeberangi kembali sungai tersebut untuk menjemput anak pertama beliau, seekor elang besar menyambar dan terbang jauh dengan bayi tersebut. Beliau berhenti di tengah sungai dan berteriak. Anak pertama beliau berpikir beliau sedang memanggilnya dan mulai menyusul beliau. Tetapi, anak tersebut tersapu jauh oleh arus sungai. Beliau melanjutkan perjalanan ke Sāvatthi sambil menangis.
Di sana beliau mendapati rumah masa kecil beliau hancur oleh angin ribut pada malam sebelumnya dan semua penghuninya meninggal dunia. Yang tersisa hanya onggokan kayu api kremasi. Beliau menjadi gila, berlari telanjang dan, karena itu, diberi nama panggilan Paṭācārā.
Beliau akhirnya menjumpai Sang Buddha di Vihāra Jetavana yang berkata kepada beliau: ”Saudari, sadarlah kembali!” Dengan demikian, Sang Buddha menjadikan beliau menyadari penderitaan atau dukkha, beliau.
Kemudian, beliau ditahbiskan sebagai bhikkhunī dan dengan rajin melakukan perenungan-perenungan serta menjadi Arahat. Beliau terkemuka dalam Vinaya.
22. The Venerable Paṭācārā Therī
She was born to a wealthy family in Sāvatthi and, as a young girl, fell in love with a servant of her father. She then became pregnant through her relationship to the servant, fled her home and lived in a certain place.
Prior to the birth of her second child, she asked her husband and to take her to her parents’ home. On the way there she gave birth to her second child and he built a shelter to protect her from rains. A cobra came and bit him and he immediately died. Weeping, she held her first child, carried her newborn baby on one side and walked on foot to Sāvatthi. From a certain place she crossed the river Aciravati carrying her baby on one side. She then put the baby on the river bank. As she was crossing back the river to fetch her first child, a large hawk snatched and flew off with the baby. She stopped midway and shouted. Her firstborn child thought she was calling him and started out after her. But, the child was swept off by the river current. She continued her journey to Sāvatthi weeping.
There she found her childhood home was destroyed by a storm the night before and all the inhabitants died. What remained was only the funeral pyre wood. She went mad, ran naked and, hence, was nicknamed Paṭācārā.
She eventually saw the Buddha in the Jetavana Monastery who told her: ”Sister, regain your mindfulness!” The Buddha thus made her mindful of her suffering, or dukkha.
She was then ordained as a nun and diligently conducted contemplations and attained arahantship. She was foremost in the Vinaya, or the Monastic Discipline.
Ditulis oleh Rama Tjan Sie Tek, M.Sc., Penerjemah Tersumpah, Sāsanadhaja Dharma Adhgapaka, Rohaniwan Buddha Kementerian Agama Republik Indonesia
