Vimala's Verses

Intoxicated with my complexion

figure, beauty, & fame;

haughty with youth,

I despised other women.

Adorning this body

embellished to delude foolish men,

I stood at the door to the brothel:

a hunter with snare lid out.

I showed off my ornaments,

and revealed many a private part.

I worked my manifold magic,

laughing out loud at the crowd.

Today, wrapped in a double cloak,

my head shaven,

having wandered for alms,

I sit at the foot of a tree

and attain the state of no-thought.

All ties - human & divine - have been cut.

Having cast off all effluents,

cooled am I, unbound.

Original source: "Vimala: The Former Courtesan" (Therigatha 5.2), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, 8 August 2010. Link: Vimala: The Former Courtesan