ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 10.3

10.3

Then the Blessed One spoke of her greatness, saying, “Monks, this is the nun Kacaṅkalā—among my listener nuns, she is foremost of those who interpret the sūtras.”

The monks requested the Blessed One, “Lord, tell us why thousands of women have seen the Blessed One, but never has anyone run to him from a distance like that.”

“Monks,” explained the Blessed One, “Kacaṅkalā was my mother for five hundred lifetimes. She saw me and ran to me because of these habitual tendencies.”

“Lord, if she was the Blessed One’s mother for five hundred lifetimes, why is she not your mother now?”

“Monks, there are two causes and two conditions for her not being my mother now,” the Blessed One replied. “First, Mahā­māyādevī prayed, ‘Oh, but let me become the mother of the Buddha!’ And I myself, in distress, also prayed, ‘May she who is my mother, in the future not be my mother.’ ”

“What distress did she cause the Blessed One?” they asked.

“Monks,” the Blessed One replied, “bodhisattvas delight in renunciation and love to give, and she continually created obstacles to my renunciation and charity. This is why she caused me distress.”

The monks asked the Blessed One, “Lord, what action did the nun Kacaṅkalā take that ripened into her first being poor and then going forth only in her old age?”

“Bodhisattvas delight in renunciation