Nanda (Buddhist Nun) - Enlightenment

Enlightenment

One day, the Buddha requested all the bhikkhunis to come to him individually, to receive his teaching, but Nanda did not obey. The Buddha let her be called explicitly, and then she presented herself, in an ashamed and anxious demeanour. The Buddha addressed her and appealed to all of her positive qualities so that Nanda willingly listened to him and delighted in his words. When he knew that the conversation had raised her spirits and had made her joyful and ready to accept his teaching. Since Nanda was so preoccupied with her physical beauty, the Buddha used his psychic powers to conjure the vision of a woman more beautiful than Nanda, who then aged quickly and visibly in front of her own eyes. As a result, Nanda could see, in a short time span, what could otherwise only be noticed in humans in a time span of decades: the recession of youth and beauty, the decay, the appearance of aging, such as wrinkles and gray hair. This vision affected Nanda deeply; she was shaken to the core. After having shown Nanda this confronting image, the Buddha could explain the law of impermanence to her in such a manner that she grasped its truth completely, and thereby attained the knowledge of future liberation — stream-entry. As a meditation subject, the Buddha advised her to contemplate the impermanence and foulness of the body. She persevered for extended periods with this practice "faithful and courageous day and night"; She described this in her verses:

Sick, impure and foul as well,

Nanda, see this congeries
With the unlovely, develop mind
Well-composed to singleness.

As is that, thus will this likewise be.
Exhaling foulness, evil smells,
A thing it is enjoyed by fools.

Diligently considering it,
By day and night thus seeing it,
With my own wisdom having seen,
I turned away, dispassionate.

With my diligence, carefully
I examined the body
And saw this as it really is —
Both within and without.

Unlusting and dispassionate
Within this body then was I:
By diligence from fetters freed,

Peaceful was I and quite cool.

As Nanda had been overwhelmed with her physical appearance, it had been necessary for her to apply the extreme of meditations on bodily unattractiveness as a counterbalance to find equanimity between the two opposites.

Later the Buddha recognised his half-sister as being the foremost amongst bhikkunis who practiced Jhana. This meant that she not only followed the analytical way of insight, but emphasised the experience of tranquillity. Enjoying this pure well-being, she no longer needed any sensual enjoyments and soon found inner peace, despite having become a member of the sangha out of attachment to her relatives.