Poem: Vimalā, stripper courtesan nun

Renounce bondage for freedom?

Intoxicated with my own beauty,

figure, appearance, fame,

and on account of my youth,

I looked down on others.

I adorned this pretty body,

the lament of fools,

stood at the brothel door,

a huntress setting a snare.

I was a stripper for them,

revealing enticing treasures.

Creating an intricate illusion,

laughing as I teased those men.

Today, having wandered for alms,

head shaved, clothed in ascetic robes,

I sat at the root of a tree to meditate;

I've gained freedom from thought.

All bondage fetters are severed,

both the human and the heavenly.

Having done away with all defilements,

I have become cooled and quenched.

Purified of defilements?

The forgotten women living in the time of Buddha, Part 3: The never-crowned Queen Ambapali

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We humans are full of defilements -- lust, annoyance, delusion (the Three Poisons of the heart/mind). How could ordinary folks ever get free, much less naughty sex workers entangled in all kinds of addiction, ego, hatred, and self-esteem issues? If only the Buddha had taught this world a path of purification.

American child sex star Brooke Shields

In the courtesan's mango grove

Dhr. Seven (trans.) based on Bhikkhu Sujato, "In Ambapālī’s Mango Grove" (SN 47.1)

Free of defilements, full of bliss

Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying near Vesālī, in the rich courtesan Ambapālī’s mango grove. There he addressed the meditators, “Meditators!”

“Venerable sir,” they responded, and then he taught them:

“Meditators, four kinds of mindfulness meditation are the path to convergence, for the (self-) purification of beings, to get beyond sorrow and sadness, to make an end of pain and lamenting, to discover the Middle Way, and to realize the bliss of nirvana (cessation). What are the four?

“One meditates [and emerges] observing the body — keen, alert, and mindful, free of greed and grief regarding the world.

“One meditates observing feelings — keen, alert, and mindful, free of greed and grief regarding the world.

“One meditates observing the mind — keen, alert, and mindful, free of greed and grief regarding the world.

“One meditates observing phenomena — keen, alert, and mindful, free of greed and grief regarding the world.

“Four kinds of mindfulness meditation are the path to convergence, for the purification of beings, to get beyond sorrow and sadness, to make an end of pain and lamenting, to discover the Middle Way, and to realize the bliss of nirvana.”

This is what the Buddha taught. Contented, the meditators rejoiced in his words.

• Dhr. Seven (trans.), based on Bhikkhu Sujato (Thig 5.2: Vimalā Therīgāthā), "Vimalā, the Former Courtesan," Therigatha (Verses of the Enlightened Elder Nuns) 5.2