Verses of the Senior Monks 2.16

The Book of the Twos

Chapter Two

Mahākāḷa

There’s a big black woman who looks like a crow.

She broke off thigh-bones, first one then another;

she broke off arm-bones, first one then another;

she broke off a skull like a curd-bowl, and then

arranged them and sat nearby.

When an ignorant person builds up attachments,

that dullard returns to suffering again and again.

So let one who understands not build up attachments:

may I never again lie with a broken skull!