The Therigatha, the ninth book of the Khuddaka Nikaya, consists of 73 poems — 522 stanzas in all — in which the early nuns (bhikkhunis) recount their struggles and accomplishments along the road to arahantship. Their stories are told with often heart-breaking honesty and beauty, revealing the deeply human side of these extraordinary women, and thus serve as inspiring reminders of our own potential to follow in their footsteps.

An excellent print translation of the Therigatha is Poems of Early Buddhist Nuns, translated by C.A.F. Rhys Davids and K.R. Norman (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1989).

The translator appears in the square brackets []. Pali verse numbers appear in the braces {}.

Chapter 1 — Single Verses {vv. 1-18}

Chapter 2 — Pairs of Verses {vv. 19-38}

Chapter 3 — Groups of Three Verses {vv. 39-62}

Chapter 4 — The Group of Four Verses {vv. 63-66}

Chapter 5 — Groups of Five Verses {vv. 67-126}

Chapter 6 — Groups of Six Verses {vv. 127-174}

Chapter 7 — Groups of Seven Verses {vv. 175-195}

Chapter 8 — The Group of Eight Verses {vv. 196-203}

Chapter 9 — The Group of Nine Verses {vv. 204-212}

Chapter 10 — The Group of Eleven Verses {vv. 213-223}

Chapter 11 — The Group of Twelve Verses {vv. 224-235}

Chapter 12 — The Group of Sixteen Verses {vv. 236-251}

Chapter 13 — Groups of (about) Twenty Verses {vv. 252-365}

Chapter 14 — The Group of (about) Thirty Verses {vv. 366-399}

Chapter 15 — The Group of (about) Forty Verses {vv. 400-447}

Chapter 16 — The Great Group of Verses {vv. 448-522}