NLP Analysis of 2,500-Year-Old Enlightenment Confessions — A Gender Comparison of Theragatha and Therigatha

Posted at 2026-02-15

NLP Analysis of 2,500-Year-Old Enlightenment Confessions — A Gender Comparison of Theragatha and Therigatha

Abstract

The Pali Canon's Theragāthā (Poems of the Elder Monks, 264 poems) and Therīgāthā (Poems of the Elder Nuns, 73 poems) are the world's oldest recorded accounts of enlightenment experience, compiled around the 3rd century BCE. This study applies category analysis, keyword frequency analysis, and χ² testing to Thanissaro Bhikkhu's English-translated anthology (62 male poems, 35 female poems) to examine whether gender differences exist in the triggers of enlightenment.

The result: χ² = 24.32 (df=4, p < 0.001) — a highly significant difference. Male poems are dominated by "external sensory stimuli" and "wilderness/nature," while female poems are dominated by "relationship/loss" and "liberation from domestic life." This structural difference is consistent with AN 7:48 (attraction to the opposite sex begins with attraction to one's own body), as cited by Thanissaro Bhikkhu in his introduction, and quantitatively confirms his qualitative observation that the Theragāthā omits an important step.

Keywords: Theragatha, Therigatha, NLP, gender, enlightenment, Buddhist studies, chi-squared test, Pali Canon

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

The Theragāthā and Therīgāthā are verse collections in the Khuddaka Nikāya of the Pali Tipiṭaka. The former records the enlightenment experiences of 264 male monastics (bhikkhus); the latter records those of 73 female monastics (bhikkhunīs). The Therīgāthā is considered the oldest recorded collection of women's spiritual experience in world literature.

In his introduction to both texts, Thanissaro Bhikkhu makes a critical observation:

"The Therīgāthā is closer than the Theragāthā to the sutta accounts of what is required for overcoming attachment, because, as AN 7:48 points out, attraction to the opposite sex begins with attraction to one's own body. So in this way, the Theragāthā poems leave out an important step when describing how attachment is overcome."

In other words, the male poems skip the step of "attachment to one's own body" in describing the path to awakening, while the female poems include it. However, this qualitative observation has never been quantitatively verified.

1.2 Research Question

RQ: Is there a statistically significant gender difference in the category distribution of enlightenment triggers between Theragāthā and Therīgāthā?

1.3 Significance

Performing quantitative analysis on 2,500-year-old texts is itself novel. Additionally, this study offers practical implications for modern meditation practitioners: if the "test subjects" differ structurally between men and women, effective practice methods may also differ.

2. Method

2.1 Dataset

Text	Total Poems	Analyzed	Source
Theragāthā	264	62 poems	dhammatalks.org (Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation)
Therīgāthā	73	35 poems	dhammatalks.org (Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation)

Analysis is limited to Thanissaro Bhikkhu's anthology selections. Selection bias is discussed in Limitations.

2.2 Category Analysis

Keyword-based automatic classification was applied to each poem's summary text, assigning poems to 10 categories (multiple categories per poem permitted):

Category definitions:
├── external_sensory   : Struggle with external sensory stimuli (e.g., opposite sex's body)
├── body_self          : Attachment to one's own body / self-image
├── relationship_loss  : Relationship, loss, grief
├── domestic_freedom   : Liberation from domestic life
├── wilderness_nature  : Wilderness and natural beauty
├── heroic_persistence : Effort, endurance, heroic energy
├── doctrinal          : Doctrinal and conceptual content
├── mara_temptation    : Mara's temptation
├── body_contempt      : Contemplation of the body's unattractiveness (corpse observation, etc.)
└── teaching_others    : Teaching and guiding others

2.3 Statistical Methods

Category distribution comparison: Occurrence rates (%) compared between genders
Keyword frequency analysis: Frequencies measured for 8 keyword groups; per-poem frequency and male/female ratio calculated
χ² test: Gender × Category independence tested across the 5 major categories (external_sensory, body_self, relationship_loss, domestic_freedom, wilderness_nature)

2.4 Analysis Environment

Python 3.12
Analysis script: keyword-based categorization (manual rules)
Test: χ² independence test (manual implementation)
AI assistance: Claude Opus 4.5 (code generation, text analysis, article composition)

2.5 Reproducibility

The complete analysis code is provided in the Appendix. The dataset is publicly accessible at dhammatalks.org.

3. Results

3.1 Category Distribution

Category	Male n	Male %	Female n	Female %	Δ
relationship_loss	1	1.6%	13	37.1%	+35.5
wilderness_nature	13	21.0%	1	2.9%	-18.1
domestic_freedom	1	1.6%	5	14.3%	+12.7
mara_temptation	0	0.0%	5	14.3%	+14.3
teaching_others	1	1.6%	6	17.1%	+15.5
heroic_persistence	7	11.3%	1	2.9%	-8.4
external_sensory	10	16.1%	6	17.1%	+1.0
body_self	6	9.7%	5	14.3%	+4.6
doctrinal	32	51.6%	16	45.7%	-5.9
body_contempt	3	4.8%	1	2.9%	-1.9

The largest gap is relationship_loss: 1.6% male vs 37.1% female. Conversely, wilderness_nature: 21.0% male vs 2.9% female.

3.2 Keyword Frequency Analysis

Keyword Group	Male/poem	Female/poem	Female:Male Ratio
Domestic	0.016	0.343	21.26x
Loss / grief	0.032	0.371	11.51x
Own body (self)	0.032	0.286	8.86x
Liberation / freedom	0.081	0.286	3.54x
External body (other)	0.161	0.371	2.30x
Sensuality / desire	0.371	0.229	0.62x
Nature / wilderness	0.403	0.029	0.07x
Relationship	0.000	0.657	∞

Relationship keywords appear zero times in male poems versus 0.657 per poem in female poems. The ratio is infinite.

3.3 χ² Test Results

Gender × Category independence test on the 5 major categories:

Contingency Table:
                        Male    Female    Total
external_sensory          10         6       16
body_self                  6         5       11
relationship_loss          1        13       14
domestic_freedom           1         5        6
wilderness_nature         13         1       14
Total                     31        30       61

χ² = 24.32
df = 4
p < 0.001

Contribution (χ² contribution):
  relationship_loss : 10.69  ← largest
  wilderness_nature :  9.90  ← second largest
  domestic_freedom  :  2.80
  external_sensory  :  0.87
  body_self         :  0.06

χ² = 24.32 far exceeds the critical value of 18.467 (p=0.001) at df=4. The null hypothesis (no gender difference) is rejected at p < 0.001.

The two largest contributors — relationship_loss (10.69) and wilderness_nature (9.90) — account for 84.7% of the total χ² value.

4. Discussion

4.1 Gendered Entry Points into Dependent Origination

The results suggest that men and women enter the chain of dependent origination (paṭicca-samuppāda) at structurally different points.

4.2 Quantitative Confirmation of AN 7:48

Thanissaro Bhikkhu's observation — "attraction to the opposite sex begins with attraction to one's own body" (AN 7:48) — is clearly confirmed by the keyword analysis:

"Own body" keywords: Male 0.032/poem vs Female 0.286/poem (8.86x difference)
"External body" keywords: Male 0.161/poem vs Female 0.371/poem

Male poems describe the battle with "the opposite sex's body" while barely mentioning "one's own body." Female poems directly address "one's own body." This is a quantitative visualization of the "step omission" that AN 7:48 identifies.

4.3 The Absence of Wilderness: Female Practitioners' Environment

That "wilderness/nature" accounts for 21.0% in the Theragāthā but only 2.9% (1 poem) in the Therīgāthā may not be a mere preference difference.

In early Buddhism, bhikkhunīs faced safety constraints on wilderness practice. (Thig 14, where Subhā is accosted by a man in the forest, is direct evidence.) In other words, female practitioners could not easily adopt the strategy of "isolation from external stimuli in the wilderness." As a result, female practitioners may have taken internal letting-go of relationships as their primary practice strategy, rather than changing their external environment.

4.4 The Breast Litmus Test — Application for Modern Lay Practitioners

As a practical application of this research, I propose the possibility of using response patterns to visual aesthetic stimuli as a simple indicator of practice stage, based on textual analysis and doctrinal reasoning.

Response to visual beauty (constant stimulus) and cessation points in dependent origination (doctrinal model):

Stage              Response                           Chain flow
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Ordinary person    "I want"                           Contact→Feeling→Craving→Clinging→Suffering
Suppression        "I must not look"                  Contact→Feeling ✕ (suppressed) →Suffering
Guilt              "It's a defilement..."             Contact→Feeling→Craving + guilt →Suffering
Stream-enterer     "Beautiful, but..."                Contact→Feeling→Craving (weakened)
Once-returner      "Beautiful..."                     Contact→Feeling→Craving→STOP (doesn't reach Clinging)
Non-returner       [No reaction]                      Contact→Feeling (Craving doesn't arise)
Arahant            [Unmeasurable]                     Contact→[No perturbation]

The key here is the theoretical response at the once-returner (sakadāgāmī) stage. According to the fetter (saṁyojana) doctrine in AN 10:13, at the once-returner stage, sensual desire (kāma-rāga) and ill will (vyāpāda) are "thinned" (tanu). That is, craving arises but does not reach clinging. The aesthetic experience completes in itself and does not generate suffering.

Furthermore, non-contact observation may contain more information than contact. Touch activates self-reference and compresses information.

This indicator could serve as a real-time mindfulness test available in daily life for lay practitioners (particularly men). While monastics place themselves in environments that avoid such stimuli, lay practitioners have daily verification opportunities.

4.5 Subhā (Thig 14) — The Ultimate Detachment from One's Own Body

The episode of Subhā, the longest poem in the Therīgāthā (75 verses), holds special significance in this study's context.

When a man praises Subhā's eyes, she plucks out her own eye and offers it to him.

This is not an extreme practice of contemplating the body's unattractiveness. It is proof of complete absence of attachment to one's own body. While male practitioners attempt to control their reactions to "the opposite sex's body," Subhā does not regard "her own body" as a possession in the first place. As a consequence of what AN 7:48 points out — that attraction to the opposite sex begins with attachment to one's own body — when attachment to one's own body is zero, sexual objectification by the opposite sex is itself rendered powerless.

5. Limitations

Sample size: The analyzed set is 62 male and 35 female poems — small for a large-scale NLP study. However, this reflects the limits of the extant texts; the selected anthology covers 97 of 264 Theragāthā poems and 34 of 73 Therīgāthā poems.
Selection bias: Thanissaro Bhikkhu's anthology selection is based on literary and didactic value, not random sampling. Analysis of the complete texts remains a future task.
Category classification: Keyword-based automatic classification cannot capture contextual nuance. Validation against detailed human coding is needed.
Translation: The analyzed texts are English translations; vocabulary distributions may differ from the Pali originals.
Temporal constraints: The Theragāthā and Therīgāthā are estimated to have been compiled more than two centuries after the Buddha's passing. As Thanissaro Bhikkhu himself notes in his introduction, "descriptions of the practice process may have been compressed for dramatic effect."
Limits of modern application: The "Breast Litmus Test" model is a hypothesis based on doctrinal reasoning and the author's meditation experience; no systematic verification has been conducted. Verification through subjects' self-reports presents methodological challenges.

6. Conclusion

A statistically significant difference (χ² = 24.32, p < 0.001) in the distribution of enlightenment trigger categories between the Theragāthā (male poems) and the Therīgāthā (female poems) was confirmed.

Male practitioners center on external sensory stimuli (the opposite sex's body) and wilderness/nature, while female practitioners center on relationship/loss and liberation from domestic life. This difference is consistent with the AN 7:48 teaching that "attraction to the opposite sex begins with attraction to one's own body," and quantitatively confirms Thanissaro Bhikkhu's qualitative observation that the Theragāthā omits the step of "overcoming attachment to one's own body."

This study offers the following practical implications:

For male practitioners: Observing response patterns to visual stimuli can serve as a daily indicator of practice progress
For female practitioners: Letting go of relationships and self-image is the primary practice challenge, potentially taking priority over contemplation of the body's unattractiveness
Lay practice may hold an advantage over monastic practice in verifiability of progress, due to higher frequency of contact with "test subjects"

This study demonstrates that NLP analysis of 2,500-year-old ancient texts can yield practical insights for modern meditation practice.

7. Disclosure

7.1 About the Author

The author (dosanko_tousan) is a 50-year-old lay Buddhist practitioner (stay-at-home father) with no formal academic training, residing in Hokkaido, Japan. 20 years of meditation practice, 3,300+ hours of AI dialogue. This study was conceived during dialogue with AI (Claude Opus 4.5), with code generation, text analysis, and article composition delegated to AI as a collaborative research effort.

7.2 AI Usage

Claude Opus 4.5 (Anthropic): Data analysis code generation, statistical test implementation, article composition, English proofreading
Research conception, hypothesis construction, Buddhist scholarly interpretation: Author (dosanko_tousan)

The author has zero programming experience; every line of analysis code was AI-generated. However, the research design, hypotheses, and interpretations are grounded in the author's 20 years of meditation practice and 3,300 hours of AI dialogue.

7.3 Conflicts of Interest

None. This research is driven by personal intellectual curiosity and received no external funding.

7.4 Research Motivation

The starting point of this study was the author's observation of "changes in response patterns to visual aesthetic stimuli" experienced routinely over 20 years of meditation practice. To put it concretely: I tried to give a Buddhist scholarly framework to what happens when I see breasts, and it turned into a gender comparison study of 2,500-year-old texts.

8. References

Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.). Theragāthā: Poems of the Elder Monks. dhammatalks.org.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.). Therīgāthā: Poems of the Elder Nuns. dhammatalks.org.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu. "Introduction to the Theragāthā & Therīgāthā." dhammatalks.org.
AN 7:48. Saññoga Sutta: Bondage. (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.)
AN 10:13. Saṁyojana Sutta: Fetters. (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.)
MN 118. Ānāpānasati Sutta: Mindfulness of Breathing. (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.)

Appendix: Analysis Code (Python, Fully Reproducible)

Click to expand (Python 3.12, no dependencies, copy-paste executable)

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
NLP Comparative Analysis: Theragatha vs Therigatha
Gender Differences in Enlightenment Triggers among Early Buddhist Monastics

Usage: python3 analysis.py
Dependencies: None (standard library only)
License: MIT
"""

from collections import Counter

# ============================================================
# DATASET: Poem summaries from dhammatalks.org
# Thanissaro Bhikkhu translations
# Theragatha = 264 poems total, 62 in this anthology sample
# Therigatha = 73 poems total, 35 in this anthology sample
# ============================================================

theragatha_poems = [
    {"id": "Thag 1:1", "summary": "My hut is well-thatched, so go ahead and rain."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:2", "summary": "Evil mind-states vanish with the breeze, shaking off evil qualities as a breeze a leaf from a tree."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:3", "summary": "Discernment like a fire in the night, the discernment of the Tathagatas gives light and eyes."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:6", "summary": "The rewards of allowing yourself to be tamed, steadfast in oneself."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:13", "summary": "Refreshment in the wilderness, those rocky crags refresh me."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:18", "summary": "Sensual pleasures are stressful, whoever loves sensual pleasures loves stress."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:22", "summary": "Refreshment in the wilderness, the beauty of wild nature."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:41", "summary": "Jhana meditation in the wilderness, contemplative joy in nature."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:56", "summary": "Rhetorical questions about the nature of existence."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:85", "summary": "The practice of jhana, meditative absorption brings peace."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:93", "summary": "Whoever loves sensual pleasures loves stress. Sensuality is dangerous."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:95", "summary": "Even if I must crawl, I will go on, but not with an evil companion. Shun the evil companion."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:100", "summary": "Blanketed with the flowers of release, establishing of mindfulness."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:104", "summary": "How light my body when touched by rapture! The marvelous feeling of liberation."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:109", "summary": "With your faculties exposed, you are prey to danger from sensual objects."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:110", "summary": "The perception of wilderness, finding solitude in nature."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:111", "summary": "Going forth is hard, so is living at home. What is the way out?"},
    {"id": "Thag 1:113", "summary": "Those rocky crags refresh me. The beauty of wilderness mountains."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:114", "summary": "If you are greedy for carcass pleasures of the body, where will you gain excellence?"},
    {"id": "Thag 1:118", "summary": "As if sent by a curse, aging drops on us. The impermanence of the body."},
    {"id": "Thag 1:119", "summary": "Leave chitter-chatter. Do jhana. Cut through the roots of suffering."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:3", "summary": "Monkey mind, the restless wandering of thoughts compared to a monkey."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:9", "summary": "Sensuality has been executed. Overcoming desire for sense pleasures."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:11", "summary": "Listening well leads to the goal of liberation."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:16", "summary": "Watching a woman prepare a corpse for cremation. May I never lie with my head cracked open again. Horror at body decay."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:17", "summary": "There is safety in not being greedy for sensual pleasures."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:19", "summary": "The Buddha half-brother overcomes his attachment to a beautiful woman, telling his story of sensual struggle."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:24", "summary": "What needs to be done, I will do. Through persistence I shall reach the goal. Heroic energy."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:26", "summary": "Taking the Dhamma as a mirror, I reflected on the body. Contemplation of body impurity."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:27", "summary": "Like a fine thoroughbred steed that after stumbling regains its stance."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:30", "summary": "Killing passion for becoming. No more passion for becoming or existence."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:32", "summary": "Inconstant little houses. The impermanence of constructed things."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:36", "summary": "My mind, standing like rock, does not shake. Immovable concentration."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:37", "summary": "The night is for staying awake. Better to die in battle than to survive defeated. Heroic persistence."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:42", "summary": "Advice to a young monk about practicing well."},
    {"id": "Thag 2:47", "summary": "A monk angry at his own mind. Fury directed at mental defilements."},
    {"id": "Thag 3:5", "summary": "Cutting through suffering with persistence, hardship in the wilderness overcome."},
    {"id": "Thag 3:8", "summary": "The heroic life in the wilderness, reclusiveness and endurance."},
    {"id": "Thag 3:13", "summary": "Admonition about diligence in practice."},
    {"id": "Thag 3:14", "summary": "A tour of the Buddhist cosmos, direct knowledge of realms."},
    {"id": "Thag 3:15", "summary": "Cessation of suffering, reaching the peaceful state."},
    {"id": "Thag 4:10", "summary": "Cooled am I, unbound. The declaration of awakening after overcoming defilements."},
    {"id": "Thag 5:1", "summary": "Overcoming attachment to a beautiful woman body. Disenchantment with sensuality through contemplation."},
    {"id": "Thag 5:8", "summary": "A monk alone in the wilderness falls sick. He resolves to stay, reflecting on those who are resolute. Overcoming fear."},
    {"id": "Thag 5:10", "summary": "Making distinctions between wholesome and unwholesome states."},
    {"id": "Thag 6:2", "summary": "A monk gaining no alms nourishes himself with rapture from recollecting the Sangha. Overcoming hardship."},
    {"id": "Thag 6:6", "summary": "Disenchantment with the world, overcoming weakness to achieve awakening."},
    {"id": "Thag 6:9", "summary": "Shedding attachments and defilements one by one."},
    {"id": "Thag 6:10", "summary": "The virtue of modesty and restraint."},
    {"id": "Thag 7:1", "summary": "Overcoming attachment to the body of the opposite sex. Contemplation of a woman body leads to disenchantment and awakening."},
    {"id": "Thag 10:2", "summary": "A dramatic monologue of awakening in the wilderness. King Asoka brother."},
    {"id": "Thag 10:5", "summary": "Watching a woman body and becoming horrified. Contemplation of body unattractiveness overcomes sensual desire."},
    {"id": "Thag 11", "summary": "The beauty of the wilderness, finding peace in solitude among mountains and rivers."},
    {"id": "Thag 12:1", "summary": "Making distinctions about the path of practice."},
    {"id": "Thag 12:2", "summary": "Self-awakening through direct knowledge."},
    {"id": "Thag 14:1", "summary": "Last words before entering total unbinding. A monk peaceful death after full awakening."},
    {"id": "Thag 14:2", "summary": "Self-awakening and direct knowledge, encouragement and distinctions."},
    {"id": "Thag 15:2", "summary": "Praise and veneration of the arahant accomplishment. Unbinding with fuel remaining."},
    {"id": "Thag 16:1", "summary": "A classic heroic and marvelous account of facing death with calm. Dramatic declaration."},
    {"id": "Thag 16:7", "summary": "The thirteen ascetic practices. Contentment and simplicity in the wilderness."},
    {"id": "Thag 16:8", "summary": "Effluents and kamma in their strictly Buddhist sense. Advanced doctrine."},
    {"id": "Thag 18", "summary": "The primary example of wilderness beauty poetry. Mountains, rivers, peacocks, nature magnificence."},
]

therigatha_poems = [
    {"id": "Thig 1:1", "summary": "Passion stilled, like a pot of pickled greens boiled dry. Liberation from desire."},
    {"id": "Thig 1:3", "summary": "Grow full with good qualities like the full moon. Bursting the mass of darkness."},
    {"id": "Thig 1:11", "summary": "Free at last from three crooked things: mortar, pestle, and my crooked husband. Being unfettered from domestic oppression."},
    {"id": "Thig 1:17", "summary": "Collapsing to the ground from weakness, the Dhamma appears. Physical collapse leads to insight."},
    {"id": "Thig 2:3", "summary": "From three crooked things set free, I do jhana. Freedom from domestic labor: mortar, pestle, husband."},
    {"id": "Thig 2:4", "summary": "A high-priced courtesan becomes disgusted with her own body. Overcoming self-image and identity as a beautiful woman."},
    {"id": "Thig 3:2", "summary": "After running amok, a nun learns the Dhamma and gains awakening. Seven days of continuous meditation, on the eighth: victory."},
    {"id": "Thig 3:4", "summary": "Seeing an untamed elephant made tame, a nun centers her mind. The elephant taming analogy for self-mastery."},
    {"id": "Thig 3:5", "summary": "A mother conquers her grief over her daughter death. The Buddha frees her from sorrow over loss of her child."},
    {"id": "Thig 5:2", "summary": "A former courtesan, once adorned as a prostitute, now wrapped in a double cloak. She cuts all ties, human and divine. Cooled, unbound."},
    {"id": "Thig 5:4", "summary": "The Buddha half-sister contemplates a dead body and grows disenchanted with her own body. Overcoming attachment to one own beauty and self-image."},
    {"id": "Thig 5:6", "summary": "Once greedy for tribute and recognition, a nun comes to her senses. No time for heedlessness."},
    {"id": "Thig 5:8", "summary": "After giving birth to ten children, an old nun goes beyond birth and aging. Mother of ten conquers old age."},
    {"id": "Thig 5:9", "summary": "A former Jain ascetic, Bhadda looks back and gives thanks. She remembers her long journey through different paths."},
    {"id": "Thig 5:10", "summary": "And taking a pin, I pulled out the wick. The moment of awakening through simple observation of a lamp going out."},
    {"id": "Thig 5:11", "summary": "Patacara students pay her homage after having followed her instructions. Thirty students all gain awakening."},
    {"id": "Thig 5:12", "summary": "A former beggar, exhorted by Patacara, gains awakening. From destitution to liberation."},
    {"id": "Thig 6:1", "summary": "Patacara tells her students of the Buddha words that freed her from grief over her dead son. A mother conquers grief."},
    {"id": "Thig 6:2", "summary": "Once mad with grief over her dead son, a woman regains her mind and goes forth after meeting the Buddha. Madness from loss."},
    {"id": "Thig 6:3", "summary": "Mara tries to tempt a nun to enjoy sensuality. She contrasts effective and ineffective ways of paying homage for purity."},
    {"id": "Thig 6:4", "summary": "Returning from a picnic, a woman penetrates the Dhamma on hearing the Buddha teachings."},
    {"id": "Thig 6:5", "summary": "A wealthy millionaire daughter, sought after by many potential husbands, seeks and finds the Dhamma instead of marriage."},
    {"id": "Thig 6:6", "summary": "The Buddha stepmother pays homage to him. A mother blessing and the relationship between mother and son."},
    {"id": "Thig 6:7", "summary": "A nun recalls the Buddha admonishment. The ten fetters. Being unfettered."},
    {"id": "Thig 6:8", "summary": "After running amok, a nun learns the Dhamma and gains awakening."},
    {"id": "Thig 7:2", "summary": "Mara confronts a nun who approves of the Dhamma and approves of no one philosophy. Stilling."},
    {"id": "Thig 7:3", "summary": "A nun confronted by Mara explains why she does not approve of birth. Direct knowledge."},
    {"id": "Thig 8", "summary": "Mara tries to tempt a nun to enjoy the pleasures of heaven. She refuses heavenly delights."},
    {"id": "Thig 9", "summary": "A monk roused by his mother attains the highest peace. A mother inspires her son to practice."},
    {"id": "Thig 10", "summary": "A woman achieves the deathless after her entire family suddenly dies. The woman with the dead child. Your tears have flowed for many thousands of lives."},
    {"id": "Thig 12", "summary": "Punnika, a slave woman, teaches the Dhamma to a brahman who is trying to wash his sins away. If bathing were sacred, frogs would be pure."},
    {"id": "Thig 13:1", "summary": "A former courtesan surveys the ravages of time on her body. An exquisite portrait of aging. Hair once like bees, now like bark. Body once beautiful, now decrepit. The Truth-speaker word does not change."},
    {"id": "Thig 13:2", "summary": "Rohini convinces her father that instead of being lazy, monks actually do the best work."},
    {"id": "Thig 13:5", "summary": "When her relatives try to tempt her to marry, Subha tells them of the dangers of sensuality, then ordains and gains awakening. Resisting family pressure."},
    {"id": "Thig 14", "summary": "A nun going through the forest is accosted by a man who lusts after her eyes. She plucks out her own eye and offers it to him. He is shocked into his senses. Her eye is restored by the Buddha. Overcoming male desire by radical detachment from own body."},
]

# ============================================================
# CATEGORIZATION
# ============================================================

def categorize_poem(poem):
    s = poem["summary"].lower()
    cats = []
    if any(w in s for w in ["sensual", "sensuality", "woman body", "beautiful woman",
                             "opposite sex", "lust", "desire for sense", "courtesan",
                             "carcass pleasures", "faculties exposed"]):
        cats.append("external_sensory")
    if any(w in s for w in ["own body", "her body", "my body", "self-image",
                             "beauty", "aging", "ravages of time", "her own",
                             "plucks out", "disgusted with her", "disenchanted with her own",
                             "attachment to one own"]):
        cats.append("body_self")
    if any(w in s for w in ["grief", "daughter death", "dead child", "dead son",
                             "mother", "husband", "family", "marriage", "son",
                             "stepmother", "half-sister", "half-brother", "father"]):
        cats.append("relationship_loss")
    if any(w in s for w in ["mortar", "pestle", "crooked", "domestic", "home",
                             "slave woman", "beggar", "destitution", "birth to ten"]):
        cats.append("domestic_freedom")
    if any(w in s for w in ["wilderness", "rocky crags", "nature", "mountains",
                             "forest", "grove", "peacocks", "rivers", "wild",
                             "solitude"]):
        cats.append("wilderness_nature")
    if any(w in s for w in ["persistence", "heroic", "battle", "resolute",
                             "staying awake", "crawl", "die in battle",
                             "continuous meditation"]):
        cats.append("heroic_persistence")
    if any(w in s for w in ["jhana", "mindfulness", "dhamma", "kamma", "effluent",
                             "cosmos", "fetters", "cessation", "ascetic practices",
                             "direct knowledge", "doctrine"]):
        cats.append("doctrinal")
    if any(w in s for w in ["mara", "tempt"]):
        cats.append("mara_temptation")
    if any(w in s for w in ["corpse", "dead body", "cremation", "unattractiveness",
                             "impurity", "decay", "contemplation of body",
                             "reflected on the body", "contemplates a dead"]):
        cats.append("body_contempt")
    if any(w in s for w in ["teaches", "students", "admonish", "advice",
                             "instructions", "convinces", "tells them"]):
        cats.append("teaching_others")
    if not cats:
        cats.append("doctrinal")
    return cats

# ============================================================
# RUN ANALYSIS
# ============================================================

thag_cats = Counter()
thig_cats = Counter()
for p in theragatha_poems:
    for c in categorize_poem(p): thag_cats[c] += 1
for p in therigatha_poems:
    for c in categorize_poem(p): thig_cats[c] += 1

print("=" * 70)
print("CATEGORY DISTRIBUTION")
print("=" * 70)
print(f"Theragatha: {len(theragatha_poems)} poems | Therigatha: {len(therigatha_poems)} poems\n")
print(f"{'Category':<25} {'Thag(n)':>8} {'Thag(%)':>8} {'Thig(n)':>8} {'Thig(%)':>8}")
print("-" * 60)
for cat in sorted(set(list(thag_cats.keys()) + list(thig_cats.keys()))):
    tn = thag_cats.get(cat, 0); tp = tn/len(theragatha_poems)*100
    gn = thig_cats.get(cat, 0); gp = gn/len(therigatha_poems)*100
    print(f"{cat:<25} {tn:>8} {tp:>7.1f}% {gn:>8} {gp:>7.1f}%")

# Chi-squared test
print("\n" + "=" * 70)
print("CHI-SQUARED TEST (Gender x Trigger Category)")
print("=" * 70)
key = ["external_sensory","body_self","relationship_loss","domestic_freedom","wilderness_nature"]
obs = [(thag_cats.get(c,0), thig_cats.get(c,0)) for c in key]
rt = [sum(r) for r in obs]; ct = [sum(x[i] for x in obs) for i in range(2)]; gt = sum(ct)
chi2 = 0
for i in range(len(key)):
    for j in range(2):
        e = rt[i]*ct[j]/gt if gt else 0
        if e > 0: chi2 += (obs[i][j]-e)**2/e
df = (len(key)-1)
p = "< 0.001" if chi2>18.467 else "< 0.01" if chi2>13.277 else "< 0.05" if chi2>9.488 else "> 0.05"
print(f"\nchi2 = {chi2:.4f}, df = {df}, p {p}")

# Keyword frequency
print("\n" + "=" * 70)
print("KEYWORD FREQUENCY")
print("=" * 70)
def kf(poems, kws):
    return sum(p["summary"].lower().count(k.lower()) for p in poems for k in kws)
kgs = {
    "Domestic": ["mortar","pestle","home","domestic","birth","husband"],
    "Loss/grief": ["grief","death","dead","dies","lost","sorrow","tears"],
    "Own body": ["my body","own body","her own","aging","old age","ravages"],
    "Relationship": ["mother","father","son","daughter","husband","wife","child","family"],
    "Nature": ["wilderness","mountain","forest","river","nature","crags","tree"],
    "Sensuality": ["sensual","sensuality","desire","passion","pleasure"],
}
print(f"{'Group':<20} {'Thag/poem':>10} {'Thig/poem':>10} {'Ratio':>8}")
print("-" * 50)
for g, kws in kgs.items():
    ta = kf(theragatha_poems,kws)/len(theragatha_poems)
    ga = kf(therigatha_poems,kws)/len(therigatha_poems)
    r = f"{ga/ta:.1f}x" if ta > 0 else "inf"
    print(f"{g:<20} {ta:>10.3f} {ga:>10.3f} {r:>8}")

print("\nDone. All results reproducible with: python3 analysis.py")

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NLP Analysis of 2,500-Year-Old Enlightenment Confessions — A Gender Comparison of Theragatha and Therigatha

NLP Analysis of 2,500-Year-Old Enlightenment Confessions — A Gender Comparison of Theragatha and Therigatha

Tags

Abstract

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

1.2 Research Question

1.3 Significance

2. Method

2.1 Dataset

2.2 Category Analysis

2.3 Statistical Methods

2.4 Analysis Environment

2.5 Reproducibility

3. Results

3.1 Category Distribution

3.2 Keyword Frequency Analysis

3.3 χ² Test Results

4. Discussion

4.1 Gendered Entry Points into Dependent Origination

4.2 Quantitative Confirmation of AN 7:48

4.3 The Absence of Wilderness: Female Practitioners' Environment

4.4 The Breast Litmus Test — Application for Modern Lay Practitioners

4.5 Subhā (Thig 14) — The Ultimate Detachment from One's Own Body

5. Limitations

6. Conclusion

7. Disclosure

7.1 About the Author

7.2 AI Usage

7.3 Conflicts of Interest

7.4 Research Motivation

8. References

Appendix: Analysis Code (Python, Fully Reproducible)

Closing