[3. Mahākassapa]
When the World-Chief had passed away1
the people, with exalted minds,
intoxicated with delight
did pūjā for the Neutral One,
the Teacher, who was the World’s Best,
Blessed One, Padumuttara. (1) [399, 400a-b]
When their religious emotion2
was born, great joy3 arose in me.
Gathering my family and friends
I spoke these words [to all of them]:
“the Great Hero has passed away;4
surely we should do a pūjā!” (2) [400c-d, 401]
They agreed saying, “Excellent!”
which made me smile even more.
“We’ll make a meritorious pyre
over the Buddha, the World-Chief.”5 (3) [402]
We made a well-made festoon work
which was one hundred hands in height,
and we raised up into the sky
a mansion fifty hands higher.6 (4) [403]
Having made that festoon work there,
decorated with rows of stripes,
bringing pleasure to [my] own mind
I worshipped that excellent shrine. (5) [404]
Like a blazing column of fire,
like a regal sal tree in bloom,
like Indra’s post up in the sky
it shined in the four directions. (6) [405]
After making [my] mind pleased there7
and doing much that was wholesome,
recalling karma from the past
I was born with the thirty [gods].8 (7) [406]
I possessed a divine chariot
yoked with one thousand [fine] horses.
That tall residence of mine [there]
was seven stories [tall] in height. (8) [407]
It had one thousand gabled cells;
all [of them were] made out of gold.
It blazed by means of its own power
lighting up every direction. (9) [408]
There were also other doorways
[all] made of rubies [at that time].
With their light they too illumined
the four directions entirely. (10) [409]
Those well-constructed gabled cells
produced by [my past] good karma9
and [all] the gemstone [doors] then shined
in ten directions on all sides. (11) [410]
When they were thus [all] shining forth
there was a massive effulgence.
I surpassed all the [other] gods;
that is the fruit of good karma. (12) [411]
Sixty thousand aeons ago
I was the king10 named Ubbiddha.
Victorious on [all] four sides
I took the earth as residence. (13) [412]
In that most auspicious aeon
for fully thirty times I was
a wheel-turning king with great strength
deriving from my own karma. (14) [413]
Possessor of the seven jewels
I‘m lord of the four continents.
And in that place my residence
was as tall as the tree of Indra.11 (15) [413-414]
It was twenty-four [leagues]12 in length,
[and] in width [it measured] twelve [leagues].
[My] city was named Rammaka;
it had strong ramparts and gateways. (16) [414-415]
It was five hundred [leagues] in length,
in width two hundred fifty [leagues].13
It was crowded with groups of men
just like the thirty-three gods’ city. (17) [415]
Like needles in a needle-case14
there were twenty [different] bazaars15
[where] they gather, one another;
[the city] was [very] crowded. (18) [416]
Of such a sort was my city,
with elephants, horses, chariots
and [very] crowded with people:
Rammaka, excellent city. (19) [417]
Having lived there and having left
I returned to the world of gods.
In this, my final existence,
I’m born in an accomplished clan.16 (20) [418]
Born into a brahmin family
I had a massive heap of gems.
Eight hundred million17 [worth of] gold18
abandoned, I went forth renouncing. (21) [419]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. [420]
Being in Best Buddha’s presence
was a very good thing for me.
The three knowledges are attained;
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! [421]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (22) [422]
Thus indeed Venerable Mahākassapa Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Mahākassapa Thera is finished.
parinibbute, lit., “when he had fully gone out” “when he reached nirvana”.↩
saṃvega.↩
pīti.↩
lit., “reached nirvana”↩
the locatives allow for a double entendre, what is given, and/or: ”we will make a heap of merit with respect to the Buddha, the World-Chief.”↩
lit., “one hundred and fifty hands high”↩
taking the PTS alternate reading tattha for tesu, which also follows BJTS↩
tidasaŋ, i.e., the thirty-three gods, in Tāvatiṃsa heaven↩
puññakammābhinibbattā, lit., “produced by meritorious karma”↩
lit., “kṣatriya”↩
indalaṭṭhi↩
following the cty, which understands the numbers to refer to yojanas↩
lit “half of that,” i.e., 250↩
following BJTS in reading sūcchighare and sūcchi for sucighare and suci (PTS).↩
following the cty in reading āpaṇa for paṇṇu.↩
lit., “there was an accomplished clan for me”.↩
lit., “eighty koṭis”↩
following BJTS Sinhala gloss, which takes ’bhiraññassa as ran.↩