[13. Nanda]

Padumuttara’s khoma cloth1
I gave to the Self-Become One,
the Sage So Great, the Blessed One,
the Best in the World, Neutral One. (1) [700]

Then Buddha, named for the lotus2
made this prophesy about me:
“due to giving this piece of cloth
you will have the color of gold. (2) [701]

Experiencing two-fold bliss3
incited by [your] wholesome roots
you will be the younger brother
of Gotama the Blessed One. (3) [702]

Happy by nature but lustful,
[you] will be greedy for pleasures.
Being incited by Buddha
you will then go forth, renouncing. (4) [703]

After you’ve renounced the world there,
incited by [your] wholesome roots,
knowing well all the defilements.
you’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.” (5) [704]

In the seven-thousandth4 aeon
there were four with the name CChela;5
sixty thousand aeons [ago]
there were four named Upacchela;6 (6) [705]

in the five-thousandth aeon ago
there were four people [named] CChela;
they were rulers of the four continents
possessors of the seven gems. (7) [706]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (8) [707]

Thus indeed Venerable Nanda Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Nanda Thera is finished.


  1. reading vattham khomam (BJTS, cty) for vatthuttaman (“excellent cloth” PTS)

  2. PTS reads jalajuttamanāyako, “Ultimate Lord of Water-Born Beings;” I follow BJTS and cty in reading jalajuttamanāmako, “named for the ultimate thing born of the water [i.e., a lotus].” This Buddha’s name, “Padumuttara,” means “Supreme Lotus”.

  3. as a god, and as a man

  4. BJTS reads “in the hundred-thousandth”.

  5. “Cloth”

  6. “Additional Cloth”