[50. Cunda]
Having had a festoon work1 made
for the World’s Best, the Neutral One,
the Blessed One [named] Siddhattha,
I covered it with jasmine flowers. (1) [1239]
After [I] finished [placing] flowers,
I [then] gave it to the Buddha.
Picking up the remaining flowers,
I offered [them] to the Buddha. (2) [1240]
Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart
I gave that floral festoon work
to the Buddha, World’s Chief Leader,
like a festoon work [made] of gold. (3) [1241]
The Sambuddha, With Doubt Dispelled,
Honored by Those Who’ve Crossed the Flood,2
seated in the monks’ Assembly,
spoke these verses [about me then]: (4) [1242]
“I’ll relate details of him who
gave me a floral festoon work
permeated with divine scents;
[all of] you listen to my words: (5) [1243]
When he’s fallen from here, this man
will go on to the world of gods,
a god-assembly around [him],
scattered with jasmine flowers [there]. (6) [1244]
His residence, jutting up tall,
will be made of gold and gemstones.
That divine mansion will blaze forth,
illumined by [his] good karma.3 (7) [1245]
He will exercise divine rule
seventy-four [different] times.
Waited on by celestial nymphs,
he will enjoy great happiness. (8) [1246]
He will reside upon the earth
[and] have three hundred earthly reigns.
Five hundred times he’s going to be
a king who turns the wheel [of law]. (9) [1247]
He will be a human monarch
known by the name of Dujjaya.4
He’ll experience that merit
without knowing his own karma. (10) [1248]
Not going5 to a place of grief
he will go to a human state.
[There will] be heaps of gold [for him],
very much, [counted in] billions. (11) [1249]
He will be reborn in the world;
he will [then] be a brahmin man,
beloved own son of Sārī,
[and] the wise son of Vaṅgata. (12) [1250]
Then he’ll go forth in the Shiny-
Bodied6 [Buddha’s] dispensation.
His name will be CChūlacchunda,7
a follower of the Teacher. (13) [1251]
[Even] when he is a novice,
he will become an arahant.8
Knowing well all the defilements
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.” (14) [1252]
To attain the ultimate goal
I waited on my [own] brother,9
the Great Hero who’d arisen,
and many pleasant10 others, too. (15) [1253]
Serving my brother, when he died,
I put [his] relics in [his] bowl
[and] gave [it] to the Sambuddha,
the World’s Best One, the Bull of Men. (16) [1254]
The Buddha in [this] world with gods
picked up [that bowl] with both his hands.
Paying respect to those relics,
he praised the top follower [then].11 (17) [1255]
My mind is now completely freed
and faith is established in me.
Knowing well all the defilements,
I am [now] living, undefiled. (18) [1256]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (19) [1257]
Thus indeed Venerable Cunda Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Cunda Thera is finished.
The Summary:
Upāli, Soṇa, Bhaddiya,
Sannidhāpaka, Hatthiya,
Chadana, Seyya-CChankamaṃ
Subhadda, the one named Cunda:
one hundred and forty verses
and another four besides [those].
The Upāli Chapter, the Fifth.
agghiya, BJTS Sinh. gloss ägǟya (Sinh-Eng dict ägäva: cchandelabrum, festoon work for lamps, lamp canopy or arch)↩
those who had crossed the flood [of samsāra], i.e., arahants↩
reading vyamhaṃ pātubhavissati puññakammapabhāvitaṃ (BJTS) for vyamhā pātubhavissanti puññakammapabhāvitā (PTS).↩
“Difficult to Conquer”.↩
reading agantvāna (BJTS) for āgantvāna (“come into,” PTS).↩
i.e., the Buddha’s dispensation. See above, n. to [1166]↩
“Small Cunda”↩
lit., “one whose defilements are destroyed”↩
his brother was another of Sārī’s sons, i.e., Sāriputta↩
pesale = pleasant, beloved. Cty understands this to mean others among the original arahants in the dispensation of Gotama Buddha↩
Sāriputta, Cunda’s brother, was the Buddha’s top follower.↩