[55. Opavuyha1]

To Padumuttara Buddha
I gave a [fine] thoroughbred [horse].
Assigning it to the Buddha,2
I [then] went [back] to my own house. (1) [1290]

The Teacher’s top follower was
[the monk] whose name was Devala.3
Worthy heir to the best Teaching
he came into my presence [then]. (2) [1291]

“The Blessed One bears his own bowl;
he will not use a thoroughbred.
The Eyeful One accepted it
[because] he had discerned your thoughts.” (3) [1292]

I got the price for that wind-quick
speed vehicle [that came] from Sindh.
[Then] I gave a suitable4 [gift]
to Padumuttara Buddha. (4) [1293]

In whichever womb I’m reborn,
[whether] it’s human or divine,5
suitable, and variegated6
Sindh-horses7 [then] arise for me. (5) [1294]

The gain for them is well-received
who undergo ordination.8
If a Buddha’s born in the world
[then] they should serve him constantly. (6) [1295]

I was a king with great power
twenty-eight [different] times [back then],
lord of the grove of rose-apples,9
victorious on [all] four sides.10 (7) [1296]

This is the final time for me;
[my] last rebirth is proceeding.11
I’ve attained the unshaking state
beyond12 [all] conquest and defeat. (8) [1297]

Thirty-four thousand [aeons thence]
there was a king13 of great power,
a wheel-turner who had great strength,
possessor of the seven gems. (9) [1298]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (10) [1299]

Thus indeed Venerable Opavuyha Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Opavuyha Thera is finished.

  1. “Fit For Riding”↩

  2. lit., “to the Sambuddha”↩

  3. cf. below, #252, v. 2 [2504]↩

  4. reading khamanīyam (BJTS, cty, PTS alternative) for ājānīyaŋ (“thoroughbred,” PTS)↩

  5. reading devattam atha mānusam (BJTS) for bhavane sabbadā mama (“in my residence all the time,” PTS). PTS alt (also noticed by BJTS) is deve ccha mānuse bhave (in a divine and human existences,” paralleling the (BJTS) reading I accept and intimating how the (PTS) one I reject might have evolved through corruption.↩

  6. reading cchittā (BJTS) for citte (“in [my] heart,” PTS)↩

  7. here I follow BJTS in understanding vātajavā (“[creatures] quick as the wind”) as horses of the type originally (mis)gifted to Padumuttara Buddha. The same term is used as an adjective (there vātajavaṃ) in the previous verse.↩

  8. lit., “higher ordination,” upasampadā.↩

  9. jambusaṇḍa = jambudīpa = India, the South Asian Subcontinent↩

  10. cchaturanto vijitāvi, “possessed of conquest of the four quarters,” a supreme imperial overlord↩

  11. ccharimo vattate bhavo↩

  12. lit., “having abandoned”↩

  13. lit., “a kṣatriyan”↩