[65. Bhisadāyaka1]
The [Sambuddha] named Vessabhu,
the third Sage [born in that aeon,]2
plunging3 into a forest grove
lived [there], the Ultimate Person. (1) [1377]
Taking [some] lotus roots and stems,4
I5 went into Buddha’s presence
and gave that [food] to the Buddha
[feeling well-] pleased by [my] own hands. (2) [1378]
And feeling the touch of the hand
of Vessabhu the One Most Wise,
I was happy beyond compare;
could anything ever top that?6 (3) [1379]
My final [life] is taking place;
all existence is [now] destroyed.
When I was an elephant king
I planted wholesome [seeds back then]. (4) [1380]
In the thirty-one aeons since
I did that [good] karma back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of a lotus root. (5) [1381]
In the thirteenth aeon [ago]
there were sixteen lords of people,
kings [all known as] Samodhāna
wheel-turning monarchs with great strength. (6) [1382]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (7) [1383]
Thus indeed Venerable Bhisadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Bhisadāyaka Thera is finished.
“Lotus-root Donor”↩
this follows BJTS Sinhala gloss and the cty, which explains that Vessabhu was born in that aeon [thirty-one aeons ago] after Vipassi and then Sikhi↩
reading ogayha (BJTS) for oggayha (PTS). Cty also reads oggayha, but glosses it with the proper gerund (ogahetvā), which it clarifies to mean “he entered” (pāvisi).↩
bhisa refers to the lotus root or “potato” (Sinh. ala) found under the mud; muḷāla refers to the lotus “stem” (Sinh. daṇḍu, dictionary gives däli). The former is starchy and crunchy; the latter is like a green vegetable. Both are delicious staples of village diets to this day.↩
the cty explains that he had been born in an elephant’s womb at that time. Cf. v. [1380], below.↩
this rather loose translation follows the Sinhala gloss. The last two pādas would literally be: “I was happy, I didn’t experience the same [happiness before], beyond that what would be?”↩