[78. Pāṭalipupphiya1]

Back then I was a rich man’s son,
delicate, living in comfort.
Putting a trumpet flower2 in
my lap I [then] took it to him,
the Gold-Colored One, Sambuddha,
traveling through the market-place,
bearing the marks of a Great Man,3
like a festoon work made of gold. (1-2) [1458-1459]

Happy, [and] with a happy heart,
with the flower I performed pūjā
to Tissa, the World-Knower, Lord,
having worshipped the God of Men. (3) [1460]

In the ninety-two aeons since
I did that [good] karma back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of flower-pūjā. (4) [1461]

Sixty-three aeons ago the
[king] known as Abhisammata
was a wheel-turner with great strength,
possessor of the seven gems. (5) [1462]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (6) [1463]

Thus indeed Venerable Pāṭalipupphiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Pāṭalipupphiya Thera is finished.


  1. “Trumpet-Flower-er”

  2. pāṭali is Sinh. paḷol, Bignonia suaveolens, sterospermum suaveolens (Bignon.), trumpet-flower tree, the Bodhi Tree of Vipassi Buddha. Cf. #71, #96, #248, #255, #369{372}.

  3. see n. to v. [1452], above