[79. Ṭhitañjaliya1]

In the past, in a forest grove,
I was a man who hunted deer.
There I saw Sambuddha Tissa
bearing the marks of a Great Man.2 (1) [1464]

Pressing hands together for him,3
sitting down in that neighborhood
on a leaf-mat that was placed [there],
I then set off facing the east. (2) [1465]

Just then a fallen lightening bolt
landed on the top of my head.
Again, as I lay there dying,4
I pressed both my hands together. (3) [1466]

In the ninety-two aeons since
I pressed my hands together [then],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of pressing my hands. (4) [1467]

Four and fifty aeons [ago]
the [monarch] named Migaketu5
was a wheel-turner with great strength,
possessor of the seven gems. (5) [1468]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (6) [1469]

Thus indeed Venerable Ṭhitañjaliya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ṭhitañjaliya Thera is finished.


  1. “Standing with Hands Pressed Together”

  2. lit., “bearing the excellent marks”.

  3. reading tassa with BJTS for PTS tattha (“there”)

  4. lit., “at the time of [my] death”

  5. “Deer-Flag”