[99. Veyyāvaccchchaka1]
There was a large group2 [waiting on]
Vipassi, [then] the Blessed One.
Busy with all sorts of duties,
I was then a [humble] servant. (1) [1601]
I had nothing that I could give
to that Well-Gone-One, the Great Sage,
[so] I worshipped the Teacher’s feet
with a mind that was very clear. (2) [1602]
In the ninety-one aeons since
I performed that service [back then],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of doing service. (3) [1603]
Then, in the eighth aeon ago,
I was the king, Succhintita,3
a wheel-turner with great power,
possessor of the seven gems. (4) [1604]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (5) [1605]
Thus indeed Venerable Veyyāvaccchchaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Veyyāvaccchchaka Thera is finished.
“Servicer.” Veyyāvaccchcha is service performed for elders and superiors (Sinh. vatāvata). This is the term translated as “service” in v. (3) [1603], where it refers not to the “service” he performed for his employers but rather the “service” for (or attendance on) the Buddha which he rendered, enacted in his worship of the latter’s feet. The suffix “ka” functions like “er” in English. “Servant” in verse (1) [1601] translates veyyāvaccchchakara, “doer of service to elders and superiors,” which is close to, but not identical with, this Thera’s name.↩
lit., “a group consisting of a vast multitude”.↩
“Well-Thought”↩