[139. Sālapupphadāyaka1]

I was the king of beasts back then,
a [wild] lion who was fearless.
While hunting2 in a mountain crag,3
I saw the Leader of the World. (1) [1928]

“This one would be the Great Hero;
he will liberate many folks.4
Well then oughtn’t I approach the
God of Gods, the Bull among Men?” (2) [1929]

Breaking a branch of a sal tree
I carried [it], flowers [and] buds.5
Having approached the Sambuddha,
I gave [him] those superb flowers. (3) [1930]

In the ninety-one aeons since
I offered those flowers [to him],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of flower-pūjā. (4) [1931]

And in the ninth aeon ago
there were three [different] kings [back then]
known by the name Virocana,6
wheel-turning monarchs with great strength. (5) [1932]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (6) [1933]

Thus indeed Venerable Sālapupphadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Sālapupphadāyaka Thera is finished.

  1. “Sal-Flower-Giver”↩

  2. lit., “searching” “forraging”↩

  3. lit., “a place on a mountain difficult of access.”↩

  4. lit., “he will make many people attain nirvana”.↩

  5. reading sakosaṃ (BJTS) for sakoṭaŋ (PTS). The cty reads sakeṭaṃ and glosses it sakaṇṇikaṃ (“with a pinnacle”? “with the ears”?)↩

  6. “Shiny”↩