[195. Aṅkolaka1]
Seeing an aṅkola in bloom
with excellent flowers and buds,2
having plucked a flower [from] it,
I went to the Buddha’s presence. (1) [2236]
In that period Siddhattha
was the Hidden One,3 the Great Sage.
Honoring him for a moment,
I tossed that bloom into the cave. (2) [2237]
In the ninety-four aeons since
I offered that flower [to him],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (3) [2238]
In the thirty-sixth aeon hence
I was one Devagajjita,4
a wheel-turning king with great strength,
possessor of the seven gems. (4) [2239]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (5) [2240]
Thus indeed Venerable Aṅkolaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Aṅkolaka Thera is finished.
“Alangium Donor.” The aṅkola (Sinh. rukaṅgana; Alangium hexapetalum, a.k.a. sage-leaved alangium) is a flowering tree↩
reading mālāvaraṃ sakosakaṃ with BJTS for PTS māhāsārasamotataŋ↩
patilīna; as is clear in the fourth foot, he is “hidden” within a cave↩
“Roaring (or Thunder, or Furious Elephant) of the Gods”↩