[229. Sukatāveḷiya1]

Back then [I] was named Asita,2
[and] I was a garland-maker.
Picking up a flower-garland,3
I went4 to give it to the king. (1) [2415]

Not having [yet] met with5 the king,
I saw the Leader, Sikhi.
Happy, [and] with a happy heart,
I offered [it] to the Buddha. (2) [2416]

In the thirty-one aeons since
I did pūjā [with] that flower,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (3) [2417]

In the twenty-fifth aeon hence
I was a king who had great strength,
known by the name of Dvebhāra,6
a wheel-turning king with great strength. (4) [2418]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (5) [2419]

Thus indeed Venerable Sukatāveḷiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Sukatāveḷiya Thera is finished.

  1. “Well-made Flower Garland”↩

  2. “Not White” (“Black”)↩

  3. āveḷa, a garland of flowers worn on the head.↩

  4. lit., “I am proceeding”↩

  5. lit., “not having obtained,” asampatta↩

  6. “Two Burdens” or “Two Loads”↩