[257. Mañjaripūjaka1]
Fashioning a bunch2 [of flowers,]
I went out onto3 the highway.
I saw the Monk, Bettered by None,
Honored by the Monks’ Assembly. (1) [2521]
Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart,
and [filled] with supreme joyfulness,
taking [it] with both of my hands
I offered Buddha [that bouquet]. (2) [2522]
In the ninety-two aeons since
I did pūjā [with] that flower,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (3) [2523]
In the seventy-third aeon
there was one ruler of the earth,
known by the name of Jotiya,4
a wheel-turning king with great strength. (4) [2524]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (5) [2525]
Thus indeed Venerable Mañjaripūjaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Mañjaripūjaka Thera is finished.
“Offerer of a Bunch”↩
mañjari is a bunch, cluster, stem with branches; the causative karitvā suggests human agency in constructing it, which suggests to me a grouping of flowers, i.e., a bouquet or perhaps a wreath or other ornament.↩
lit., “entered into”↩
fr. joti, “Star” or “Light” or “Splendour” or “Glory”↩