[275. Ekañjaliya1]

I gave an open dwelling place
to the Recluse, the Greatest Sage,
dwelling in [the shade of] a fig2
on a [well-]prepared3 mat of leaves. (1) [2600]

Raising my hands pressed together,4
I spread out a mat of flowers
for Tissa, the Best of Bipeds,
Lord of the World, the Neutral One. (2) [2601]

In the ninety-two aeons since
I fashioned that mat of flowers,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of [giving] a mat. (3) [2602]

In the fourteenth aeon ago
I was a ruler of people,5
a wheel-turning king with great strength,
known as6 Eka-añjalika.7 (4) [2603]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (5) [2604]

Thus indeed Venerable Ekañjaliya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ekañjaliya Thera is finished.

  1. “One Salute”↩

  2. udumbara, Sinh. dimbul↩

  3. or “fixed,” “established”↩

  4. lit., “Raising up añjali”↩

  5. manujâdhipo, lit., “exerciser of power over those born of Manu.”↩

  6. lit., “named,” “by name”↩

  7. only slightly variant form with the same meaning as the this-life name, “One Salute”↩