[307. Ārāmadāyaka1]
A garden was planted by2 me
for Siddhattha, the Blessed One.
When birds were roosting in the trees
[and they’d come to produce] thick shade,3
I saw the Buddha, Stainless One,
Sacrificial Recipient.
I brought the Best One in the World,
the Bull among Men, to the garden. (1-2) [2748-49]
Happy, [and] with a happy heart,
I gave fruits and flower[s] [to him],
and with the pleasure born of that,
I made the formal donation.4 (3) [2750]
That which I gave to the Buddha,
with a mind that was very clear,
was reborn as [great] fruit for me while
I was reborn in existence.5 (4) [2751]
In the ninety-four aeons since
I gave [him] that gift at that time,
I’ve come to no know bad rebirth:
the fruit of giving a garden. (5) [2752]
In the thirty-seventh aeon
were seven Mudusītalas,6
wheel-turning monarchs with great strength,
possessors of the seven gems. (6) [2753]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (7) [2754]
Thus indeed Venerable Ārāmadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Ārāmadāyaka Thera is finished.
“Garden Donor”↩
reading mayā with BJTS for PTS mama↩
BJTS takes this as a reference to afternoon (sawas), as the time in which the garden was planted (or given?). On the contrary I take it to mean that prior to bringing the Buddha to it, the garden which he initially planted had grown to sufficient maturity that birds had taken residence in trees giving thick shade.↩
lit., “I dedicated the gift,” dānam pariṇāmayiŋ↩
i.e., in the cycle of reincarnation, bhave↩
“Softly Cool”↩