[310. Pabbhāradāyaka1]
I cleaned up a mountain cave
for Piyadassi, the Blessed One,
and looked after the water pot
for the Neutral One’s consumption. (1) [2763]
Piyadassi, the Greatest Sage,
the Buddha, explained that for me
“a mil-kaṇḍa2 cent-bheṇḍu3 [large]
sacrifice post4 will come to be,
made out of gold, covered in flags;
a not small [group of] gems as well.”
Having given a mountain cave,5
I joyed an aeon in heaven. (2-3) [2764-2765]
In the thirty-second aeon
[lived] the ruler6 named Susuddha,7
a wheel-turning king with great strength,
possessor of the seven gems. (4) [2766]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (5) [2767]
Thus indeed Venerable Pabbhāradāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Pabbhāradāyaka Thera is finished.
The Summary:
Kesara, Gandha and Anna,
Dhammasañña and Phala too,
Pasāda, Ārāmadāyi,
Lomaka, Buddhasaññaka,
[and] Pabbhārada; the verses,
they say,8 are one less than fifty.
The Padumakesariya Chapter, the Thirty-First
“Donor of a Mountain Cave”↩
here and in the following neologism I exploit the English exploitation of the Latin shorthand for “thousand” and “hundred” to keep the meter. The Pali is lit., “a thousand kaṇḍas (part, portion, lump, a small measure), hundred bheṇḍu [tall? thick?]…sacrificial post” .↩
following BJTS; PTS reads geṇḍu, in multiple variations (could this be related to geṇḍuka, a small ball?). At least in transmission, these obscure measures may not have been more intelligible than they are today, even if they are clues to the historical situation in which the original was composed.↩
yūpa, a “sacrificial post” symbolizing religious, political, economic power.↩
lit., “having given a mountain-cave gift”↩
kṣatriyan↩
“Extremely Pure”↩
or “are said to be” “are declared to be”↩