[316. Āsanatthavika1]
Sikhi [Buddha], Supreme Stupa,
was the Kinsman of the World then.
I was journeying in a dark
forest, a barren wilderness. (1) [2793]
After exiting the forest,
I saw the [Buddha’s] lion throne.2
Confidently pressing my hands,
I praised the Leader of the World. (2) [2794]
Throughout the entire day3 I praised
the Buddha, the World’s Chief Leader.
Happy, [and] with a happy heart,
I uttered this speech at that time: (3) [2795]
“Praise to you, O Well-Bred Person!4
Praise to you, Ultimate Person!
You’re the Omniscient, Great Hero,
the World’s Best, the Bull among Men.” (4) [2796]
After praising Sikhi [like that],
after saluting [his] throne [there],
led away by other concerns,5
I departed facing north. (5) [2797]
In the thirty-one aeons since
I praised the Best Debater [then,]
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of singing praises. (6) [2798]
In the twenty-seventh aeon
ago were seven Atulyas,6
wheel-turning monarchs with great strength,
possessors of the seven gems. (7) [2799]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (8) [2800]
Thus indeed Venerable Āsanatthavika Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Āsanatthavika Thera is finished.
“Throne-praiser”↩
it is also possible to read “Lion Throne” (metaphorically, Seat of Power) as a Buddha-epithet, though given the tangibility of the object — known in royal courts and religious sites throughout South Asia, anyway — I am inclined to read it (as does BJTS gloss) as referring to an actual throne or chair (āsana). Cty (p. 477) acknowledges both possibilities without resolving the issue.↩
divasabhāgaŋ, lit., “during the daytime [part of the day, as opposed to the nighttime part of it]”↩
purisājañña, RD “steed of man,” in the voc. Contracted form of ājāniya/ājānīya, “almost exclusively used to donate a thoroughbred horse”↩
nimitta-karaṇena = nimittagāhiŋ, lit., “because of outward signs” “following external desires”↩
“Incomparable” or “Without Equal”↩