[319. Kandalīpupphiya1]
I was a farmer at that time
on the banks of River Indus.
Bound in service to another,
I looked not for that other’s rice.2 (1) [2814]
Wandering along the Indus,
I saw Siddhattha, the Victor,
sitting down in meditation3
like a lotus flower in bloom. (2) [2815]
I having cut off [all] the stems
of seven plantain flowers [then],
did spread them out upon the head
of Buddha, Kinsman of the Sun. (3) [2816]
Attentive to the protocol,
[back then] after I had approached
the Golden-Colored Sambuddha,
Wise One, With Senses Well-Controlled,
– Hard to Approach like a tusker,
a mātaṇga in three-fold rut —
having pressed my hands together
I worshipped [Buddha], the Teacher. (4-5) [2817-2818]
In the ninety-four aeons since
I did pūjā [with] that flower,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (6) [2819]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (7) [2820]
Thus indeed Venerable Kandalīpupphiya Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Kandalīpupphiya Thera is finished.
“Kandalī-Flower-er.” BJTS takes kandalī as kadalī, plantain, which has other witness in the tradition (cf. Cone, sv) and which is specified in v. 3. Hence, “Plantain-Flower-er”.↩
i.e., I was self-sufficient, I earned my own keep. This follows the reading of BJTS Sinhala gloss.↩
lit., “seated with samādhi↩