Ekapadumiya Chapter, the Thirty-Fifth

[338. {341.}1 Ekapadumiya2]

The Victor Padumuttara
was the Master of Everything.3
Explaining4 all existences,5
he ferried many folks across. (1) [3074]

At that time I was a swan-king;
I was distinguished among birds.
Plunged into a natural lake,
I am sporting the sports of swans. (2) [3075]

Padumuttara, World-Knower,
Sacrificial Recipient,
the Victor would fly,6 all the time,
over that natural lake [there]. (3) [3076]

I having seen the God of Gods,
the Self-Become One, World-Leader,
gathered lotuses with my beak —
lovely, with a hundred petals —
[and] having broken off the stems,
tossing them into the sky, I
did pūjā to the Best Buddha,
pleased by7 the Leader of the World. (4-5) [3077-3078]

Padumuttara, World-Knower,
Sacrificial Recipient,
the Teacher, standing in the sky,
gave me this expression of thanks:8 (6) [3079]

“Due to this single lotus [gift],
with intention and [firm] resolve,
for one hundred thousand aeons
you won’t fall into9 suffering.”10 (7) [3080]

Having said this the Sambuddha
whose name was Ultimate Lotus,11
after detailing my karma,
went according to his wishes. (8) [3081]

In the hundred thousand aeons
since I did that [good] karma then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (9) [3082]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (10) [3083]

Thus indeed Venerable Ekapadumiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ekapadumiya Thera is finished.

  1. Apadāna numbers provided in {fancy brackets} correspond to the BJTS edition, which contains more individual poems than does the PTS edition dictating the main numbering of this translation.↩

  2. “One-Lotus-er”↩

  3. lit., “master of all things (dhamma)” (or “Master of All Teachings”)↩

  4. vibhāvento, could also be “understanding” or “annihilating”↩

  5. bhavābhave, lit., “all sorts of existence,” “this and that type of existence”↩

  6. lit., “came” or “approached”↩

  7. lit., “in”↩

  8. lit., “made this expression of thanks for me”↩

  9. lit., “go”↩

  10. vinipātaŋ, lit., “a state of suffering” or “ruination”↩

  11. jalajuttama, the literal meaning of Padumuttara↩