[344. {347.}1 Padumapūjaka2]
Close to the Himalayan range,
there’s a mountain named Romasa.3
The Buddha known as Sambhava
then dwelt there in the open air. (1) [3117]
Coming out of [my] residence,
I brought4 [him] a lotus [flower].
Having brought a single one
I went forward into rebirth. (2) [3118]
In the ninety-one aeons since
I offered5 [him] that flower,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (3) [3119]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (3) [3120]
Thus indeed Venerable Padumapūjaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Padumapūjaka Thera is finished.
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.↩
“Pink Lotus Offerer”. Virtually the same apadāna as this present one, ascribed to a monk with a similar name (Padumadhāriya = “Pink Lotus Bearer”) and differing only in giving thirty-one rather than ninety-one as the number of aeons ago when the good karma was done, and providing the full three-verse concluding refrain, is presented below as #517 {520}↩
A recurring name in Apadāna of uncertain meaning↩
dhārayim, “carried,” “brought,” “had”↩
lit., “did pūjā”↩