[347. {350.}1 Ekañjaliya2]

The Sambuddha named Revata3
dwelt on a riverbank back then.
I saw the Buddha, Stainless One,
like the sun with its rays of gold,4
like beaten5 [gold]6 atop a forge,7
[burning bright] like cedar charcoal,8
shining forth like the morning star.9
I pressed my hands together once. (1-2) [3136-3137]

In the ninety-four aeons since
I pressed my hands together [then],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of saluting. (3) [3138]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (4) [3139]

Thus indeed Venerable Ekañjaliya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ekañjaliya Thera is finished.

The Summary:

Paduma, Uppalahattha,
Dhaja, Kiṅkhaṇika, Nala,
CChampaka, Paduma, Muṭṭhi,
Tinduk and thus Ekañjali.
There are six plus sixty verses
which are counted by those who know.

The Ekapadumiya Chapter, the Thirty-Fifth

  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 Salute.” Cf. #29, #275.↩

  3. PTS and BJTS alt. read Romasa (cf. #279). I follow BJTS in reading Revata (also a PTS alt.)↩

  4. reading pītaraṃsiṃ va with BJTS for PTS vītaraŋsîva (“devoid of rays” or “woven rays”). PTS alt. sataraŋsîva (“hundred-rayed”) is perhaps better than either of these readings, and consistent with Apadāna usage elsewhere (cf. #33, #85, #112, #153, #178, #181, #185, #202, #215, #309, #345{348})↩

  5. pahaṭaŋ, BJTS reads pahaṭṭhaŋ with the same meaning.↩

  6. or bronze, iron, etc.↩

  7. ukkāmukhaŋ, the “mouth” (receiving or discharging end) of a furnace or forge, a goldsmith’s smelting pot.↩

  8. khadiraṅgārasannibha. Khadira is Sinh. kihiri, Acacia Sundra, English “red cutch” or “khayer.” The tree produces impressive spikes of yellow flowers but is known primarily for its timber and use in making charcoal.↩

  9. osadhī. RD (s.v.) points out that all we really know about this star is that it was particularly bright, leading Childers to translate it as “Venus” and others as the morning star.↩