[349. {352.}1 Yavakalāpiya2]

In Aruṇavatī City,
I was a barley grower3 then.
Seeing the Buddha4 on the road,
I spread out a sheaf of barley. (1) [3145]

Sikhi, Chief Leader of the World,
Merciful, Compassionate One,
discerning what I was thinking,
sat down on that sheaf of barley. (2) [3146]

Seeing the seated Spotless One,
the Great Meditator, Leader,
[and] generating great delight,
I passed away [right] on the spot. (3) [3147]

In the thirty-one aeons since
I did that [good] karma back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
the fruit in spreading out barley. (4) [3148]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (5) [3149]

Thus indeed Venerable Yavakalāpiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Yavakalāpiya 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. “Barley Sheaf-er”

  3. yavasika, lit., “barley-er,” so the term could also mean a barley merchant, or a barley laborer, etc.

  4. lit., “Sambuddha”