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. Here BJTS reads 391, a typo.↩

“Stone,” a historical monk much-mentioned in the canon and commentaries.↩

vīthisāmi, could also be imagined as an “owner” of roads, or “master” of roads; BJTS seems to prefer the latter, glossing, “I was the foremost person on a particular road.”↩

as v. 91 [3673], below, specifies that this occurred 100,000 aeons ago, the Buddha in question presumably would be Padumuttara Buddha.↩

ādhāro sabbalokassa↩

lit., “they”, te, “they [have]”↩

pūgadhammaŋ akaŋsu te, lit., “they did an act incorporating a guild”↩

hatth’ārūḷhā, those mounted on elephants↩

anīkaṭṭha↩

rathikā↩

pattikārakā↩

lit., “they”, te, “they [have]”↩

pūgadhammaŋ akaŋsu te, lit., “they did an act incorporating a guild”↩

uggā↩

rājaputtā↩

lit., “they”, te, “they [have]”↩

pūgadhammaŋ akaŋsu te, lit., “they did an act incorporating a guild”↩

āḷārikā↩

kappakā↩

nahāpakā↩

mālakārakā↩

te, lit., “they” “they [have]”↩

pūgadhammaŋ akaŋsu te, lit., “they did an act incorporating a guild”↩

rajakā↩

pesakārā↩

cchammakārā↩

nhāpikā↩

lit., “they”, te, “they [have]”↩

pūgadhammaŋ akaŋsu te, lit., “they did an act incorporating a guild”↩

usukārā, arrow-makers↩

cchammikā↩

tacchchakārā↩

soṇṇakārā↩

tipulopā↩

kaṭā↩

lit., “they”, te, “they [have]”↩

pūgadhammaŋ akaŋsu te, lit., “they did an act incorporating a guild”↩

here, PTS and BJTS diverge. The latter presents in two verses all the material, plus some more, that appears in this one verse in PTS. BJTS [3588] reads: The fletchers, the bhamakāras (?)/leather workers and carpenters/happy, with pleasure in [their] hearts/have formed themselves into a guild.// BJTS [3589] reads: “The metal-smiths (kammāro), workers in gold/and likewise those who work in tin/happy, with pleasure in [their] hearts, have formed themselves into a guild.//” I prefer the BJTS reading here, but stick the PTS as my base text.↩

bhatakā↩

gītakā<gītakārā. BJTS reads cchetaka, “boy servants,” “waifs”↩

dāsa-kammakārā bahū↩

yathā sakena thāmena, “as far as their own power”↩

lit., “they”, te, “they [have]”↩

pūgadhammaŋ akaŋsu te, lit., “they did an act incorporating a guild”↩

udahārā↩

kaṭṭhahārā↩

kasikā, BJTS reads kassakā, “cultivators”↩

tiṇahārā↩

yathā sakena thāmena, “as far as their own power”↩

lit., “they”, te, “they [have]”↩

pūgadhammaŋ akaŋsu te, lit., “they did an act incorporating a guild”↩

pupphikā↩

mālikā↩

paṇṇikā, dealers in leaves↩

phalahārikā (= females?); BJTS read phalahārakā (= males?)↩

yathā sakena thāmena, “as far as their own power”↩

lit., “they”, te, “they [have]”↩

pūgadhammaŋ akaŋsu te, lit., “they did an act incorporating a guild”↩

gaṇikā, “those who belong to the crowd”↩

kumbhadāsī, lit., “slave-girls with water pots”↩

reading pūvikā macchchakā pi ccha (lit., “women who sell cakes and also women who sell fish”) with BJTS for PTS pūvikā macchchakāyikā (“women who sell cakes and women with bodies of fish”↩

yathā sakena thāmena, “as far as their own power”↩

te, lit., “they” “they [have]”↩

pūgadhammaŋ akaŋsu te, lit., “they did an act incorporating a guild”↩

reading etha with BJTS for PTS ete, “they”↩

gaṇaŋ↩

adhikāraŋ karissāma↩

kārayun, lit., “they caused to be built”↩

upatthāna-sālā, a hall for meetings, assemblies, services of attendance on the monks.↩

bhikkhusaṅghassa↩

udaggo↩

tuṭṭhamānaso↩

bhikkhusaṅghassa purato↩

i.e., the protagonist, acting as the ādikammika (“instigator”) of the offering; cf. Pilindavacchcha-apadāna (#388 {391}), vv. 6, 8 [3379, 3381]↩

anuvattiŋsu↩

sampattiŋ hi karitvāna↩

sītibhāvam anuttaraŋ↩

evaŋ, lit., “thusly”↩

sabbaññu↩

samaṇuttaro↩

somanassaŋ pavedayin↩

rajje↩

parisā honti bandhavā. This presumably refers to the relatives in the previous existence, reborn with him as his political retinue.↩

lit., “there was a brahmin named Vāseṭṭha”↩

lit., “with eighty ten-millions (asīti-koṭi) in wealth (nicchayo, “heaped up”)”↩

chalaṅge pāramiṇgato, lit., “one who has reached perfection in the six branches.” RD: “the set of six Vedāngas, disciplines of Vedic science, viz. 1. kappa, 2. vyākaraṇā, 3. nirutti, 4. sikkhā, 5. chando (vicchiti), 6. joti-sattha (thus enumd at VvA 265; at PvA 97 in sequence 4, 1, 3, 2, 6, 5): D iii.269; Vv 6316; Pv ii.613; Miln 178, 236.”↩

jaṅghāvihāraŋ viccharantaŋ, lit., “wandering while living on the legs”. BJTS understands this to refer to walking back and forth (Sinh. sakman), as in walking meditation, but these terms do not necessarily imply that.↩

or “honored”↩

lit., “having seen,” disvā↩

BJTS: Keṇiya. He is known in the canonical and commentarial texts, as is this meeting with Sela which resulted in the latter discovering the Buddha’s presence in Āpaṇa and subsequently converting along with the 300 who had been his relatives at the time of the original act, co-transmigrating up to and including the final result of that act, namely arahantship. See DPPN I:663-664↩

reading jaṭā-khārika-bharitam (lit., “hair-braided [and] filled with ashes”) with BJTS for PTS jaṭābhābhārabharitaŋ, “heavy with the weight of the light of dread-locks,” but both are probably mistakes for the recurring jaṭābhārabharitaŋ (PTS) or jaṭābhārena bharitaṃ (BJTS) elsewhere in the text, translated as “bearing a weight of matted hair”↩

paṭiyattāhutaŋ↩

Sela asks the ascetic whether his sacrifice is being performed for a wedding, whether because he is bringing a bride to live in his own house (āvāho) or going to live in the house of a bride (vivāho).↩

lit., “has the king been invited by you?”. The brahmin wonders whether the sacrifice is being performed for the king, as an alternative to performing it for a wedding.↩

āhutī-yiṭṭhu-kāmo, lit., “I am one with the desire to sacrifice (yiṭṭhu[m] = infinitive of yajati) sacrifices (or oblations: āhutī)” or “to sacrifice oblations.”↩

brāhmaṇe deva-sammate, lit., “brahmins who have the same opinions as the gods”↩

sattasukhāvaho↩

sabbasattahitāvaho↩

lit., “radiant with the color of a Timbarūsaka [tree]”. The tree is diospyros embryopteris, Sinh. timbiri. The cty. specifies that the color is that of gold.↩

pahaṭo, BJTS reads pahaṭṭho, with the same meaning.↩

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

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.↩

vijjūpamo↩

lit., “he, the Buddha, is the one invited by me”↩

i.e., when it is full, puṇṇamāse va cchandimā↩

bhayātīto = bhaya + atīta, lit., “he in whom fear is overcome/surpassed/int he past” or “the one free of fear”↩

bhavantakaraṇo, “he who makes an end of existence”↩

Saddhammācchārakusalo↩

asādiso↩

anantavaṇṇo, could also be “unending color”↩

sakkūpamo, “like Śakra [Indra, the king of the gods]”↩

patāpī↩

vasīgaṇī↩

tejasī (BJTS reads tejassī)↩

durāsado↩

“God,” the creator deity, the lord of all (sahampatī)↩

reading pattadhammo with BJTS for PTS mahantadhammo, “he who had a big Teaching”↩

dasabalo↩

balātibalapārago (BJTS reads °pāragū), lit., “one who has gone beyond the power-surpassing power”↩

durāsado↩

duppasaho↩

acchalo↩

uggato↩

brahā↩

nerūpamo, i.e., “is like the cosmic mountain.”↩

asamasamo, “the same [even] in difference.” This epithet could be read as the grammatical negative of the compound samasama, lit., “exactly the same” or “evenly even” (or, according to Sinhala usage of the same term, “Equal”), which is also used as a Buddha-epithet above, v. 57 of #388 {391} (Pilindavacchcha-apadāna) = [3430]. Asama also means “stone,” a synonym for Sela’s own name, so we could read this as meaning “The Same as Stone,” though the relationship of that quality to the nature of the sky would then prove problematic. A better alt. reading, suggested to me by H.M. Wijerathna, is “the Same as the Unmatched Ones,” (“the same as those of whom no one is an equal”), i.e., the previous Buddhas.↩

atulo. Pronounce as contraction “unmeas’rable to preserve meter↩

aggataŋ gato↩

patiṭṭhā, support, resting place↩

tāṇo↩

saraṇagāminaŋ, of those going for refuge↩

assāssako↩

āsayo↩

buddhi-mantānaŋ (intelligence and mantras)↩

happiness need to be contracted “happ’ness” in recitation, to preserve meter.↩

assāsaka, “breathing,” “having breath,” by extension “breathing easily,” or “he who makes others breath easily”. I follow BJTS Sinhala gloss in thus translating the epithet (Sinh. äsväsillak↩

veda-kara, “the one who makes religious feeling, religious joy, enthusiasm, emotion.” Veda is a wide-ranging term derived from *vid (hence also “knowledge,” “science,” cf. vijjā), and of course designates the revealed poetry of the brahmins. In that latter context (whereby we could read the term, “Doer of the Veda” or even Maker of the Veda,” another possible meaning) , the literal meaning of assāsaka (see previous note) is especially interesting, for “Breathing” or even “the Breath” similarly evokes a theme very dear to Brahmanical thought and scripture.↩

meghūpamo, especially a storm-cloud↩

reading lokacchakkhu with BJTS for PTS loke samussito (“elevated in the world,” also a reasonable epithet for both the Buddha and the sun)↩

vīro↩

reading sabbatamavinodano with BJTS for PTS sabbantamavinodano↩

reading sabhāva-dassano with BJTS for PTS sabhāva rasako, “the Original Taste”↩

ārammaṇa-vimuttīsu, the (multiple) forms of release from the objects of the world and of the senses, including mental objects↩

contract to “ven’rable” for recitation, to keep the meter↩

this verse does not appear in PTS. BJTS reads: Vuddho samussito loke/lakkhaṇehi alaṅkato/appameyyo mahāvīro/*so me Buddho nimantito//↩

Yassa ñāṇam appameyyaŋ, lit., “of whom knowledge is without end/limit/measure”↩

sīlaŋ yassa anūpamaŋ, lit., “the morality of whom is without comparison/metaphor”↩

vimutti asadisā↩

BJTS (and PTS alt., diti [sic?]) reading yassa dhiti (‘whose energy/steadfastness/courage”) for PTS yassa pīti (whose joy”), also a likable epithet for both the Buddha↩

thāmo yas”sa acchintiyo↩

reading agadūpama, “like a medicine” with BJTS for PTS agarūpama (“like [something which is] not heavy”?)↩

lit., “you all should produce joy with me: BJTS gloss prefers to read the me as modifying the saying of “Buddha,” i.e., “my saying of…” I take it, instead, as an instrumental connected with the second person plural imperative, a subtle reminder that though Sela is addressed as a singular “you” in the first two feet of this verse, he is surrounded by a large group of three hundred followers. The meaning could also be “you all should produce joy for me”.↩

pītimato santo↩

paggayha dakkhiṇaŋ bāhuŋ↩

dhhamarājaŋ↩

reading passas’ etaṃ with BJTS for passass’ etaŋ↩

sāgaraŋ viya dissantaŋ↩

adantadamako could mean either “tamer of the untamed” or “tamer who is untamed;” I leave the ambiguity open with the hyphen, admitting here my preference for “tamer of the untamed” (which is also the BJTS reading, cf RD on dametar), and recommend pronunciation in chanting which through stress on the first term in the compound, and tone, can emphasize that the Buddha is one who tames those who are untamed/feral.↩

bodhento bodhapakkhiye, which BJTS glosses as the (37) aspects or qualities of Awakening or Enlightenment (bodha, here = bodhi, see RD s.v.)↩

ācchāra-upacchāraññū↩

dhammanucchchavasaŋvaraŋ (BJTS reads dhammanucchchavi°)↩

pade padaŋ nikkhipantā, lit., “carefully placing [your feet] step by step”↩

pade padaŋ nikkhipantā, lit., “carefully placing [your feet] step by step”↩

durūpansaṅkamā↩

appasaddā↩

reading yadā ‘haṃ with BJTS for PTS yāvâhaŋ, “as far as I…”↩

munibhūtā va, i.e., silently↩

reading deseti with BJTS for PTS desesi, “you preach”↩

nisāmetha↩

lit., “the Great Teaching,” saddhammasavanaŋ sukhaŋ↩

kathaŋ vītisāretvā↩

i.e., the thirty-two auspicious marks on the body of a mahāpurusa, which signal that he will either be a Buddha or a wheel-turning monarch.↩

reading iddhiyā* with BJTS for PTS itthiyā (“to a woman,” sic!)*↩

kosohitaŋ vatthaguyhaŋ, BJTS reads kosohitavatthaguyhaŋ↩

kaṇṇasote, “on his auditory organ”↩

reading patamasi nalāṭantaṃ with BJTS for PTS paṭtimasanalāṭaŋ taŋ↩

niṭṭhaŋ gantvā, lit., “having gone (come) to the conclusion”↩

sabbe patt’ amha nibbutiŋ↩

ekato, lit., “ as one”↩

lit., “having given”↩

reading gopānasīyo with BJTS for PTS gopānasī↩

reading vasī with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS vasiŋ↩

pūgadhamme↩

hetu, lit., causes; I follow BJTS gloss in understanding these as ānisaṃsas (Sinh. anusas aṭak labami). BJTS explains the use of hetu (which may be metri causa) as “making that good deed, [that is] that karma, the reason.” I count the eight here as: (1) worshipped everywhere, (2) ambrosial food, (3) supported by everyone, (4) no terrors, (5) no diseases, (6) long life, (7) fine skin, (8) chosen or wished-for residences.↩

pūjito↩

reading patiṭṭhā homi sabbesaṃ with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS patiṭṭhā bhosiŋ sabbesaŋ↩

lit., “have,” “find”↩

tāso↩

āvāse patthite vase↩

reading vasī with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS vasiŋ↩

pūgadhamme↩

lit., “having given”↩

or, “in addition to those eight”↩

paṭisambhidā, i.e., mastery of the (four) analytical modes, a mark of arahantship↩

lit., “and”. The ccha here connects the two separate ānisaṃsas into one, referred to in the final foot with the singular pronoun etaŋ↩

sabbavositavosāno, lit., “being one who has accomplished all accomplishments,” “being an arahant”↩

katakiccchcho, i.e., “being an arahant”↩

anāsavo, i.e., “being an arahant”↩

aṭṭhagopānasī nāma↩

reading vasī with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS vasiŋ↩

pūgadhamme↩

thamhāni↩

lit., “having given”↩

hetu, lit., causes; I follow BJTS in understanding these as ānisaṃsas (Sinh. anusas pahak labami). I count the five here as: (1) unshaken by love, (2) wealthy, (3) one whose words are taken well, causing no offense, (4) mind not out of control, unshaken, and (5) arahantship (unstained, respectful, obedient, duties complete, undefiled follower of the Buddha).↩

acchalo homi mettāya↩

anūnabhogavā↩

adeyyavacchano homi↩

na dhaŋsemi yathā ahaŋ↩

reading abhantaṃ mānasaṃ mama with BJTS (bhanta = swerving, wavering, unsteady, used of a cart that is out of control) for PTS āgataŋ mānasaŋ mamaŋ (alt. mama), “my mind is come”. PTS also gives asantaŋ (lacking peace, disturbed) as an alternate reading, which would be preferable to āgataŋ↩

vimalo homi sāsane↩

sagāravo↩

sappaṭisso↩

katakiccchcho, i.e., “being an arahant”↩

anāsavo, i.e., “being an arahant”↩

bhikkhu tan vandate, lit., “a monk who is venerated”↩

paññapes’ ahaŋ↩

hetu, lit., causes; I follow BJTS in understanding these as ānisaṃsas (Sinh. anusas pahak labami). I count the five here as: (1) good birth, (2) great wealth, (3) all success, (4) lack of stinginess or greed, (5) magic palanquin.↩

uccchche kule↩

mahābhogo bhavāmi↩

reading sabbasampattiko homi with BJTS for PTS sabbasampāttiko↩

lit., “not found for me” “I do not know” “I do not experience”↩

macchcheraŋ = macchchariyaŋ2↩

upatiṭṭhati, lit., “stands [there],” “comes to stand fast”↩

thero, “elder”↩

sabbâbhiññā-balapatto↩

para-kiccchchatta-kiccchchāni, “duties which are to be done by others”. I follow BJTS gloss in reading the compound accordingly; it could also be read to mean that he performed his own duties including duties involving service to others.↩

pāvisim abhayaŋ puraŋ, that is, nirvana.↩

Reading seṭṭhattaṃ (lit., “bestness”) with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS seṭṭhan taŋ↩

karetvā (BJTS reads karitvā) kāraṇā nānā↩

reading dāruṇena damenti te with BJTS for PTS dārune na damenti te, “they do not tame the cruel ones.”↩

reading na h’evaṃ with BJTS for PTS na heva↩

adaṇḍena↩

asatthena↩

uttame dame↩

reading vaṇṇe kittento with BJTS for PTS vaṇṇaŋ kittento, “praising the virtue”↩

reading ekapañhaṃ with BJTS for PTS ekapañhe, “single questions”↩

sārathinā. Sārathī, coachman or charioteer, also connotes a trainer of horses, one who keeps the horses under control.↩

suvimiuttā↩

anāsavā↩

nibbutā, lit., “blown out,” “cooled off,” i.e., in nirvana.↩

upadhikkhaye, i.e., “in the destruction of the substratum of rebirth,.” Upadhi (clinging to rebirth, the reason for rebirth, the obstacle to nirvana) is classified in various lists of upadhis (plural), such as clinging, wrong views, defilements, karma, bad conduct, etc.↩

BJTS agrees with PTS here in presenting this variant on the standard refrain verse↩