[392. {395.}1 Padumakūṭāgāriya2]
Piyadassi, the Blessed One,
the Self-Become One, World-Leader,
Solitude-Lover, Sambuddha,
Skilled in Meditation, was Sage. (1) [3726]
Entering3 a grove in the woods,
Piyadassi, the Sage So Great,
spreading out [his] robe made of rags,
sat down, the Ultimate Person. (2) [3727]
I was a deer-hunter back then,
within a grove in the forest.4
I was wandering around5 back
then, searching for a spotted6 deer. (3) [3728]
[Then] I saw the Sambuddha there,
Flood-Crosser, the Undefiled One,
like a regal sal tree in bloom,
like the risen hundred-rayed [sun]. (4) [3729]
Having seen [him], the God of Gods,
Piyadassi, the Great-Famed One,
entering a natural lake,
I brought [some] lotuses back then. (5) [3730]
After bringing [those] lotuses,
hundred-petaled [and] beautiful,
having built a gabled hut, I
[then] covered [it] with lotuses. (6) [3731]
Pitier, Compassionate One,
Piyadassi, the Sage So Great,
seven nights and days the Buddha,
Victor, dwelt in [that] gabled hut. (7) [3732]
Throwing out the old [lotuses,]
I covered it with new ones [then].
I stood [there] for that entire time,
hands pressed together [in worship]. (8) [3733]
RIsing up from meditation,
Piyadassi, the Sage So Great,
looking out in [all] directions
the Leader of the World sat down. (9) [3734]
At that time Sudassana7 was
[Buddha’s] powerful attendant.
Knowing the thoughts of the Buddha,
of Piyadassi, the Teacher,
surrounded by [accomplished] monks
[whose number was] eighty thousand,
he went up to the World-Leader,
seated happily in the woods.8 (10-11) [3735-3736]
All the gods who were residing
throughout [that] grove in the forest,
knowing the thoughts of the Buddha,
then assembled together [there]. (12) [3737]
When the spirits,9 the kumbhaṇḍas
and the demons10 came together,
and the monks’ Assembly arrived,
the Victor uttered [these] verses: (13) [3738]
“He who worshipped11 me for a week
and made a residence for me,
I shall relate details of him;
[all of] you listen to my words: (14) [3739]
I shall relate through [my] knowledge
what’s very hard to point out, deep,
very subtle and well-explained;
[all of] you listen to my words: (15) [3740]
For fourteen aeons [this one] will
exercise rule over the gods.
They will carry up in the sky
a lofty gabled hut for him,
[well-]covered with lotus flowers:
that’s the fruit of former karma. (16) [3741]12
For twenty-four hundred13 aeons
he will transmigrate here and there.14
A flying mansion15 made of blooms16
will be carried in the sky there. (17) [3742]
Just as water does not stick to
[the surface] of a lotus-leaf,
so defilements do not stick to
[a possessor] of this knowledge. (18) [3743]
This one, after shattering17 the
five obstacles18 with [his own] mind,
giving birth to the intention,19
setting out from home he’ll renounce;
after that the floral mansion
will set forth [too], being carried. (18e-f, 19) [3744]20
When [he’s] dwelling beneath a tree,
[or] when his mindfulness is sharp,21
there [that] mansion made of flowers
will be carried over [his] head. (20) [3745]
Having given robes and alms-food,
requisites and dwelling places
to the Assembly of the monks,22
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.” (21) [3746]
Through actions23 with the gabled hut,
I went forth to ordination;24
when [I’m] dwelling beneath a tree,
the gabled hut’s carried [for me]. (22) [3747]
Intentions don’t exist in me
[for getting] robes or25 food as alms.
In connection with [my] karma,26
I get [both] already prepared. (23) [3748]
I’ve lived27 many million28 aeons,
innumerable by counting.
They’ve elapsed [for me] emptily;29
the World-Leaders have been set free.30 (24) [3749]
Eighteen hundred aeons [ago]
[lived] the Guide named Piyadassi.
Having served him attentively,31
I came into this [present] womb. (25) [3750]
Here32 I saw33 Sambuddha named
Anoma,34 the One with [Five] Eyes.
Having [then] gone up to him, I
went forth into the homeless life. (26) [3751]
The Buddha, Ender of Dis-ease,35
the Victor preached the path to me.
Having listened to his Teaching,
I realized the deathless state. (27) [3752]
Having pleased [him], the Sambuddha,
Gotama, Bull of the Śākyas,
knowing well all the defilements,
I am [now] living, undefiled. [3753]
In the eighteen hundred aeons
since I worshipped36 the Buddha [then],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (29) [3754]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
All defilements are exhausted;
now there will be no more rebirth. (30) [3755]
My being in Buddha’s presence
was a very good thing for me.
The three knowledges are attained;
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (31) [3756]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (32) [3757]
Thus indeed Venerable Padumakūṭāgāriya Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Padumakūṭāgāriya 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 Gabled-Hut-er”↩
taking samogayha as grnd. of samugaṇhāti, should be samuggayha, BJTS glosses pavisi, “he entered,” and I follow suit, unclear how “seized” or “taken” would apply here.↩
reading vipine with BJTS for PTS iriṇe (‘in the desert”)↩
reading āhiṇḍāmi with BJTS for PTS ahiṇḍāmi, “not wandering about”↩
pasadaŋ = pasataŋ (RD pasata 1)↩
“Good to Look At.” lit., “the one named Sudassana”↩
vanante, “within the forest”↩
yakkhesu↩
rakkhase↩
lit., “did pūjā”↩
PTS and BJTS agree in presenting this as a six-footed verse↩
the figure should be eighteen hundred aeons, as Piyadassi is stated below to have lived eighteen hundred aeons ago. I don’t know how to make sense of this prediction of a future of twenty-four hundred aeons for the protagonist, since the point of the poem is that eighteen hundred aeons after Piyadassi he became an arahant (in the dispensation of Gotama Buddha). But the Pāli is clear, so I leave the discrepancy to stand. The protagonist does after all admit that the kalpas he’s lived are “innumerable by counting.”↩
vokiṇṇaŋ, lit., “strewn about.” I follow BJTS Sinhala gloss (oba moba) in this translation↩
vyamham↩
pupphamayaŋ↩
vivaṭṭetvā, “causing to be turn away,” “destroying”↩
pañcchanivāraṇe. five obstacles to arahantship. RD: “kāmacchchanda, abhijjhā-vyāpāda, thīnamiddha, uddhaccchcha-kukkuccchcha, vicchikicchchā,” i.e., attraction to sense pleasures, acting badly due to covetousness, sloth and torpor, flurry and worry, doubt.↩
lit., “thought,” “mind,” cchittaŋ janetvā↩
PTS connects the first two feet of this verse with the previous one, which it (unlike BJTS) presents as six-footed, BJTS makes these the first two feet of the present, six-footed verse. I follow BJTS here.↩
nipakassa satīmato↩
bhikkhusaṅghassa↩
ccharaṇā, BJTS ccharatā↩
pabbajjaŋ abhinikkhamiŋ↩
lit., “and,” ccha↩
lit., “with [my] meritorious karma”↩
lit., “to me [there have been]”↩
lit., “many ten million,” i.e., “many koṭis”↩
rittikā te atikkantā↩
reading pamuttā with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS pavuttā. The sense of the verse — which I admit to finding cryptic — seems to be, as BJTS gloss gives it, that this vast expanse of time was empty in the absence of Buddhas, who in achieving nirvana let go of (were not present in) the world.↩
tam ahaŋ payirūpāsitvā↩
reading idha° with BJTS for PTS tam↩
addassāsiŋ, BJTS reads addasāsiṃ↩
read “Gotama,” as below? Or read Anomaŋ nāma as “certainly Supreme/Not Inferior” rather than “named Anoma”? The latter is however the BJTS gloss, and I translate accordingly.↩
dukkhass’ antakaro Buddho↩
lit., “did pūjā”↩