[413. {416.}1 Ekadīpiya2]
When the Well-Gone-One passed away,3
Siddhattha, Leader of the World,
all the gods and human beings
are worshipping4 the Best Biped. (1) [4391]
And when a shrine5 had been set up
for Siddhattha, the World-Leader,
they’re worshipping the Teacher’s shrine
as vigorously as [each] could. (2) [4392]
In the shrine’s vicinity, I
lit a lamp [for the Buddha].
I kept my lamp lit [the whole night,]
until the sun rose [the next day]. (3) [4393]
Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and [firm] resolve,
discarding [my] human body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa [then]. (4) [4394]
There my well-constructed mansion
was known [by the name] “Single Lamp.”
One hundred thousand lamps [always]
are lit for me in the mansion. (5) [4395]
Like the sun [when it] is rising,
my body is always shining.
There is light for me all the time
through all the light of my body. (6) [4396]
[Right] through walls, [also right] through rocks,
[and] passing over mountain[-top]s,6
I am seeing, with [my own] eyes,
[even] one hundred leagues [distant]. (7) [4397]
And seventy-seven times I
delighted in the world of gods.
And thirty-one [different] times,
I exercised divine rule [there]. (8) [4398]
And [then] twenty-eight times I was
a king who turns the wheel [of law].
There was [also] much local rule,
innumerable by counting. (9) [4399]
Falling from the world of the gods,
I was born in a mother’s womb.
Even inside7 [my] mother’s womb,
[one of my] eyes remains open.8 (10) [4400]
I went forth into homelessness
when I was [only] four years [old].
When eight months still had not elapsed,
I attained [my] arahantship. (11) [4401]
I purified [my] “divine eye;”
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Every defilement is cut off:
that’s the fruit of a single lamp. (12) [4402]
[Right] through walls, [also right] through rocks;
I am seeing, passing over
even entire mountain[-top]s:9
that’s the fruit of a single lamp. (13) [4403]
Uneven spots are even for
me; darkness is not [ever] known;
I don’t see [anything] darkly:
that’s the fruit of a single lamp. (14) [4404]
In the ninety-four aeons since
I gave [Buddha] a lamp back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of a single lamp. (15) [4405]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (16) [4406]
Being in Best Buddha’s presence
was a very good thing for me.
The three knowledges are attained;
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (17) [4407]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (18) [4408]
Thus indeed Venerable Ekadīpiya Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Ekadīpiya 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.↩
“Single-Lamp-er”↩
lit., “reached nirvana”↩
pūjenti, “doing pūjā”↩
or stupa: cchitake, Sinh. cchaitya↩
lit., “having passed over a mountain”↩
lit., “gone to”↩
na nimīlati, lit., “is not shutting”↩
lit., “having passed over a mountain”↩