[414. {417.}1 Ucchchaṅgapupphiya2]
In the city, Bandhumatī,
I was a gardener back then.
Having filled [my] lap3 [with flowers,]
I went4 to the bazaar [with them]. (1) [4409]
The Buddha5 in that period,
Honored by the monks’ Assembly,
the World-Leader, was going by,6
through [his] enormous majesty.7 (2) [4410]
Having seen the Lamp of the World,
Vipassi, Crosser of the World,
taking a flower from my lap,
I offered8 [it] to Best Buddha. (3) [4411]
In the ninety-one aeons since
I offered9 a flower [back then],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (4) [4412]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (5) [4413]
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! (6) [4414]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (7) [4415]
Thus indeed Venerable Ucchchaṅgapupphiya Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Ucchchaṅgapupphiya 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.↩
“Lapful-of-Flowers-er”↩
BJTS Sinhala gloss suggests the meaning is “[my] lap-pocket (Oḍokkuwa), formed in the fold in the waist-garment (e.g., sarong, dhoti).↩
reading agamaŋ with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS āgamaŋ (“I came”)↩
lit., “the Blessed One”↩
niyyāti, or “going out” “getting out”↩
mahatā ānubhāvena↩
lit., “did pūjā”↩
lit., “did pūjā”↩