[415. {418.}1 Yāgudāyaka2]
Taking someone unknown to me,3
I went4 to a village back then.
Seeing a very full river,
I approached a monastery.5 (1) [4416]
Forest-dwellers,6 punctilious,7
meditators,8 [clad in] coarse9 robes,
wise, lovers of seclusion, were
living in [that] monastery. (2) [4417]
Their destinies10 had been cut off,
well-liberated, neutral ones;
they did not go begging for alms
if the river obstructed [them].11 (3) [4418]
Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart,
awe-struck,12 with hands pressed together,
taking [some] rice-grain that I had,13
I made a gruel-donation [then]. (4) [4419]
Giving gruel [to those monks] five times,14
[feeling well-]pleased by [my] own hands,
satisfied with [my] own karma,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa then. (5) [4420]
A mansion made of gems was born
for me in the group of thirty.15
I joyed with a group of women
in that superb mansion [of mine]. (6) [4421]
Thirty-three times the lord of gods,
I exercised divine rule [there].
Thirty times a wheel-turning king,
I exercised overlordship.16 (7) [4422]
There was [also] much local rule,
innumerable by counting.
In the world of gods or humans,
I [always] enjoyed [great] fame. (8) [4423]
When [my] last rebirth was attained,
I went forth into homelessness.
As soon as17 [my] hair was cut off,
I realized18 complete success.19 (9) [4424]
Due to decay, due to old age,20
contemplating21 this corpse22 [of mine],
before the training rules were taught,23
I attained [my] arahantship. (10) [4425]
Well-given was my superb gift;
[my] trade24 was very well-applied.25
Because of that very gruel-gift,
I’ve attained the unshaking state. (11) [4426]
I have no experience of26
sorrow [and] wailing [and] illness,
[nor] distress that torments the mind:
that is the fruit of giving gruel. (12) [4427]
O! [that] gruel was very well spent!
Giving the monks’ Assembly gruel,
in the unsurpassed merit-field,
I enjoy [these] five good results: (13) [4428]
I don’t get ill, I’m beautiful,
the Teaching quickly is observed,
I receive [lots of] food [and] drink,
and [my long] lifespan is the fifth. (14) [4429]
Whoever struck by awe would give
gruel to the Assembly of monks,
that wise person would [also] get
these five [most welcome] benefits.27 (15) [4430]
What should be done has all been done;
I have put an end to rebirths.28
All defilements are exhausted;
now there will be no more rebirth. (16)29
I am wandering from village
to village, city to city,
extolling [him], the Sambuddha,
and [Buddha’s] virtuous Teaching. (17)30
In the thirty thousand aeons
since I gave that gift at that time,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of giving gruel. (18) [4431]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (19) [4432]
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! (20) [4433]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (21) [4434]
Thus indeed Venerable Yāgudāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Yāgudāyaka 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.↩
“Gruel Donor”↩
atithiŋ me gahetvā, lit., “taking [someone who was] a stranger to me” or “taking a stranger with me.” Cone, s.v., reads this usage of atithiŋ within the common meaning of that term, “stranger” or “newcomer,” and I follow suit. BJTS says an atithi is some sort of “instrument for the road,” presumably a type of vehicle, or a walking stick, or what have you; that would result in a translation like “taking my aitithi, I…” As becomes clear below (v. 11; [4426]), the protagonist is a merchant, traveling for the purpose of trade. Thus atithi might also refer to the merchandise he takes to sell or exchange.↩
reading agacchchiṃ with BJTS for PTS āgacchchiŋ, “I came”↩
saṅghārāmam upāgamiŋ, lit., “I approached a residence [or “garden”] for the Sangha [or “assembly of monks”]”↩
āraññakā↩
dhūtavādā, lit., “inculcators of punctiliousnes”↩
jhāyino↩
reading lūkha° with BJTS for PTS lukha°↩
gatī, i.e., liability for rebirth↩
oruddhanadikā yadi. BJTS reads oruddhanadikāya hi, “because of the river obstructing [them]”↩
vedajāto↩
lit., “of mine”↩
pacchannaŋ yāguŋ datvāna, lit., “having given the fifth gruel[-donation]”↩
tidase gaṇe, i.e. “among the thirty[-three] gods,” “in Tāvatiṃsa heaven”↩
mahārajjam, lit., “great sovereignty” or “maharajah-ship”↩
lit., “when,” loc. abs. construction↩
lit., “pierced,” “struck” “hit”↩
sabbasampatti°, lit., “all the attainments,” i.e., “I reached nirvana, I became an arahant”↩
omitting cchāpi, “and also”↩
sammasanto (fr. sammasati), “thinking about” “meditating upon” “thoroughly understanding”↩
kalebaraŋ, “body,” especially “dead body”.↩
reading pure sikkhāpadā dānā with BJTS for PTS pure sikkhāpadādāne; lit., “before the training rules were given”↩
reading vāṇijjaṃ (trade, trading, i.e., his work as a traveling merchant) with BJTS for PTS vānijjaŋ↩
or, “was a very good business” or “was well-directed:” suppayojitaŋ↩
nâbhijānāmi uppanna, lit., “I do not know through experience the arising [of]” or “I am not conscious of the arising [of]”↩
imāni pañcchaṭhānāni, lit., “these five conditions” “these five states of being”↩
bhavā ugghāṭitā mayā, lit., “rebirths have been eliminated by me”↩
this verse does not appear in BJTS↩
this verse does not appear in BJTS↩