Sakiŋsammajjaka Chapter, the Forty-Third
[418. {421.}1 Sakiŋsammajjaka2]
Having seen the chief of [all] trees,
the trumpet-flower3 Bodhi tree
of Vipassi, the Blessed One,
I brought pleasure to [my] heart there. (1) [4462]
Having taken a broom [with me,]
I always swept that Bodhi tree.
After sweeping that Bodhi tree,
I worshipped the trumpet-flower. (2) [4463]
Bringing pleasure to [my] heart there,
hands pressed together on [my] head,
praising [that] Bodhi tree I [then,]
crouched over,4 departed [from there]. (3) [4464]
Going along a walking path,5
remembering the supreme tree,6
[at that time] a python7 crushed me,
of frightful form, extremely strong. (4) [4465]
Due to the fruit of my karma,8
being near death9 I was happy.
[The python] swallowed my body;10
I delighted in the gods’ world. (5) [4466]
My mind is always undisturbed,
well-purified and very clear.11
I do not know arrows of grief,
[nor any] torment in my heart. (6) [4467]
I do not get the itch,12 ringworm,13
rashes,14 abscesses,15 leprosy,16
epilepsy17 [and] scabies18 [too]:
that is the fruit of sweeping [up]. (7) [4468]
Grief as well as lamentation
are19 not known in [this] heart of mine.
My mind’s upright and unattached:20
that is the fruit of sweeping [up]. (8) [4469]
My mind is pure, I do not cling
when in the meditative states.21
Whichever of those states22 I want,
it [always] comes to be for me. (9) [4470]
I’m not attached to lustful [ways]
and also [not to] hateful [ones];
not bewildered in ignorance:
that is the fruit of sweeping [up]. (10) [4471]
In the ninety-one aeons since
I did that karma at that time,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of sweeping [up]. (11) [4472]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (12) [4473]
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! (13) [4474]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (14) [4475]
Thus indeed Venerable Sakiŋsammajjaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Sakiŋsammajjaka 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.↩
“Once-Sweeper”↩
pāṭali, Sinh. paḷol, Bignonia suaveolens, sterospermum suaveolens (Bignon.), trumpet-flower tree, the Bodhi Tree of Vipassi Buddha.↩
taking paṭikuṭim (BJTS reads paṭikūṭī°) as fr. paṭikuṭati “to crouch,” “to bend over.” BJTS gloss here (gauravayen nämunem, “bending over (in reverence)”↩
reading cchārimaggena with BJTS (and PTS alt) for PTS cchārima-maggena, which breaks the meter↩
lit., “remembering the supreme (or ultimate) Bodhi tree↩
ajagarā. RD says “a large snake…a Boa Constrictor”↩
lit., “the karma done by me”↩
āsanne, BJTS gloss maraṇasannayehi, which in Sinhala anyway is one of the senses of āsanna (lit., “near”)↩
kalebaraŋ (BJTS kaḷebaraṃ) me↩
visuddhaŋ paṇḍaraŋ↩
kaṇḍu. BJTS reads kacchchu, with the same meaning.↩
daddu↩
kuṭṭha↩
gaṇḍa↩
kilāsa↩
apamāra. This seems an outlier since the remainder of the diseases listed here are all diseases of the skin, but the Pāli is unambiguous.↩
vitacchchikā↩
lit., “is,” singular↩
asattaŋ. BJTS reads abhantaṃ, “not swerving,” “not careening out of control”↩
samādhisu (reading samādhsu with BJTS)↩
lit., “whichever samādhi”↩