[420. {423.}1 Ekâsanadāyaka2]
In the Himalayan region,
there’s a mountain named Kosika.
My well-built hermitage [is there,]
with well-fashioned halls made of leaves. (1) [4497]
My name [back then] was Nārada,
[and] I was known as Kassapa.
I’m living on Kosika then,
seeking the path of purity.3 (2) [4498]
The Victor, Padumuttara,
the [Great] Master of Everything,
Solitude-Lover, Sambuddha,
came [there] in the path of the wind. (3) [4499]
Seeing the rays of the Great Sage,
flying4 over the forest5 [then],
I prepared a couch out of sticks,
and spread [my] leather robe6 [on it]. (4) [4500]
After preparing [him that] seat,
hands pressed together on [my] head,
declaring [my] great state of mind,
I spoke these words [to him back then]: (5) [4501]
“[You are]7 the Surgeon,8 [Great] Hero,
the Physician9 for the diseased.
O Guide, give your healing [to me],
one who’s afflicted with disease. (6) [4502]
O Sage, those seeking what is right10
who see you, O Best of Buddhas,
always gain success in their goal:11
existence is shattered for them.12 (7) [4503]
There’s nothing for me to give you;
I [live] eating [only] wild fruits.
[But] I do have this seat [to give;]
sit down on this couch made of sticks.” (8) [4504]
The Blessed One did sit down there,
unfrightened like a lion[-king].
After spending a moment [there,]
he spoke these words [to me back then]: (9) [4505]
“Be confident, don’t be afraid;
you have obtained a wishing stone.13
Everything which you have wished for
will be fulfilled in the future. (10) [4506]
It is no trifle, what you’ve done,
in the unexcelled merit-field.
Self-lifting up is possible
for one whose mind is [well-]controlled. (11) [4507]
Because of this gift of a seat,
[done] with intention and resolve,
for one hundred thousand aeons
you won’t fall14 into suffering.15 (12) [4508]
Fifty times the lord of the gods,
you will exercise divine rule,
and eighty times you’ll be a king,
a king who turns the wheel [of law]. (13) [4509]
[And there will be] much local rule,
innumerable by counting.
Being happy in every place,
you’ll transmigrate in existence.” (14) [4510]
Having said this, the Sambuddha,
the Leader, Ultimate Lotus,
the Hero16 rose into the sky,
just like a swan-king in the air. (15) [4511]
Elephant- [and] horse-vehicles,
with chariots and palanquins —
I am obtaining all of them:
that’s the fruit of a single seat. (16) [4512]
Even having entered the woods,
whenever I wish for a seat,
discerning what I am thinking,
a palanquin’s waiting on me. (17) [4513]
Being gone into the water17
whenever I wish for a seat,
discerning what I am thinking,
a palanquin’s waiting on me. (18) [4514]
In whichever womb I’m reborn,
[whether] it’s human or divine,
a hundred thousand palanquins
are waiting on me all the time. (19) [4515]
I transmigrate in [just] two states:
that of a god, or of a man.
[When human] I‘m born in two clans:
the kṣatriyan or the brahmin. (20) [4516]
Having given a single seat
in the unexcelled merit-field,
taking the Teaching-palanquin,
I’m living without defilements. (21) [4517]
In the hundred thousand aeons
since I gave that gift at that time,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of a single seat. (22) [4518]
[My] defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (23) [4519]
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! (24) [4520]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (25) [4521]
Thus indeed Venerable Ekâsanadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Ekâsanadāyaka 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.↩
“One-Seat-Donor”↩
suddhimaggaŋ gavesanto↩
lit., “going”↩
vanagge, lit., “on the top of the forest”↩
ajinaŋ, lit., “deer-leather [robe]”↩
BJTS omits PTS tuvaŋ and gives mahāvīra for PTS vīra, keeping the meter. This translation preserves both the tuvaŋ of PTS and the mahā° of BJTS, but also indicates their absence in the respective other texts by including them in square brackets↩
sallakatto, lit., “one who works on the (poison) arrow,” a doctor who does surgery.↩
tikicchchako↩
reading kalla-atthikā with BJTS for PTS kallaṭṭhikā. BJTS glosses kalla (“what is fitting”) as “nirvana” (nivan kämmätt yamkenek)↩
reading dhuvatthasiddiŋ with BJTS for PTS dhuvaŋ ti siddhiŋ, “their goal called permanence” or “their goal called nirvana” (following PSI for the latter definition).↩
etesaŋ jajjaro bhavo, following BJTS gloss (= “comes to an end”)↩
jotiraso↩
lit., “go”↩
vinipātaŋ, lit., “a state of suffering” or “ruination”↩
BJTS reads dhīro (“the wise one”)↩
lit., “in the middle of water”↩