[435. {438.}1 Harīṭakadāyaka2]

Myrobalan3 and gooseberry,4
mango, rose-apple,5 bahera,6
jujube,7 markingnut,8 bel9 —
I’m carrying [that] by myself. (1) [4689]

Seeing a Meditator, Sage,
Trance-Lover, on a [mountain] slope,
a Great Sage [dwelling there] alone,
who was tormented by disease,
taking a myrobalan, I
gave [it] to the Self-Become One.
When the medicine was eaten,10
it allayed [the Buddha’s] illness. (2-3) [4690-4691]

With [his] pain eliminated,
the Buddha [then] expressed [his] thanks:11
“Due to this gift of medicine
and the allaying12 of illness,
being divine or human, or
born in another existence,13
may you be happy everywhere,
and may illness not come to you.” (4-5) [4692-4693]

Having said this, the Sambuddha,
the Self-Become One, the Great Sage,
the Hero,14 rose into the sky,
just like a swan-king in the air. (6) [4694]

From when I gave myrobalan
to the Great Sage, the Self-Become,
until this [present] birth [of mine,]
illness did not arise for me. (7) [4695]

This is the final time for me;
[my] last rebirth is proceeding.15
The three knowledges are attained;
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (8) [4696]

In the ninety-four aeons since
I gave [him] medicine back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of medicine. (9) [4697]

My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (10) [4698]

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! (11) [4699]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (12) [4700]

Thus indeed Venerable Harīṭakadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Harīṭakadāyaka Thera is finished.

  1. 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.↩

  2. “Myrobalan Donor”↩

  3. harīṭakaŋ = Sinhala araḷu, yellow myrobalan, terminalia chebula↩

  4. āmalakaŋ = Sinhala nelli, phyllanthus emblica, emblic myrobalan, Indian gooseberry↩

  5. fruit of the eugenia, damba, jambu↩

  6. vibhīṭakaŋ, Sinhala buḷu, beleric myrobalan, bastard myrobalan, Terminalia bellirica↩

  7. kolaŋ, Sinh. ḍebara phala, Ziziphus Mauritania, Zyziphus Jujuba, Indian jujube or Chinese apple.↩

  8. bhallātakaŋ bhallī, badulla = semecarpus anacardium, Sinh. badulu↩

  9. bellaŋ, billā = fruit of Aegle marmelos, Sinh. beli geḍiya, bael, bel, Bengal quince; bilva or vilva tree, = beluvā↩

  10. khādamattamhi bhesajje, lit., “as soon as the medicine was eaten.” BJTS reads katamattamhi bhesajje (“right when the medicine was done [or made]”)↩

  11. anumodianiyaŋ akā, lit., “made an expression of thanks.” Both PTS and BJTS record an alternate reading which is more straightforward: anumodaŋ akāsi me, “expressed [his] thanks to me”↩

  12. reading °vūpasamena with BJTS for PTS °vupasamena↩

  13. jāto vā aññajātiyā, lit.,(following BJTS gloss) “or born in some other birth-state”↩

  14. BJTS (and PTS alt.) reads dhīro (“the wise one”)↩

  15. ccharimo vattate bhavo↩