[437. {440.}1 Jambuphaliya2]
When Padumuttara Buddha,
the World’s Best One, the Neutral One,
was wandering about for alms,
maintaining superlative fame, (1) [4710]
taking the best [rose-apple]3 fruit,
with a mind that was very clear,
I gave [it] to the Teacher, the
Hero, the One Deserving Gifts. (2) [4711]
O Biped-Lord,4 O World’s Best One,
Bull of Men, due to that karma,
I’ve attained the unshaking place
beyond [all] conquest and defeat. (3) [4712]
In the hundred thousand aeons
since I gave that donation then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving the best. (4) [4713]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (5) [4714]
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) [4715]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (7) [4716]
Thus indeed Venerable Jambuphaliya Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Jambuphaliya Thera is finished.
The Summary:
Ekavihārī Thera and
Saṅkhika, Pāṭihīraka,
Thavika and Ucchchukaṇḍī5
Kalamb’, Ambāṭakapadā,6
Harīṭak’, and Ambapiṇḍī,
Jambuda goes as the tenth [poem].
There are eighty-six verses [here],
which are counted by those who know.
The Ekavihāriya Chapter, the Forty-Fourth
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.↩
“Rose-apple-Fruit-er.” Virtually the same apadāna is repeated below as #{552} (BJTS only), ascribed to Nadīkassapa Thera. Lacking the name “Rose-apple Fruit-er” there it leaves the type of fruit donated ambiguous, as does the Pāḷi↩
jambu. BJTS Sinhala gloss suggests this interpolation, presumably based on the name of the protagonist (which appears in the colophon), but the Pāli of the poem itself does not specify what kind of fruit this one was the best of.↩
I read this and the following two epithets in the vocative, in keeping with PTS, though BJTS reads them as nominatives, continuing the preceding verse, here and in the repeated version (#{552}). See the latter for the treatment of them as nominatives.↩
BJTS reads Ucchchukhaṇḍi↩
BJTS reads Ambāṭakappadā↩