[449. {452.}1 Morahatthiya2]

Collecting [some] peacock feathers,
I [then] approached the World-Leader.
Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart,
I gave [him those] peacock feathers. (1) [4805]

Through those3 peacock feathers, [given]
with intention and [firm] resolve,
the three fires4 are blown out in me;
I’m receiving huge happiness. (2) [4806]

O! the Buddha! O! the Teaching!
O! our Teacher’s [great] achievement!
Having given peacock feathers,
I’m receiving huge happiness. (3) [4807]

The three fires5 are blown out in me;
all [new] existence is destroyed;
all the defilements are exhausted,
I am [now] living, undefiled. (4) [4808]

In the thirty-one aeons since
I gave [him] that donation then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of peacock feathers. (5) [4809]

My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (6) [4810]

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! (7) [4811]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (8) [4812]

Thus indeed Venerable Morahatthiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Morahatthiya 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. “Peacock Feather-er”

  3. lit., “these”

  4. The cty here explains these as the fires of rāga (lust), dosa (anger) and moha (ignorance, folly)

  5. The cty here explains these as the fires of rāga (lust), dosa (anger) and moha (ignorance, folly)