[463. {466.}1 Avaṇṭaphaliya2]
The Blessed One, Hundred-Rayed One,3
the Self-Become, Unconquered One,
Seclusion-Lover,4 Sambuddha,
went forth in order to seek food. (1) [4889]
[Holding] fruit in [my] hand I saw
the Bull of Men who had approached.
Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart,
I gave [him] fruit with stems removed. (2) [4890]
In the ninety-four aeons since
I gave [him] that fruit [at that time],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of giving fruit. (3) [4891]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (4) [4892]
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! (5) [4893]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (6) [4894]
Thus indeed Venerable Avaṇṭaphaliya5 Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Avaṇṭaphaliya6 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.↩
this is the BJTS spelling; PTS reads Avaṭaphaliya. This same apadāna (with the slight difference that the third and fourth verses are inverted there) appears above, titled Avaṇṭaphaladāyaka-apadāna, as #378 [381], and also below, #501 {504}, titled Avaṭaphaliya-apadāna. With the name Tālaphaliya°, and only a slight change, it also appears as #506 {509} The meaning is “Stemless Fruit-er”↩
sataraŋsi, i.e., “the Sun”↩
viveka-kāma↩
this is the BJTS spelling; PTS reads Avaṭaphaliya. Cone (s.v.) accepts the spelling avaṭa but indicates the possibility that it might be a mistake for avaṇṭa. Though she recognizes the literal meaning of the latter (“stemless”), she treats these Apadāna passages as references to a type of fruit by that name.↩
this is the BJTS spelling; PTS reads Avaṭaphaliya.↩