[466. {469.}1 Sayampaṭibhāṇiya2]

“Who is not pleased after seeing
the God of Gods, the Bull of Men,
shining like a dinner-plate tree,
[when he’s] going along the road? (1) [4908]

Who is not pleased after seeing
him shining the light of knowledge,
driving away [all] the darkness,
ferrying many folks across? (2) [4909]

Who is not pleased after seeing
the Leader of the World going
with one hundred thousand masters,
[and] lifting up many beings? (3) [4910]

Who is not pleased after seeing
[him] beat the drum of the Teaching,
sounding3 the roar of a lion,
crushing groups of ford-worshippers?4 (4) [4911]

Who is not pleased after seeing
[all the gods] including Brahmā
come all the way from Brahmā’s world,
asking [Buddha] subtle questions? (5) [4912]

Who is not pleased after seeing
[the world] with [its] gods imploring,
[both] hands pressed together for him,
enjoying merit due to that? (6) [4913]

Who is not pleased after seeing
all the people come together,
attending on5 the Eyeful One?
Invited,6 he does not waver. (7) [4914]

Who is not pleased after seeing
numerous drums bellowing, [and]
rutting elephants trumpeting,
when he’s entering the city? (8) [4915]

Who is not pleased after seeing
the All-Bright One7 always shining,
[and] raised spots8 becoming level,
when he is going on the road?9 (9) [4916]

Who is not pleased after seeing
[him] instructing every being,
being heard throughout the cosmos,10
when the Blessed One11 is speaking?” (10) [4917]

In the hundred thousand aeons
since I praised the Buddha [like that],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of praising [him]. (11) [4918]

My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (12) [4919]

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! (13) [4920]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (14) [4921]

Thus indeed Venerable Sayampaṭibhāṇiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Sayampaṭibhāṇiya 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. “Understanding [or Illumination, Ready Wit, Confident Speech, etc.] by Himself-er.” Compare #64, the apadāna of Parappasādaka (“Other-Pleaser”), for a different apadāna employing a parallel grammatical construction↩

  3. reading vinadantaṃ with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS vinādantaŋ↩

  4. or “the groups of heretics,” titthiye gaṇe↩

  5. sampavārenti, lit., “doing service with [each other]” or “doing service together”↩

  6. BJTS reads this to mean that one who is invited to join in would not hesitate to do so.↩

  7. sabbabhā, note the singular verb; I follow BJTS Sinh. gloss in treating this as an epithet referring to the BUddha.↩

  8. abbhuṇṇatā, BJTS reads abbhunnatā, both spellings are witnessed elsewhere in the Pāli.↩

  9. vīthiyā; BJTS (and PTS alt.) read rathiyā, both terms means “road” (in the locative, or else the instrumental “along the road”).↩

  10. lit., “within the universe,” cchakkavāḷamhi↩

  11. lit., “the Buddha”↩