Naḷamāli Chapter, the Forty-Eighth
[468. {471.}1 Naḷamāliya2]
I saw the Leader of the World,
the Golden-Colored Sambuddha,
Sacrificial Recipient,
flying3 along the forest top. (1) [4936]
Having taken a reed-flower,4
I am setting out all the time.
There I saw [him], the Sambuddha,
the Flood-Crosser, Undefiled One. (2) [4937]
Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart,
I offered5 that reed-flower to
the Great Hero, Worthy of Gifts,6
the Pitier of the Whole World.7 (3) [4938]
In the thirty-one aeons since
I presented [him] that flower,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (4) [4939]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (5) [4940]
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) [4941]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (7) [4942]
Thus indeed Venerable Naḷamāliya Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Naḷamāliya 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.↩
“Reed-Flower-er”↩
lit., “going”↩
BJTS Sinh. gloss on “reed” (naḷa) is baṭa = “reed, a small species of bamboo, ochlanda stridula” (Bot. Dict.)↩
lit., “did pūjā”↩
dakkhineyyaŋ↩
sabbalokānukampakaŋ↩