[469. {472.}1 Maṇipūjaka2]
The Victor, Padumuttara,
was a Master of Everything,
Seclusion-Lover, the Sambuddha
was flying3 through the sky [back then]. (1) [4943]
In the Himalayan region,
there was a large natural lake.
My palace was [located] there,
bound up with [my] good4 karma. (2) [4944]
Having gone out from the palace,
I saw the Leader of the World,
bright like a blue water lily,5
blazing up like a fire-altar. (3) [4945]
[Thinking,] “I’ll worship6 the Leader,”
[though] I searched7 I saw no flower.
Bringing pleasure to [my] own heart,
I worshipped [him], the Teacher, [then]. (4) [4946]
With the gem [I had] on my head,8
I worshipped9 [him], the World-Leader:
“Let there be a lucky result
of this offering10 of a gem.” (5) [4947]
Padumuttara, World-Knower,
Sacrificial Recipient,
the Teacher, standing in the sky,
spoke this verse [about me then]: (6) [4948]
“Let your thought have a good result;
let you receive huge happiness.
Because of offering11 this gem,
let you experience great fame.” (7) [4949]
Having said this, the Blessed One,
the one whose name was “Best Lotus,”
the Best Buddha [then] flew away,12
to where [his] mind directed [him]. (8) [4950]
Sixty aeons the lord of gods,
I exercised divine rule.
And another hundred times I
was a monarch who turns the wheel. (9) [4951]
When I had become a god who
remembered [his] former karma,
a gemstone comes to be for me,
[which functioned as] my source of light.13 (10) [4952]
Eighty-six thousand women [then]
were [married to me as] my wives,
with varied clothes and jewelry
and wearing earrings made of gems,
with long eyelashes, lovely smiles14
and slim waists, pleasant to look at.15
[They’re] constantly waiting on me:
that’s the fruit of offering gems. (11-12) [4953-4954]
Well-made16 things to adorn [myself]
are [coming] to me as I wish,
made of gold and made of gemstones,
[and] likewise made out of rubies. (13) [4955]
Delightful gabled huts and caves,
and beds that are very costly,
discerning what I am thinking,
are produced according to wish. (14) [4956]
The gain for them is well-received
who get to listen [to Buddha,]
the Merit-Field for humankind,
the Medicine for all that breathe. (15) [4957]
My karma too was [so] well done,
which is that I saw the Leader.
I am freed from [all] suffering;17
[I’ve] attained the unshaking state. (16) [4958]
In whichever womb I’m reborn,
[whether] it’s human or divine,
on all sides are the seven gems;
there is light for me all the time. (17) [4959]
Because of that gem-offering,18
having enjoyed [great] good fortune,19
the knowledge-light is seen by me;
I’ve attained the unshaking state. (18) [4960]
In the hundred thousand aeons
since I offered20 that gem [to him],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of offering gems.21 (19) [4961]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (20) [4962]
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! (21) [4963]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (22) [4964]
Thus indeed Venerable Maṇipūjaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Maṇipūjaka 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.↩
“Gem-Offerer”↩
lit., “going”↩
lit., “meritorious”↩
indīvaraŋ, Cassia fistula↩
lit., “do pūjā”↩
vicchinaŋ, lit., “searching,” “investigating”↩
presumably a gem on a turban of some sort↩
lit., “did pūjā”↩
lit., “pūjā”↩
lit., “doing pūjā”↩
lit., “went”↩
ālokākaraṇo mama (BJTS reads mamaŋ, “providing me light”)↩
hasulā = ?↩
RD gives “good hips,” referring to this text. I don’t see the warrant, and take the term susaññā from saññā, sense, perception, as does BJTS↩
reading sukatā with BJTS for katākatā (“man-made and natural”)↩
vinīpātā↩
lit., “gem-pūjā”↩
sampadā, [good] achievements, etc.↩
lit., “did pūjā”↩
lit., “of gem-pūjā”↩