[490. {493.}1 Koraṇḍapupphiya2]

I was then a forest-worker,3
as were4 father and grandfathers.5
[Earning] my living killing beasts,6
no wholesomeness7 exists for me. (1) [5263]

In the area where I lived,
Tissa, Chief Leader of the World,
Eyeful One, compassionately
showed [me] three [of his own] footsteps. (2) [5264]

And having seen the stepping feet
of the Teacher known as8 Tissa,
happy, [and] with a happy heart,
I pleased my heart [about his] feet. (3) [5265]

Seeing a koraṇḍa9 in bloom,
foot-drinker growing in the earth,10
taking a sprig with [flowers,] I
did pūja to [those] best of feet. (4) [5266]

Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and [firm] resolve,
discarding [my] human body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa [then]. (5) [5267]

In whichever womb I’m reborn,
[whether] it’s human or divine,
I have11 koraṇḍa-colored skin;
I’m radiantly beautiful.12 (6) [5268]

In the ninety-two aeons since
I did that [good] karma back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of worshipping13 feet. (7) [5269]

My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (8) [5270]

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! (9) [5271]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (10) [5272]

Thus indeed Venerable Koraṇḍapupphiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Koraṇḍapupphiya 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. “Koraṇḍa-Flower-er.” See #208 for a (different) apadāna ascribed to a monk of this name. #422 {425} is likewise ascribed to a monk of this name, and save a slight difference in v. 6 [5268], substituting “°cchchavī (“skin”) for vaṇṇo (“color”), it is identical to this one.

  3. BJTS gloss: a hunter

  4. lit., “by means of,” “through”. We might say “by birth” or “in the family business”

  5. BJTS reads pitumātumaten’ ahaṃ (“with the consent of father and mother”) for PTS pitupetāmahen’ ahaŋ. I follow the latter reading here, noting that at [2986] these same two feet are repeated; there, BJTS agrees with PTS, leading me to suspect that in the present case BJTS’ mss. are corrupt. But both readings make the same point: the protagonist did his work as a hunter/animal killer as a family-approved business, not behind his parents’ backs.

  6. reading BJTS pasumārena (lit., “by” or “through” killing wild animals) for PTS pararuhirena (“through the blood of others”)

  7. kusalaŋ

  8. lit., “named”

  9. Sinh. kaṭukoraṇḍu, Barberia prionitis (Acanth.), cf. koraṇḍaka, kuraṇḍaka, a shrub and its flower, J. v.473 (RD)

  10. this foot consists of two different words for” tree”: dharaṇī-rūha (“growing in the earth”) and pādapa (“drinking from the feet [or roots]”). Though awkward in English, I translate literally here rather than give the non-descriptive “tree, which was a tree”.

  11. lit., “I am [one who has]”

  12. sappabhāso, “a shining beauty”

  13. lit., “doing pūjā