[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”↩