[513. {516.}1 Ajjunapupphiya2]

On CChandabhāgā River’s bank,
I was a kinnara3 back then.
I saw the Buddha, Stainless One,
the Self-Become, Unconquered One. (1) [5484]

Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart,
awe-struck,4 with hands pressed together,
taking an arjuna5 flower,
I worshipped6 the Self-Become One. (2) [5485]

Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and [firm] resolve,
leaving my kinnara body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa [then]. (3) [5486]

Thirty-four times the lord of gods,
I exercised divine rule [there].
And ten times a wheel-turning king,
I exercised overlordship.7 (4) [5487]

[There was also] much local rule,
innumerable by counting.
[Like] a seed sown8 in a good field
is mine in the Self-Become One. (5) [5488]

Wholesome [karma] exists for me;
I went forth into homelessness.
Today I’m worthy of homage
in the Buddha’s9 dispensation. (6) [5489]

My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (7) [5490]

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! (8) [5491]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (9) [5492]

Thus indeed Venerable Ajjunapupphiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ajjunapupphiya 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. “Arjuna Flower-er”↩

  3. reading BJTS for the correct spelling for kiṇṇara (PTS). The kinnara (Sinh. kandura) has a human head and a horse’s body; “centaur”.↩

  4. vedajāto↩

  5. ajjuna (a.k.a. kakudha, Sinhala kumbuk gasa, kubuk, Terminalia arjuna) is an impressively large, shade-giving tree that thrives on the edges of tanks and lakes.↩

  6. lit., “did pūjā”↩

  7. mahārajjam, lit., “great sovereignty” or “maharajah-ship”↩

  8. reading vapitaṃ with BJTS for PTS va phītaŋ (“like opulent”)↩

  9. lit., “in the Śākyas’ Son’s”↩