[524. {527.}1 Girinelapūjaka2]

I was formerly a hunter,
wandering in the woods back then.
I saw the Buddha, Stainless One,
[who was] Master of Everything. (1) [5579]

Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart,
I offered3 a girinil4 bloom
for the Compassionate One, the
Delighter,5 Friend of All Beings.6 (2) [5580]

In the thirty-one aeons since
I offered7 [him] that flower then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. (3) [5581]

My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (4) [5582]

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! (5) [5583]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (6) [5584]

Thus indeed Venerable Girinelapūjaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Girinelapūjaka 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. “Girinil Offerer”↩

  3. lit., “did pūjā”↩

  4. here “a nela flower.” Girinela = Sinh. girinil mal, girinilla, ginihiriya = kaṭaropha (durian fruit tree = Durio Zibethinus (Bombaceae)) = ginnēriya; Sri Sumangala: “a variety of vine used in medicine” xxx↩

  5. rate↩

  6. sabbasattahite↩

  7. lit., “did pūjā”↩