[534. {537.}1 Mahākoṭṭhika2]
The Victor, Padumuttara,
the Sage, Knower of Every World,
the One who had [Five] Eyes, arose
a hundred thousand aeons hence. (1) [5881]3
The Admonisher,4 Instructor,5
Crosser-Over6 of all that breathe,
Skilled at Preaching,7 [he], the Buddha,
caused many folks to cross [the flood]. (2) [5882]
Merciful,8 Compassionate One,9
Well-Wisher10 of all that breathe, he
established in the five precepts
all the rivals who had arrived. (3) [5883]
In this way he was Unconfused11
and Very Well-Known12 by rivals,
Ornamented13 by arahants
who were masters [and] neutral ones. (4) [5884]
The [body of the] Sage So Great
rose up fifty-eight cubits14 [tall];
he was Valuable Like Gold,15
Bearing the Thirty-Two Great Marks. (5) [5885]
[People’s] lifespan at that time was
[fully] one hundred thousand years.
Remaining [in the world] so long,
he ferried many folks across. (6) [5886]
I then [lived] in Haṃsavatī,
brahmin master of the Vedas.
Approaching Beings’ Best Hardwood,16
I heard the preaching of Dhamma. (7) [5887]
Then [Buddha] placed a follower,
who pastured in developed thought,17
skilled in meaning and the Teaching,
etymology and preaching,
a hero, in that foremost place.
After hearing that, I was thrilled;
then for a week I fed [him], the
Best Victor,18 with [his] followers. (8-9) [5888-5889]
Having covered with [new] cloth [robes]
the Wisdom-Sea19 with [his] students,
bowing down in front of [his] feet,
I aspired [to attain] that place. (10) [5890]
Afterward the World-Chief said [this]:
“Look at that excellent brahmin,
[now] bent down in front of my feet,
with lotus-belly radiance.20 (11) [5891]
This one’s aspiring to the place
of the monk of the Best Buddha.
Through that faith, generosity,
and [his] hearing of the Teaching,
he’ll transmigrate from birth to birth,
being happy in every place;
very far into the future,
he’ll receive that delightful [place]. (12-13) [5892-5893]
In one hundred thousand aeons,
arising in Okkāka’s clan,
the one whose name is Gotama
will be the Teacher in the world. (14) [5894]
Worthy heir to that one’s Dhamma,
Dhamma’s legitimate offspring,
the one whose name is Koṭṭhita
will be the Teacher’s follower.” (15) [5895]
After hearing that I was thrilled,
[and] then for as long as [I] lived,
mindful, loving-hearted [and] wise,
I waited on21 [him], the Victor. (16) [5896]
Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and [firm] resolve,
discarding [my] human body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa [then]. (17) [5897]
Three hundred times [the lord of gods,]
I exercised divine rule [there],
and [then] five hundred times I was
a king who turns the wheel [of law]. (18) [5898]
[There was also] much local rule,
innumerable by counting.
Through the power of that karma,
I was happy in every place. (19) [5899]
I transmigrate in [just] two states:
that of a god, or of a man.
I don’t go to other rebirths:
that’s the fruit of good practice.22 (20) [5900]
I am born in the two [high] clans,
kṣatriyan and also brahmin.
I don’t get born in lesser clans:
that’s the fruit of good practice. (21) [5901]
When [my] last rebirth was attained
I was a kinsman of Brahmā,23
reborn [then] in a brahmin clan24
in Śrāvasti, very wealthy. (22) [5902]
Mother was named CChandavatī;
my father Assalāyana.
When with all intelligence the
Buddha instructed my father,
being pleased with25 the Well-Gone-One,
I went forth into homelessness.
Moggallāna26 was my teacher;
Sāri’s child27 was my preceptor. (23-24) [5903-5904]
When my hair was being cut off,
views were cut off [too], with their roots.
[While] living in the saffron robes,
I attained [my] arahantship. (25) [5905]
Because my thought was developed
[well] in meaning and the Teaching,
etymology and preaching,
the World-Chief placed me in that place.28 (26) [5906]
Questioned by Upatissa,29 I
explained30 with no[thing] indistinct.
Thus in analytical modes,
I’m foremost in the religion.31 (27) [5907]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (28) [5908]
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! (29) [5909]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (30) [5910]
Thus indeed Venerable Mahākoṭṭhika Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Mahākoṭṭhika 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.↩
BJTS reads Koṭṭhita↩
this and the following five verses also appear, verbatim, as the first six verses of Dabbamalla’s apadāna (#531 {534}, above; [5769]-[5774])↩
ovādako↩
viññāpako↩
tārako↩
desanākusalo↩
anukampako↩
kāruṇiko↩
hitesi↩
nirākulaŋ↩
suñññataŋ, or “empty [of ill-will],” which is BJTS Sinhala gloss reading; I construe the epithet as su + ñata↩
vicchittaŋ↩
ratanāna-aṭṭha-paññāsaŋ uggato. A ratana (Sinh. riyan) is figured as twelve-fingers (aṅgula), according to Sinh-Eng Dictionary about eighteen inches. The claim here then is that Padumuttara Buddha was 1044 inches (or 87 feet) tall.↩
kañcchanagghiyasaṅkāso, lit., “like a gold valuable thing” or “like a gold festoon work”↩
reading sattasāraggaṃ with BJTS for PTS sattapāraṅgaŋ (“going beyond [or crossing, surmounting] beings”)↩
pabhinnamatigoccharaŋ, lit., “he whose pasturage was developed thought”↩
jinavaraŋ↩
reading buddhisāgaraṃ with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS buddhasāgaraŋ (“Ocean of Buddhas” or “Buddha-Ocean”)↩
kamalodarasappabhaŋ↩
paricchariŋ, “waited on” “attended to”↩
succhiṇṇassa idaŋ phalaŋ↩
i.e., a brahmin↩
vippakule↩
lit., in”↩
i.e., Mahāmoggallāna (Therāpadāna #2)↩
i.e., Sāriputta (Therāpadāna #1), reading sārisambhavo with BJTS for PTS Sari°↩
lit., “in that foremost place”↩
i.e., Sāriputta (Thera-apadāna #1)↩
viyākāsiŋ, elsewhere “prophesied”↩
lit., “in the dispensation of the Sambuddha”↩