[{553.}1 Gayāa-Kassapa2]
I was dressed in3 deer-leather [then],
wearing a [heavy] shoulder-yoke.
Carrying a khāari load, I
brought jujubes4 to the ashram. [6365]
The Blessed One in that era
was alone with nobody else.5
He then approached my hermitage,
shining brightly all of the time. [6366]
Bringing pleasure to [my] own heart,
worshipping6 the Compliant One,7
taking [them] with both of my hands
I gave the Buddha jujubes. [6367]
In the thirty-one aeons since
I gave that fruit [to him] back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
the fruit of giving jujubes. [6368]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. [6369]
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! [6370]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! [6371]
Thus indeed Venerable Gayāa-Kassapa Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Gayāa-Kassapa Thera, the third.