[{558.}1 Bhaddajī2]
I, having plunged into a pond,
served by various elephants,
am pulling up lotus root there,
because [they’re what] I’m eating then. [6428]
The Buddha3 in that period
bore the name Padumuttara.
Wearing cloth [dyed] red,4 the Buddha
is traveling5 through the sky [there],
shaking [his] robes made out of rags.
Then I heard the sound [of his robes],
[and] looking6 upward [at the sky,]
I saw the Leader of the World. [6429-6430]
Remaining in that very place,
I invited the World-Leader:
“Honey is flowing from the roots
[and] milk [and] oil7 [flow] from the stems;
let the Buddha, the Eyeful One,
with pity accept [some] from me.” [6431]
Then the Teacher, Compassionate,
the Greatly Famed One, descended.
The Eyeful One, with pity then,
accepted [that] alms food of mine.
Accepting [it], the Sambuddha
expressed [his] thanks to me [like this]: [6432]
“Be happy, O merit-filled one;
let your rebirth be accomplished.
Due to this gift of lotus root,
may you receive huge happiness.” [6433]
Having said that, the Sambuddha,
the one whose name was “Best Lotus,”
the Sambuddha, taking [that] food,
the Victor flew off8 through the sky. [6434]
Having taken [more] lotus root,
I came [back] to my hermitage.
Hanging that root up in a tree,
I remembered my offering. [6435]
A massive wind[-storm] then arose;
it agitated9 the forest.
The space was filled up with the noise
of thunderbolts bursting forth [there]. [6436]
Then lightening falling [from the sky,]
struck10 [me right] on [top of] my head.
[Because of that,] sitting down,
I passed away [right] on the spot. [6437]
[Then] bound up with my good11 karma,
I was reborn in Tusitā.
[When] my [human] body fell down,
I delighted in the gods’ world. [6438]
Eighty-six thousand women [then,]
decked out [in fine clothes and jewelry,]
wait on me evening and morning:
the fruit of giving lotus root. [6439]
Having come to a human womb,
I am then happy all the time.
I have no lack of possessions:
the fruit of giving lotus root. [6440]
Having [then] been pitied by him,
the God of Gods, the Neutral One,
all defilements are exhausted;
now there will be no more rebirth. [6441]
In the hundred thousand aeons
since I gave that alms food back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
the fruit of giving lotus root. [6442]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. [6443]
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! [6444]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! [6445]
Thus indeed Venerable Bhaddajī Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Bhaddajī Thera, the eighth.
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.↩
“Honorable Lucky One,” a historical monk, see DPPN II:349-350. This same apadāna is included above as #480 {483}, where it is ascribed to a monk named Bhisadāyaka (“Lotus-Root Donor”), with slight variations in the formatting of the individual verses and reading bhisaṃ (“lotus root”) for bhikkhaṃ (“alms food”) in v. 15 [6442].↩
lit., “the Blessed One”↩
rattambaradharo, lit., “bearing red ambara,” the latter referring to a type of cloth as well as an upper garment made out of it.↩
lit., “going,” elsewhere translated as “flying” given the context↩
nijjhāyamāno, lit., “meditating” “reflecting” “thinking;” I follow BJTS Sinhala gloss balannā vu mama↩
sappi, lit., ghee, clarified butter (gī tel)↩
lit., “went”↩
reading sañcchālesi with BJTS for PTS sañjālesi↩
lit., “fell down”↩
lit., “meritorious”↩