[10. Udakadāyikā1]
In the city, Bandhumatī,
I was a water-fetcher then.
Living by carrying water,
I’m raising [my] children that way.2 (1) [116]
“I lack the things to be given
in the unsurpassed merit-field.”
Going to a water-tower,3
I supplied [the Buddha]4 water. (2) [117]
Due to that karma done very well,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa [then].
There I had a well-made mansion
fashioned by carrying water.5 (3) [118]
I am surrounded all the time
by a thousand celestial nymphs,
[and] I always am surpassing
all of them in [all] the ten ways.6 (4) [119]
I was fixed in the chief queen’s place
of fifty kings among the gods.
I was fixed in the chief queen’s place
of twenty kings who turned the wheel. (5) [120]
Transmigrating in two stations,
the human or else the divine,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving water. (6) [121]
On a mountain top or bad road,
up in the air and on the ground,
whenever I desire water,
I receive [it] very quickly. (7) [122]
In times of drought [my] region’s not
scorched by the heat nor boiling hot;
discerning what I am thinking
a great rain-cloud [always] rains forth. (8) [123]
Whenever I am sent [somewhere,]
with my assembly of kinsfolk,
if I am wishing for [some] rain
a great rain-cloud is then produced. (9) [124]
Being burned or having fever
don’t [ever] affect my body;7
on my body there is no dust:
that’s the fruit of giving water. (10) [125]
Today with [my] mind purified
the evil-minded one is gone.
All [my] defilements are destroyed;
now there will be no more rebirth. (11) [126]
In the ninety-one aeons since
I did that [good] karma back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving water. (12) [127]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (13) [128]
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! (14) [129]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (15) [130]
Thus indeed Bhikhhunī Udakadāyikā spoke these verses.
The legend of Udakadāyikā Therī is finished.
The Summary:
Sumedhā, Mekhalādadā,
Maṇḍapa, Saṅkamaṇḍalā,
Nalamālī, Piṇḍadadā,
Kaṭacchchu, Uppalappadā,
Dīpad-Odakadā also;
the verses here8 are counted [thus:]
one verse and one hundred [also]
and seventeen added to that.
The Sumedhā Chapter, the First
“Water-Giver”↩
lit., “by means of that” or “through that”.↩
in the Vinaya and Jātaka this term, koṭṭhaka, refers to the place where monks kept water for bathing. In Therāpadāna (v. [722]) the term refers to a building in a monastery, and I have translated “storage room” accordingly. In the compound dvārakoṭṭhaka (v. [531] [540]) it refers to part of a city’s defenses, and following the cty I translate the compound “gateways with pillars and strongholds” ([531]) or “gateways and strongholds” ([540], where the esikā [ornamental city] pillar is singled out in a separate analogy. Here the term clearly refers to something that contains water, so I have translated it “water-tower” even though it may be more akin to “water-room” (as in Vinaya and Jātaka) or “water-stronghold” (as in this Therāpadāna usage).↩
since this was ninety-one aeons ago, the Buddha was presumably Vipassi.↩
that is, created as a result of the merit of having brought water to the Buddha.↩
lit., “in [all] ten places”. Reading dasaṭṭhānehi tā sabbā (BJTS) for dasaṭṭhāne hitā sabbā (“all standing in ten places,” PTS). For a list of the ten ways of outshining the other women (there as dasa-h-aṅgehi, lit., “ten parts” or “ten limbs”) see below, v. [333]-[335] (= Gotamī-apadāna v. 107-109).↩
reading sarīre me na vijjati (BJTS, PTS alt) for atha m’eva na vijjati (“are not ever seen by me,” PTS).↩
reading iha (BJTS) for viha (PTS).↩