[126. Kusumāsaniya^[1]]

In the city, Dhaññavatī,
I was a brahmin at that time,
a master of the three Vedas,
well-versed in marks and history,
the dictionaries and poetry,^[2]
[also] skilled in [reading] omens,
an [erudite] grammarian;
I taught mantras to my students. (1-2) [1830-1831]

At that time I’d placed on the road^[3]
five handfuls of lotus flowers,
wishing to offer sacrifice
for [my] mother and [my] father.^[4] (3) [1832]

The Blessed One then, Vipassi,
Honored by the monks’ Assembly,
the Bull of Men went [near me then,]
lighting up every direction. (4) [1833]

Having invited the Great Sage,
I appointed a seat [for him,]
then spreading out those flowers [there],
I led^[5] [him] up to [my] own house. (5) [1834]

Whatever I had in [my] house,
alms-food which [I] had been given,
I gave [all] that to the Buddha,
[feeling well-] pleased by [my] own hands. (6) [1835]

Discerning when his meal was done,^[6]
I gave one handful [of flowers].
Giving thanks, the Omniscient One
[then] departed facing the north. (7) [1836]

In the ninety-one aeons since
I gave [him] that flower back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving flowers. (8) [1837]

In an intervening aeon,
I was King Varadassana,^[7]
a wheel-turner with great power,
possessor of the seven gems. (9) [1838]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (10) [1839]

Thus indeed Venerable Kusumāsaniya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Kusumāsaniya Thera is finished.