[335. {338.}[1] Uttareyyadāyaka[2]]
In the city, Haṃsavatī,
I was a brahmin at that time,
a scholar [who] knew the mantras,
a master of the three Vedas. (1) [3021]
I was honored by [my] students,
of good birth, well-educated,
I went out from the city then
for a water-consecration.[3] (2) [3022]
The Victor, Padumuttara,
was the Master of Everything.[4]
The Victor entered the city
with one thousand undefiled ones.[5] (3) [3023]
Seeing [him] surrounded by saints,[6]
I brought [great] pleasure to my heart,
as though made free of lust by [just]
seeing [him], the Good-Looking One.[7] (4) [3024]
Hands pressed together on [my] head
I worshipped[8] the Compliant One.[9]
Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart,
I donated an upper cloak.[10] (5) [3025]
Taking it with both of my hands,
I threw [that] cloak [into the sky].
[That] cloak became a canopy[11]
as big as Buddha’s retinue. (6) [3026]
It remained [there] covering [that]
massive group of monks and others
going about in search of alms;[12]
then [that miracle] made me smile. (7) [3027]
When [he] departed from the house,[13]
the Self-Become One, Chief Person,
the Teacher, standing in the road,[14]
gave me this expression of thanks:[15] (8) [3028]
“I shall relate details of him
who, happy, heart [filled with] pleasure,
made a gift of this cloak to me;
[all of] you listen to my words: (9) [3029]
For thirty thousand aeons he
will delight in the world of gods.
Fifty times the lord of the gods,
he will exercise divine rule. (10) [3030]
While he, endowed with good karma,[16]
is dwelling in the world of gods,
there will be a cloth canopy
a hundred leagues on every side. (11) [3031]
And thirty-six times he will be
a king who turns the wheel [of law],
[and he will have] much local rule,
innumerable by counting. (12) [3032]
While he, endowed with good karma,[17]
is transmigrating in the world,[18]
everything wished for with [his] mind
will be realized,[19] all the time. (13) [3033]
This man is going to receive
cloth which is very expensive:
silk cloth[20] and woolen blankets[21] too,
khoma and also cotton cloth.[22] (14) [3034]
Everything wished for with [his] mind,
this man is going to receive.
He’s always going to enjoy
the result of one piece of cloth. (15) [3035]
And afterwards, having gone forth,
incited by [his] wholesome roots,
he will realize for himself
the Blessed Gotama’s Teaching.[23] (16) [3036]
O! That karma well done by me
for the Omniscient One, Great Sage!
Having given a single cloak,
I have attained the deathless state. (17) [3037]
When I am in a pavilion,[24]
a tree-root or an empty house,
a cloth canopy is carried
for me, a fathom on each side. (18) [3038]
And because of [that] robe [I gave,]
I’m dressed [in clothes] without asking.[25]
I receive[26] food [and also] drink:
that’s the fruit of an upper cloak. (19) [3039]
In the hundred thousand aeons
since I did that [good] karma then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of giving cloth. (20) [3040]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (21) [3041]
Thus indeed Venerable Uttareyyadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Uttareyyadāyaka 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. ↩︎
“Upper Cloak Donor” or “Outer Garment Donor.” Uttareyya = uttarīya ↩︎
toya-abhisecchana-atthāya, lit., “for the sake of a ritual water-bath by sprinkling” ↩︎
lit., “master of all things (dhamma)” (or “Master of All Teachings”) ↩︎
lit., “with one thousand who had destroyed the outflows” (khīnāsavasahassehi), i.e., with one thousand arahants. ↩︎
lit., “by arahants” ↩︎
succhārurūpa, “He whose form is very beautiful” ↩︎
namassitvāna, lit., “having paid homage to” “having venerated” ↩︎
subbataŋ ↩︎
uttarīya = the upper or outer of the three robes worn by a Buddhist monk. ↩︎
lit., “[that] cloak covered” ↩︎
piṇḍacchārañ ccharantassa, lit., “wandering on its alms-rounds” ↩︎
I am uncertain what house this refers to, as the protagonist had met Padumuttara Buddha in the city, but the Pāli is unambiguous (gharato nikkhamantassa, genitive absolute construction) ↩︎
lit., “standing right there on the road” ↩︎
lit., “made this expression of thanks for me” ↩︎
lit., “meritorious karma” ↩︎
lit., “meritorious karma” ↩︎
lit., “in existence” ↩︎
lit., “will come into existence” ↩︎
koseyya ↩︎
kambala ↩︎
kappāsika ↩︎
dhamma ↩︎
maṇḍape. A maṇḍapa is an ornamental temporary wall or fence or curtain closing off and marking a space in which ritual activity occurs. In modern Sri Lanka these are commonly frames of wood, something like a room divider, which are then decorated with tissue-paper cut-outs, flowers, streamers, cloth, go kola (palm fronds prepared ornamentally), etc., and will often be accompanied by a covering canopy (viyana, chadana). ↩︎
reading aviññataṃ nivāsemi with BJTS for PTS aviññatti nisevāmi (“I indulge in not asking”) ↩︎
lit., “I am a receiver of” ↩︎