Saddasaññaka Chapter, the Thirty-Sixth

[348. {351.}[1] Saddasaññaka[2]]

I was a deer-hunter back then,
within a grove in the forest.
There I saw the Sambuddha [once],
honored by the gods’ assembly.[3] (1) [3140]

[While] preaching the Four Noble Truths
he ferried many folks across.
I [also] heard [his] honeyed speech
like[4] the song[5] of a cuckoo bird.[6] (2) [3141]

Having pleased [my] heart in the sound
of Sikhi [Buddha], World’s Kinsman,
the Sage, Divine Sound Intoner,[7]
I attained [my] arahantship.^8 [3142]

In the thirty-one aeons since
I did that [good] karma back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of [feeling] pleasure. (4) [3143]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (5) [3144]

Thus indeed Venerable Saddasaññaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Saddasaññaka Thera is finished.

  1. 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. ↩︎

  2. “Sound-Perceiver,” cf. #88, #294, #317 ↩︎

  3. devasaṅghapurakkhataŋ ↩︎

  4. lit., “comparable to” or “metaphorically” ↩︎

  5. ruda, lit., “cry” (of an animal) ↩︎

  6. i.e., melodious and clear ↩︎

  7. brahmassara. RD explains this as “a beautiful and deep voice (with 8 fine qualities: see enumd under bindu) D ii.211=227; J i.96; v.336.” ↩︎

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