[431. {434.}[1] Ñāṇathavika[2]]
I saw the Ultimate Biped,
shining like a dinner-plate tree,[3]
blazing forth like a tree of lamps,
glittering as though [made of] gold. (1) [4664]
Putting aside [my] water-pot,[4]
[my] robes of bark and [my] ewer,[5]
placing deer-hide on one shoulder,
I [then] praised [him,] the Best Buddha: (2) [4665]
“Great Sage, shedding[6] the knowledge-light,[7]
which dispels confusion-darkness
[produced by] the delusion-web,
you’re the One who has Crossed Over. (3) [4666]
O Unexcelled One,[8] you lift up
this world in its entirety;[9]
there is not in its whole extent[10]
a simile[11] for your knowledge. (4) [4667]
Due to that knowledge, the Buddha[12]
is known as[13] “the Omniscient One.”[14]
Great Hero, I’m worshipping him,
the Unobstructed,[15] All-Knower.”[16] (5) [4668]
In the hundred thousand aeons
since I praised the Best of Buddhas,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of praising knowledge. (6) [4669]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (7) [4670]
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! (8) [4671]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (9) [4672]
Thus indeed Venerable Ñāṇathavika Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Ñāṇathavika 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. ↩︎
“Knowledge-Praiser” ↩︎
kaṇṇikāra, kaṇikāra = Sinhala kinihiriya, Pterospermum acerifolium, produces a brilliant mass of yellow flowers; Engl. a.k.a. karnikar, bayur tree, maple-leaf bayur, caniyar (now archaic?), dinner-plate tree; Bodhi tree of Siddhattha Buddha. ↩︎
kamaṇḍaluŋ, a long-spouted jar for carrying water used by non-Buddhist ascetics ↩︎
kuṇḍikaŋ, also a pot used for water, sometimes synonymous with a kamaṇḍalu but here distinguished as a separate type. ↩︎
dassayitvā, lit., “having shown” “havig displayed” “having diffused” ↩︎
reading ñāṇālokaṃ with BJTS for PTS ñāṇalokaŋ (“the world of knowledge”) ↩︎
reading anuttara (voc.) with BJTS for PTS anuttaraŋ (acc.). The BJTS reading has the adjective modify “you” (Buddha); the PTS reading has it modify “world” ↩︎
sabbāvantaŋ, fr. sabbāvant, “all, entire;” BJTS gloss siyalu sattvayan sahita (“with all its creatures”) ↩︎
yāvatā ccha gato gati, lit., “as far as going goes,” BJTS Sinh. gloss yāmtāk da ētāk (“however far, to that extent”) ↩︎
upamā n’atthi, “analogy” “metaphor” “likeness” ↩︎
reading buddho with BJTS for PTS bhotvā (= hutvā ?) ↩︎
pavuccchchati, lit., “is called” “is said to be” “is pronounced” ↩︎
sabbaññū ti ↩︎
reading anāvaraṃ with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS anāsavaŋ (“Undefiled”) ↩︎
sabbaññutaŋ ↩︎