[467. {470.}[1] Nimittavyākaraṇiya[2]]
Plunged into the Himalayas,
I’m reciting mantras back the,
[and] fifty-four thousand students
attended on me [in that place]. (1) [4922]
They all learned by heart,[3] true knowers,[4]
were masters of Vedic science;[5]
having come of their own accord,[6]
they dwelt in the Himalayas. (2) [4923]
The Son of a God, Greatly Famed,
falling from Tusitā [heaven],[7]
was reborn in a mother’s womb,
attentive [and] remembering. (3) [4924]
When the Buddha[8] was being born,
the ten-thousand world-system quaked,
[and] those who were blind obtained[9] eyes,[10]
when the Leader was being born. (4) [4925]
This entire [great bountiful][11] earth
quaked in every manner.[12]
Having heard the sound of shouting,
the populace was frightened [then]. (5) [4926]
All the people came together,
and they came into my presence.
“The [great bountiful] earth has quaked,
what will this be the result of?” (6) [4927]
I answered them, “Don’t be frightened;
there is nothing for you to fear.
Let all of you be confident;
this omen portends happiness. (7) [4928]
[This great bountiful] earth quakes through
contact[13] with [one of] eight causes.
Likewise [this] sign is [also] seen:
there’s a huge effulgence [of light]. (8) [4929]
Without a doubt a Best Buddha,
an Eyeful One, will [soon] be born!”
Having [thus] informed the people,
I spoke about the five precepts.[14] (9) [4930]
Hearing of the five precepts,[15] and
a Buddha’s birth, hard to obtain,
happy [and] full of excitement,[16]
their hair stood on end in delight.[17] (10) [4931]
In the ninety-two aeons since
I explained the signs [at that time],
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of explaining. (11) [4932]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (12) [4933]
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! (13) [4934]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (14) [4935]
Thus indeed Venerable Nimittavyākaraṇiya Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Nimittavyākaraṇiya Thera is finished.
The Summary:
Sālakusumiya Thera,[18]
Pūjā and Nibbāpaka [too],
Setuda and Tālavaṇṭī,
Avaṇṭa,[19] Labuja-ppada,
Pilakkha[20] and Paṭibhāṇī,
brahmin Veyyakaraṇaka:
exactly two hundred verses
are counted [here] by those who know.
The Sālakusumiya Chapter, the Forty-Seventh
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. ↩︎
“Explanation of the Signs-er” or “Explanation of Omens-er” ↩︎
adhītā fr. adhīyati ↩︎
vedagū, i.e., those who have the higher or highest knowledges (veda) as opposed to (acc. to RD) those who are masters of “the Vedas”. The protagonist, in this case, is both. ↩︎
chalaṅgaŋ, lit., “the six branches.” RD: “the set of six Vedāngas, disciplines of Vedic science, viz. 1. kappa, 2. vyākaraṇā, 3. nirutti, 4. sikkhā, 5. chando (vicchiti), 6. joti-sattha (thus enumd at VvA 265; at PvA 97 in sequence 4, 1, 3, 2, 6, 5): D iii.269; Vv 6316; Pv ii.613; Miln 178, 236.” BJTS understand this as an adjective modifying “[reading] marks,” i.e., “the six branches of the science (śāstraya) of marks,” but given the use of the term to refer to the six branches of Vedic science above ([3605] = Sela (#389 {392}), v. 24, ↩︎
sakavijjāh’ ↩︎
lit., “body,” kāyā, i.e., the body he was born in and bore in Tusitā heaven, a “happy body” ↩︎
lit., “the Sambuddha” ↩︎
alatthiŋsu, PTS alt. aladdhiŋsu, BJTS alabhiṃsu all to labhati ↩︎
or “vision,” cchakkhuŋ ↩︎
the lit. meaning of the term used here for “earth,” vasudhā ↩︎
reading sabbākāraṃ with BJTS (and PTS alt as sabbakāraŋ, sic) for PTS chabbikāraŋ, (“six circumstances”) ↩︎
PTS samphassa, BJTS samphussa, “touching on” ↩︎
pañcchasīle: to practice restraint from taking life, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech and becoming careless through the use of alcohol. ↩︎
pañcchasīlāni ↩︎
ubbegajātā sumanā, lit., “excitement-born [and] good-minded” ↩︎
tuṭṭhahaṭṭhā āsiŋsu te, lit., “they were all horripilating with delight” ↩︎
reading sālakusumiya thero with BJTS; PTS gives Sālapupphī ccha yo thero ↩︎
PTS reads Avaṭa ↩︎
PTS reads Pilakkhu ↩︎