[511. {514.}[1] Ketakapupphiya[2]]
The Ultimate Person dwelt on
the banks of Vinatā[3] River.
I saw the Buddha, Stainless One,
the Calm One,[4] Very Composed One.[5] (1) [5473]
Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart,
I [then] worshipped[6] the Best Buddha
with a flower of the screw-pine,[7]
with a honey[-scented] fragrance. (2) [5474]
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 Buddha-pūjā. (3) [5475]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (4) [5476]
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! (5) [5477]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (6) [5478]
Thus indeed Venerable Ketakapupphiya Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Ketakapupphiya 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. ↩︎
“Screw-pine Flower-er” ↩︎
the BJTS spelling; PTS reads VItthāya, alts. Vittāya, CChittāya. Cf. #380 {383}, v. 1 = [3292], above, where BJTS and PTS agree on the spelling accepted from BJTS here; but cf. also #485 {488} above, v. 1 = [5177], where I also accept the BJTS reading amidst considerable variation ↩︎
ekaggaŋ ↩︎
susamāhitaŋ ↩︎
lit., “did pūjā” ↩︎
ketakassa, Pandanus odoratissima, Sinhala väṭakē or väṭakeyiyā. ↩︎