[540. {543.}[1] Sīvali[2]]
The Victor, Padumuttara,
the One with Eyes for everything,
the Leader [of the World,] arose
a hundred thousand aeons hence. (1) [6076]
His morals could not be measured,
meditative states like lightening,[3]
vast[4] knowledge could not be measured,
and freedom unlike anything.[5] (2) [6077]
The Leader preached the Dhamma to
the men, the gods,[6] the snake-gods [and]
the Brahmās [all] come together,
mixed with [Buddhist] monks and brahmins. (3) [6078]
Confident among Multitudes,[7]
the [Buddha] placed a merit-filled,
much-receiving [and] gift-worthy
follower in that foremost place. (4) [6079]
I was a kṣatriyan back then,
in the city named “Haṃsa;”[8]
hearing the Victor’s words [about]
the follower’s virtuousness,[9] (5) [6080]
inviting [Buddha], for a week
I fed [him] with [his] followers.
Giving a massive alms-giving,
I aspired [to attain] that place. (6) [6081]
Then [he], the Bull Among People,
seeing me bowing[10] at [his] feet,
the Great Hero, in [his] good voice,
uttered these words [concerning me]: (7) [6082]
Then the multitude, desiring
to hear the words of the Victor,
the gods, titans, musical nymphs,
the greatly powerful Brahmās,[11]
and the [Buddhist] monks, and brahmins,
praised [him] with hands pressed together:
“Praise to you, O Well-Bred Person![12]
Praise to you, Ultimate Person!
For a week [this] kṣatriyan gave
a massive alms-giving to you.[13]
[We] wish to hear the fruit for him;
prophesy [that], O Sage So Great.” (8-10) [6083-6085]
After that, the Blessed One said,
“[All of] you listen to my words:
Who can tell the [fruit of the] gift[14]
well-established for the Buddha
[or] Assembly, beyond measure?
It will bear fruit beyond measure.
This rich man is truly wishing
[to attain] that ultimate place. (11-12) [6086-6087]
He’ll be a getter of huge wealth,
just like the monk Sudassana,[15]
[and] also just like me [as well];
he’ll receive that in the future. (13) [6088]
In one hundred thousand aeons,
arising in Okkāka’s clan,
the one whose name is Gotama
will be the Teacher in the world. (14) [6089]
Worthy heir to that one’s Dhamma,
Dhamma’s legitimate offspring,
the one whose name is Sīvali
will be the Teacher’s follower.” (15) [6090]
Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and [firm] resolve,
discarding [my] human body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa [then]. (16) [6091]
[Then] ninety-one aeons ago,
the World-Leader [named] Vipassi
arose, the One with Lovely Eyes,[16]
with Insight into Everything.[17] (17) [6092]
Then I [lived] in Bandhumatī,
[a member] of a certain clan;[18]
I was[19] pitied and sought after,
one intent on ending karma.[20] (18) [6093]
Then a certain corporation[21]
constructed a monastic school[22]
for the Great Sage [named] Vipassi,
which was large and widely renowned. (19) [6094]
Searching for new curds and honey
to give along with solid food[23]
at the end of the great alms-gift,
they did not find[24] [any to give]. (20) [6095]
Then having taken [some] of that,[25]
new curds and also honey too,
I went to the overseer’s house,[26]
and seeking that they saw me.[27] (21) [6096]
Even offering a thousand,
they did not obtain those two [things].[28]
I thought [about it] then like this:
“That [price] would not be too little.
As far as all these people are
honoring [him], the Thus-Gone-One,
I too will do a [pious] deed,
for the World-Lord with Assembly.” (22-23) [6097-6098]
Then having thought [it out] like that,
mixing together the curds and
the honey, I gave [them] to the
Lord of the World with Assembly. (24) [6099]
Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and [firm] resolve,
discarding [my] human body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa [then]. (25) [6100]
Again, in Benares, being
a king [who was] very famous,
enraged[29] at an enemy [then,]
I caused the gateway to be blocked. (26) [6101]
Then, obstructing ascetics[30] [too],
[it] was guarded thus for a week.[31]
Therefore, as the result of that
karma, I fell hard into hell.[32] (27) [6102]
And now in [my] final rebirth,
due to the kṣatriyan’s good deeds,[33]
I’m born in Koliya city;
my mother was Suppavāsā,[34]
father Mahāli Licchchavi.[35]
Because of obstructing the gate,
I gestated for seven years,
suffering in [my] mother’s womb. (28-29) [6103-6104]
One week breached in the birth canal,[36]
I’m endowed with great suffering.
Because she gave approval [then],
my mother suffered greatly [now].[37] (30) [6105]
Departing from Śrāvasti, I
was pitied by [him], the Buddha;
on the very day I set out,
I went forth into homelessness. (31) [6106]
My preceptor: Sāriputta;
powerful[38] Moggallāna, the
wise, instructed me [as teacher]
[while he was] removing my hair. (32) [6107]
While my hair was being cut off,
I attained [my] arahantship.
Gods, snake-gods and human beings
are bringing me the requisites.[39] (33) [6108]
Because, delighted, I worshipped[40]
[Buddha] named Padumuttara
and the Guide, Vipassi [Buddha],
I’m distinguished with requisites. (34) [6109]
Due to the distinction of those
deeds, I’m receiving everywhere
enormous [and] ultimate wealth,
in woods, village, water [and] land. (35) [6110]
When the Guide is traveling for
the sake of seeing Revata,
the World’s Chief Leader together
with thirty times a thousand monks,
the Great Wise One,[41] the Great Hero,
the World’s Chief Leader with the monks,[42]
the Buddha’s then served by me with
requisites the gods bring for me;
having gone he saw[43] Revata,
then going to Jetavana,
[he] placed me in that foremost place. (36-38) [6111-6113]
The Teacher, Friend of Every World,[44]
praised me amidst the multitude:
“O monks, Sīvali’s the foremost
receiver among my students.” (39) [6114]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (40) [6115]
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! (41) [6116]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (42) [6117]
Thus indeed Venerable Sīvali Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Sīvali 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. ↩︎
a historical monk, famous (and still tapped for power today) as foremost among the recipients of gifts. See DPPN II:1163-1164Small images, pictures and yantras of Sīvali are common good-luck-charms throughout the Theravāda Buddhist world ↩︎
lit., “samādhi whose metaphor is lightening” ↩︎
°varaŋ, lit., “excellent” “fine” ↩︎
anupamo, lit., “which has no metaphor,” referencing back to the second foot as does the third foot to the first. ↩︎
amarā, or “the immortals” ↩︎
parisāsu visārado ↩︎
“Swan,” i.e., Haṃsavatī ↩︎
lit., “that the virtue of the follower was much” ↩︎
or “bent”: vinataŋ ↩︎
reading brāhmaṇo with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS brāhmaṇā (“the Brahmins”) ↩︎
purisājañña, RD “steed of man,” in the voc. Contracted form of ājāniya/ājānīya, “almost exclusively used to donate a thoroughbred horse” ↩︎
reading hi vo with BJTS for PTS vibho (= “the Wise One” ?) ↩︎
reading dakkhiṇā tāya ko vattā with BJTS for PTS dakkhiṇādāya kho-v-attaŋ, (“the value of giving a gift indeed” ?) ↩︎
“Good-Looking,” presumably the proper name of the monk who held the foremost place among receivers of gifts during the era of Padumuttara Buddha. ↩︎
cchārunayano, or “lovely to the eyes” (?) ↩︎
sabbadhammavipassaka, a play on that Buddha’s name ↩︎
the connotation is: “of a certain poor/lowly clan” ↩︎
reading āsiṃ with BJTS for PTS āsi (“he was”) ↩︎
or, “one longing for the end of work” ↩︎
or “guild”: aññataro pūgo ↩︎
pariveṇaŋ ↩︎
reading khajjaka-sāhitaṃ with BJTS for PTS khajjakasaññutaŋ ↩︎
lit., “see” ↩︎
reading tadāhaṃ taṃ gahetvāna with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS tadā bhattaŋ gahetvāna (“then having taken cooked rice”) ↩︎
kammasāmigharaŋ ↩︎
reading tamesantā mam’ addasuṃ with BJTS for PTS tamesantaŋ tamaddasaŋ (“searching for that I saw that”) ↩︎
reading taṃ dvayaṃ with BJTS for PTS sat’ anvayaŋ (“conforming with [their] mindfulness”). BJTS gloss understands the intention to be, “did not obtain those two things from me,” i.e., “I would not sell those two things”i ↩︎
reading ruṭṭho with BJTS for PTS Buddho (“the Buddha”) ↩︎
BJTS reads sapattino (“[kings] with co-wives” ?) though it recognizes tapassino (the PTS readings) as an alt. ↩︎
reading sattāhaṃ with BJTS for PTS ekāhaŋ (“one day”), cf. v. 30 below where like BJTS, PTS indicates “seven days” rather than “one day” ↩︎
reading papatiṃ nirayaṃ bhusaṃ with BJTS for PTS pāpattaŋ nirayan bhusaŋ (“evilness hell vehemently ”) ↩︎
lit., “meritorious karma;” I follow BJTS Sinhala gloss (and the context) in construing this foot with the previous verse, rather than (and indeed in juxtaposition) with what follows in the present one. ↩︎
“Good Sojourner” ↩︎
“Big Fish [mahā + āli ?] the Licchchavi” ↩︎
lit., “gone astray at the gate [to the birth canal]” ↩︎
BJTS Sinh. gloss clarifies that she gave approval of the gate-obstruction during the previous life; therefore reborn in the present she suffered this obstruction in her “gate” (dvāra) ↩︎
mahiddhiko, usually translated “greatly powerful,” i.e., a possessor of the iddhi (“magical”) superpowers ↩︎
i.e., the things allowed a Buddhist monk, usually summarized as four: robes, alms-food, a dwelling-place, and medicines. ↩︎
lit., “did pūjā” ↩︎
mahāmati ↩︎
sasagho, lit., “with the Assembly” ↩︎
reading addasa with BJTS for PTS addasaŋ (“I saw”) ↩︎
sabbalokahito ↩︎