[{554.}[1] Kimbila[2]]
When Kakusandha passed away,[3]
the Brahmin, the Perfected One,[4]
gathering salala[5] flowers,
I constructed a pavilion.[6] [6372]
Having gone to Tāvatiṃsa,
I received a supreme mansion.
I surpassed [all] the other gods:
that is the fruit of good karma. [6373]
Whether it’s the day or the night,
walking back and forth or[7] standing,
I’m covered with salala blooms:
that is the fruit of good karma. [6374]
Within just this [present] aeon[8]
since I [thus] worshipped[9] the Buddha,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. [6375]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. [6376]
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! [6377]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! [6378]
Thus indeed Venerable Kimbila Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Kimbila Thera, the fourth.
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. ↩︎
the personal name of a historical monk, well known in the early texts. See DPPN I: 604-605 for details. This same apadāna, almost verbatim (the only difference is in the first verse of the concluding refrain; there “All defilements…” replaces the more common “Like elephant…” found here), is included above as #395 {398}. There it is ascribed to a monk named Salaḷamaṇḍapiya (“Salaḷa-Pavilion-er”), apparently reflecting the nature of the formative gift described in this apadāna. ↩︎
lit., “reached nirvana” ↩︎
vusīmati, loc. of vusīmant = vusitavant, “one who has reached perfection” “the Master” ↩︎
BJTS Sinh.gloss = hora, Bot. Dict. = “large timber tree yielding rezin and oil, Dipterocarpus zeylanicus (Dipterocarp.)” ↩︎
lit., “I caused a pavilion (maṇḍapa) to be constructed,” caus. of karoti ↩︎
lit., “and,” ccha ↩︎
Kakusandha Buddha lived at an earlier time in the present aeon, one of five Buddhas said to have done so. The author demonstrates awareness of — and a solution that smoothes out — the little wrinkle this creates in applying this typical refrain. ↩︎
lit., “did pūjā” ↩︎