Tha Ap 123Sereyyaka

– Therāpadāna

– The Legends of the Theras

– Sereyyaka Chapter, the Thirteenth

121. Sereyyaka

Walt 1767 I was a learned mantra-knower

who had mastered the three Vedas.

While standing in the open air

I saw the Leader of the World, Verse 1

Walt 1768 wandering the woods like a lion,

untrembling like a tiger-king,

the Great Sage, like an elephant,

a mātaṅga in three-fold rut. Verse 2

Walt 1769 Picking up some jasmine flower s,

I tossed them up into the air.

By the power of the Buddha,

they fully surrounded him there . Verse 3

Walt 1770 The Great Hero stood unmoving,

the World-Leader, Omniscient One.

On all sides they scattered flowers,

thus covering the Bull of Men. Verse 4

Walt 1771 There a canopy of flowers

with stems inside and blossoms out

having covered him for a week

afterward then disappeared. Verse 5

Walt 1772 And having seen that miracle,

marvel making hair stand on end,

I pleased my heart in the Buddha,

the Well-Gone-One, the World-Leader. Verse 6

Walt 1773 Due to that pleasure in my heart,

incited by my wholesome roots,

for one hundred thousand aeons,

I’ve come to know no bad rebirth. Verse 7

Walt 1774 In the fifteen-thousandth aeon

there were five more than twenty men,

wheel-turning kings with great power,

all known as Cīnamāla then . Verse 8

Walt 1775 The four analytical modes,

and these eight deliverances,

six special knowledges mastered,

I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 9

Thus indeed Venerable Sereyyaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Sereyyaka Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters .

Whitman College, 2017

Legends of the Buddhist Saints (Apadāna) is released under the Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike license.

This is the first-ever complete translation of Apadāna into a Western language.

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