Tha Ap 198Kisalayapūjaka

– Therāpadāna

– The Legends of the Theras

196. Kisalayapūjaka

Walt 2241 In the city, Dvāravatī,

I had a small flowering tree.

There was a well there in that place,

whose water made the trees grow tall. Verse 1

Walt 2242 Siddhattha, the Unconquered One,

made firm by his own mental strength,

showing his compassion for me,

traveled in the path of the wind. Verse 2

Walt 2243 I am looking at nothing else,

fixed on worship of the Great Sage.

Seeing an ashoka tree sprout

I threw it up into the sky. Verse 3

Walt 2244 Those shoots are going backwards

to the Buddha going in the sky .

That I, seeing that miracle,

thought , “O! The Buddha’s loftiness!” Verse 4

Walt 2245 In the ninety-four aeons since

I offered the Buddha that sprout,

I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:

that’s the fruit of Buddha- pūjā . Verse 5

Walt 2246 In the twenty-seventh aeon

ago lived one Ekassara,

a wheel-turning king with great strength,

possessor of the seven gems. Verse 6

Walt 2247 The four analytical modes,

and these eight deliverances,

six special knowledges mastered,

I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 7

Thus indeed Venerable Kisalayapūjaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Kisalayapūjaka 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.

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