Tha Ap 323Ummāpupphiya

– Therāpadāna

– The Legends of the Theras

– Ummāpupphiya Chapter, the Thirty-Third

321. Ummāpupphiya

Walt 2825 I saw the Ultimate Person,

Siddhattha, the Unconquered One,

Attentive One, He Who Attained,

sitting down in meditation. Verse 1

Walt 2826 Having gathered blue flax flowers,

I offered them to the Buddha.

All the flowers faced the same way,

stems turned upward, heads turned downward. Verse 2

Walt 2827 Like pretty pictures they remained,

floral canopy in the sky.

Because of that mental pleasure,

I was reborn in Tusitā. Verse 3

Walt 2828 In the ninety-four aeons since

I did pūjā with that flower,

I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:

that’s the fruit of Buddha- pūjā . Verse 4

Walt 2829 In the fifty-fifth aeon hence

there was one man , lord of the earth,

known as Samantacchadana,

a wheel-turning king with great strength. Verse 5

Walt 2830 The four analytical modes,

and these eight deliverances,

six special knowledges mastered,

I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 6

Thus indeed Venerable Ummāpupphiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ummāpupphiya 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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