Tha Ap 326Saññasāmika

– Therāpadāna

– The Legends of the Theras

324. Saññasāmika

Walt 2841 I was only seven years old,

a learned master of mantras.

Carrying on the family line,

I encouraged sacrifice s . Verse 1

Walt 2842 Eighty-four thousand living beasts,

are slaughtered by me every day.

Brought to a wooden hitching post,

they are kept for sacrificing. Verse 2

Walt 2843-2844 Like beaten gold atop a forge,

burning bright like cedar charcoal,

like the sun when it is rising,

like the moon on the fifteenth day,

Siddhattha, Goal of All Success,

Worshipped by the Triple World, Friend,

the Sambuddha, having approached

me uttered this speech then and there : Verse 3-4

Walt 2845 “Non-violence to all that breathe,

young man, is what best pleases me,

and abstaining from stealing things ,

transgressing and drinking liquor. Verse 5

Walt 2846 I am pleased by good behavior,

and gratitude for the learned;

praiseworthy too are those things done

for others in this world of things. Verse 6

Walt 2847 Having cultivated those things,

delighting in kindness to all,

pleasing your heart in the Buddha,

cultivate the ultimate Path.” Verse 7

Walt 2848 Saying this, the Omniscient One,

the World’s Best, the Bull among Men,

having thus given me advice,

rose into the sky and flew off. Verse 8

Walt 2849 Beforehand having cleansed my heart,

I later brought my heart pleasure.

Because of that mental pleasure,

I was reborn in Tusitā. Verse 9

Walt 2850 In the ninety-four aeons since

I brought that pleasure to my heart,

I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:

the fruit of perceiving Buddhas. Verse 10

Walt 2851 The four analytical modes,

and these eight deliverances,

six special knowledges mastered,

I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 11

Thus indeed Venerable Saññasāmika Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Saññasāmika 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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