Tha Ap 431Sovaṇṇakiṅkhaniya

– Therāpadāna

– The Legends of the Theras

426. {429.} Sovaṇṇakiṅkhaniya

Walt 4600 Having departed home with faith,

I went forth into homelessness.

Wearing robes made out of bark, I

placed my trust in asceticism. Verse 1

Walt 4601 Atthadassi, the Blessed One,

the World’s Best One, the Bull of Men,

came to be in that period,

ferrying many folks across. Verse 2

Walt 4602-4603 All my strength was then exhausted,

due to a serious illness.

Remembering the Best Buddha,

making an excellent stupa

of sand, with a happy heart I

scattered golden kiṅkhani blooms,

by the thousands, on that stupa,

my mind full of exultation. Verse 3-4

Walt 4604 As though facing the Sambuddha,

I attended on that stupa

with mental pleasure about him ,

Atthadassi, the Neutral One. Verse 5

Walt 4605 Reborn in the world of the gods,

I’m obtaining great happiness.

There I was the color of gold:

that’s the fruit of Buddha- pūjā . Verse 6

Walt 4606 There I had eight hundred million

women dressed in their ornaments.

They’re waiting on me all the time:

that’s the fruit of Buddha- pūjā . Verse 7

Walt 4607 There sixty thousand instruments,

bhera -drums and paṇava -drums,

conch-shells and deṇḍima -drums too,

speaking the lovely sound of drums. Verse 8

Walt 4608-4609 And also eighty-four thousand

elephants all-ornamented,

mātaṅgas rutting in three ways

and tuskers sixty years of age,

covered over with nets of gold,

always are attending on me,

and elephants equipped for war,

are not ever lacking for me. Verse 9-10

Walt 4610 I am enjoying the result

of golden kiṅkhani flowers.

Fifty-eight times I exercised

sovereignty over all the gods. Verse 11

Walt 4611 And seventy-one times I was

a king who turns the wheel of law .

On earth, a hundred and one times,

I exercised world-rulership. Verse 12

Walt 4612 That one has now gained deathlessness,

unconditioned, hard to perceive.

The fetters have all been destroyed;

now there will be no more rebirth. Verse 13

Walt 4613 In the eighteen hundred aeons

since I presented that flower,

I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:

that is the fruit of Buddha- pūjā . Verse 14

Walt 4614 My defilements are now burnt up;

all new existence is destroyed.

Like elephants with broken chains,

I am living without constraint. Verse 15

Walt 4615 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! Verse 16

Walt 4616 The four analytical modes,

and these eight deliverances,

six special knowledges mastered,

I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 17

Thus indeed Venerable Sovaṇṇakiṅkhaniya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Sovaṇṇakiṅkhaniya Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters .

Whitman College, 2017

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