Tha Ap 459Ekachattiya

– Therāpadāna

– The Legends of the Theras

454. {457.} Ekachattiya

Walt 4833 The world had turned to burning coal,

the earth was mixed with hot embers.

Padumuttara, Blessed One,

walked back and forth in open air. Verse 1

Walt 4834 Carrying a white umbrella,

I proceeded along a road.

Having seen the Sambuddha there,

I experienced happiness. Verse 2

Walt 4835 “The ground is full of the sun’s rays;

this earth is like burning charcoal.

The gusty winds that are blowing

deplete the breath of the body. Verse 3

Walt 4836 Please accept this, my umbrella,

which blocks the sun’s heat and the winds,

killing both the heat and the cold;

through it I will touch nirvana.” Verse 4

Walt 4837 Merciful, Compassionate One,

Padumuttara, Greatly Famed,

discerning what I was thinking,

the Victor then accepted it . Verse 5

Walt 4838 Lord of gods for thirty aeons,

I exercised divine rule then,

and five hundred different times,

I was a king who turns the wheel. Verse 6

Walt 4839 There was also much local rule,

innumerable by counting.

I’m enjoying my own karma,

formerly well-done by myself. Verse 7

Walt 4840 This is the final time for me;

my last rebirth is proceeding.

Even now a white umbrella

is carried for me all the time. Verse 8

Walt 4841 In the hundred thousand aeons

since I gave that umbrella then,

I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:

the fruit of giving umbrellas. Verse 9

Walt 4842 My defilements are now burnt up;

all new existence is destroyed.

Like elephants with broken chains,

I am living without constraint. Verse 10

Walt 4843 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 11

Walt 4844 The four analytical modes,

and these eight deliverances,

six special knowledges mastered,

I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 12

Thus indeed Venerable Ekachattiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ekachattiya Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters .

Whitman College, 2017

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