Tha Ap 553Yasa

– Therāpadāna

– The Legends of the Theras

– Yasa Chapter, the Fifty-Sixth

551. Yasa

Walt 6331 Floating in the great ocean, my

palace then was very well-made.

There was a pond, also well made,

full of the cries of ruddy geese,

Walt 6332 covered with mandālaka blooms

and with pink and blue lotuses.

And a river was flowing there,

beautiful, with excellent banks,

Walt 6333 covered with fish and tortoises,

with various birds spread about,

noisy with peacocks and herons,

and the calls of birds like cuckoos.

Walt 6334 Pigeons and ravi -swans as well ,

ruddy geese and nadīcaras ,

lapwings and mynah birds are here,

small monkeys, jīvajīvakas .

Walt 6335 It resounds with swans and herons,

owls and many piṅgalas .

The sand contains the seven gems,

strewn with jewels and costly pearls.

Walt 6336 All of the trees, made out of gold,

pervaded by various scents,

are lighting up my palace there ,

by day and night, all of the time.

Walt 6337 Sixty thousand instruments are

being played morning and evening.

Sixteen thousand women as well

are waiting on me constantly.

Walt 6338 Happy, with pleasure in my heart,

having departed my palace,

I worshipped that Greatly Famed One,

Sumedha, Leader of the World.

Walt 6339 Having greeted the Sambuddha,

inviting him and Assembly,

that Wise One then agreed to come ,

Sumedha, Leader of the World.

Walt 6340 Having preached the Dhamma to me,

the Great Sage later took his leave.

Having greeted the Sambuddha,

I returned to my palace then .

Walt 6341 I summoned all the people there:

“All of you gather together.

In the first part of the day,

the Buddha will come to the palace.”

Walt 6342 “We dwelling near you have received

something that’s well-gotten for us.

We too will do a pūjā for

the Teacher, the Best of Buddhas.”

Walt 6343 After putting up food and drink,

I announced that it was the time.

The Leader of the World arrived

with one hundred thousand masters.

Walt 6344 I went to meet him with the five

musical instruments sounding .

The Supreme Person sat down on

a chair made out of solid gold.

Walt 6345 I placed a canopy above,

which was made out of solid gold;

fans are then diffusing perfumes

within the Assembly of monks.

Walt 6346 I regaled the monks’ Assembly

with large amounts of food and drink;

I gave individual pairs

of cloth to the monks’ Assembly.

Walt 6347 The one whom they called Sumedha,

Sacrificial Recipient,

sitting in the monks’ Assembly,

spoke these six verses at that time :

Walt 6348 “This one who gave me food and drink

and fed all of these monks with it,

I shall relate details of him;

all of you listen to my words:

Walt 6349 For eighteen hundred aeons he

will delight in the world of gods.

A thousand times he’ll be a king,

a king who turns the wheel of law .

Walt 6350 In whichever womb he’s reborn,

whether it’s human or divine,

a canopy of solid gold

will always be carried for him .

Walt 6351 In thirty thousand aeons hence ,

arising in Okkāka’s clan,

the one whose name is Gotama

will be the Teacher in the world.

Walt 6352 Worthy heir to that one’s Dhamma ,

Dhamma ’s legitimate offspring,

knowing well all the defilements,

he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.

Walt 6353 Sitting in the monks’ Assembly

he will then roar the lion’s roar.

On his pyre an umbrella’s borne;

beneath it he is cremated.”

Walt 6354 Monkhood has been attained by me;

my defilements are now burnt up.

In a pavilion or tree-root,

burning heat is not known by me.

Walt 6355 In the thirty thousand aeons

since I gave that gift at that time,

I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:

the fruit of giving everything.

Walt 6356 My defilements are now burnt up;

all new existence is destroyed.

Like elephants with broken chains,

I am living without constraint.

Walt 6357 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!

Walt 6358 The four analytical modes,

and these eight deliverances,

six special knowledges mastered,

I have done what the Buddha taught!

Thus indeed Venerable Yasa Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Yasa Thera, the first.

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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