Tha Ap 56Gandhodaka

– Therāpadāna

– The Legends of the Theras

54. Gandhodaka

Walt 1282 There was a Bodhi Tree festival

for Padumuttara Buddha.

Taking a decorated pot,

I donated scented water. Verse 1

Walt 1283 When that Bodhi was being bathed

a huge cloud rained down upon it .

And there was a deafening sound

when the lightening bolts burst forth there . Verse 2

Walt 1284 Due to the force of that lightening

I passed away right then and there.

Standing in the world of the gods

I uttered these verses aloud : Verse 3

Walt 1285 “O! the Buddha! O! the Teaching!

O! our Teacher’s great achievement!

My dead body has fallen down

and I now delight in heaven! Verse 4

Walt 1286 My residence is very tall,

rising up one hundred stories.

A hundred thousand virgins now

are around me all of the time. Verse 5

Walt 1287 Disease does not exist for me;

grief too does not exist for me;

I do not experience pain:

that is the fruit of good karma.” Verse 6

Walt 1288 Twenty eight hundred aeons thence

I was named King Saṁvasita,

a wheel-turner with great power,

possessor of the seven gems. Verse 7

Walt 1289 The four analytical modes,

and these eight deliverances,

six special knowledges mastered,

I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 8

Thus indeed Venerable Gandhodakiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Gandhodaka 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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