Tha Ap 560Bhaddajī

– Therāpadāna

– The Legends of the Theras

558. Bhaddajī

Walt 6428 I, having plunged into a pond,

served by various elephants,

am pulling up lotus root there,

because they’re what I’m eating then.

Walt 6429-6430 The Buddha in that period

bore the name Padumuttara.

Wearing cloth dyed red, the Buddha

is traveling through the sky there ,

shaking his robes made out of rags.

Then I heard the sound of his robes ,

and looking upward at the sky,

I saw the Leader of the World.

Walt 6431 Remaining in that very place,

I invited the World-Leader:

“Honey is flowing from the roots

and milk and oil flow from the stems;

let the Buddha, the Eyeful One,

with pity accept some from me.”

Walt 6432 Then the Teacher, Compassionate,

the Greatly Famed One, descended.

The Eyeful One, with pity then,

accepted that alms food of mine.

Accepting it , the Sambuddha

expressed his thanks to me like this :

Walt 6433 “Be happy, O merit-filled one;

let your rebirth be accomplished.

Due to this gift of lotus root,

may you receive huge happiness.”

Walt 6434 Having said that, the Sambuddha,

the one whose name was “Best Lotus,”

the Sambuddha, taking that food,

the Victor flew off through the sky.

Walt 6435 Having taken more lotus root,

I came back to my hermitage.

Hanging that root up in a tree,

I remembered my offering.

Walt 6436 A massive wind -storm then arose;

it agitated the forest.

The space was filled up with the noise

of thunderbolts bursting forth there .

Walt 6437 Then lightening falling from the sky,

struck me right on top of my head.

Because of that, sitting down,

I passed away right on the spot.

Walt 6438 Then bound up with my good karma,

I was reborn in Tusitā.

When my human body fell down,

I delighted in the gods’ world.

Walt 6439 Eighty-six thousand women then,

decked out in fine clothes and jewelry,

wait on me evening and morning:

the fruit of giving lotus root.

Walt 6440 Having come to a human womb,

I am then happy all the time.

I have no lack of possessions:

the fruit of giving lotus root.

Walt 6441 Having then been pitied by him,

the God of Gods, the Neutral One,

all defilements are exhausted;

now there will be no more rebirth.

Walt 6442 In the hundred thousand aeons

since I gave that alms food back then,

I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:

the fruit of giving lotus root.

Walt 6443 My defilements are now burnt up;

all new existence is destroyed.

Like elephants with broken chains,

I am living without constraint.

Walt 6444 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 6445 The four analytical modes,

and these eight deliverances,

six special knowledges mastered,

I have done what the Buddha taught!

Thus indeed Venerable Bhaddajī Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Bhaddajī Thera, the eighth.

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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