Tha Ap 62Asanabodhiya

– Therāpadāna

– The Legends of the Theras

60. Asanabodhiya

Walt 1334 When I was but seven years old

I saw the Buddha , World-Chief.

Happy, and with a happy heart

I went up to the Best of Men. Verse 1

Walt 1335 Happy, and with a happy heart,

I planted the best Bodhi tree

for him , Tissa, the Blessed One,

the World’s Best One, the Neutral One. Verse 2

Walt 1336 Foot-drinker growing in the earth,

it was known as an “Asana”.

For five years I tended that tree ,

the superb Asana Bodhi. Verse 3

Walt 1337 Having seen that flowering tree,

marvel making hair stand on end,

relating my own karma then

I went up to the Best Buddha. Verse 4

Walt 1338 Tissa, who was then Sambuddha,

Self-Become One, the Top Person,

seated in the monks’ Assembly

spoke these verses about me then : Verse 5

Walt 1339 “I shall relate details of him

who has planted this Bodhi Tree

and honored me with Buddha- pūjā ;

all of you listen to my words: Verse 6

Walt 1340 For thirty aeons among gods

he will exercise divine rule,

and four and sixty times he’ll be

a king who turns the wheel of law . Verse 7

Walt 1341 Falling from Tusitā heaven,

incited by his wholesome roots,

experiencing the two-fold bliss,

he’ll delight in the human state. Verse 8

Walt 1342 Being one bent on exertion,

calmed, devoid of grounds for rebirth,

knowing well all the defilements

he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.” Verse 9

Walt 1343 Binding myself to solitude,

calm of mind, with desires blown out,

like a tusker with broken chains,

I’m living without defilements. Verse 10

Walt 1344 In the ninety-two aeons since

I planted that Bodhi back then,

I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:

that’s the fruit of planting Bodhis. Verse 11

Walt 1345 Seventy-four aeons ago

I was a wheel-turning monarch.

I was known as Daṇḍasena,

possessor of the seven gems. Verse 12

Walt 1346 Seventy-three aeons ago

there were seven lords on the earth.

They were all wheel-turning monarchs

who were named Samantanemi. Verse 13

Walt 1347 Five and twenty aeons ago

the Kṣatriyan named Puṇṇaka

was a wheel-turner with great strength,

possessor of the seven gems. Verse 14

Walt 1348 The four analytical modes,

and these eight deliverances,

six special knowledges mastered,

I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 15

Thus indeed Venerable Asanabodhiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Asanabodhiya Thera is finished.

The Summary:

Vījanī and Sataraṁsī

Sayan, Odaki, Vāhiya,

Parivāra and Padīpa,

Dhaja, Paduma-Pūjaka

and Bodhi’s said to be the tenth;

thus two and ninety verses.

The Vījanī Chapter, the Sixth.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters .

Whitman College, 2017

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