111. Mahāparivāra (THA-AP113)

The Blessed One named Vipassi,
the World’s Best One, the Bull of Men,
entered Banduma City then
with sixty-eight thousand arahants.

Having come out from the city
he went to the shrine of the lamps.
I saw the Buddha, Stainless One,
Sacrificial Recipient.

Eighty thousand minor spirits
who then attended reverently
upon Indra and the Thirty-three
were also there in my presence.

When he rose from meditation,
I picked up a piece of cloth there.
I worshipped him with my head bowed,
then I gave it to the Great Sage:

“O! the Buddha! O! the Teaching!
O! our Teacher’s great achievement!
Through the power of the Buddha
he made the earth itself to quake.”

And having seen that miracle,
marvel making hair stand on end,
I pleased my heart in the Buddha,
the Biped-Lord, the Neutral One.

Then I, having pleased my heart in
the Biped-Lord, the Neutral One,
giving that cloth to the Teacher,
went up to him to take refuge.

In the ninety-one aeons since
I did that good karma back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā.

In the fifteenth aeon ago
there were sixteen named Vāhana,
wheel-turning kings with great power,
possessors of the seven gems.

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught!

Thus indeed Venerable Mahāparivāra Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Mahāparivāra 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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