114. Ekāsaniya (THA-AP116)

Back then I was the king of gods,
known by the name of Varuṇa.
I attended the Sambuddha,
as his vehicle of power.

When Atthadassi, the Best Man,
Lord of the World, reached nirvana,
supplying all the turiyas,
I went to the best Bodhi tree.

As though facing the Sambuddha
I attended on the best Bodhi,
with music and with dances too,
well-accompanied by cymbals.

After having served that Bodhi
tree growing up from the earth there,
having eaten, with my legs crossed,
I passed away right on the spot.

Delighting in my own karma,
pleased in that superb Bodhi tree,
due to that pleasure in my heart,
I have achieved nirvana now.

And sixty thousand instruments
are attending me all the time
as I move on from birth to birth
among humans and also gods.

The three fires are blown out in me;
all new existence is destroyed.
I am bearing my last body
in the Buddha’s dispensation.

In the five hundredth aeon hence
there were thirty-four kṣatriyans
all of whom were named Subahū,
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 Ekāsaniya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ekāsaniya Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

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