123. Pāyāsadāyaka (THA-AP125)

I saw the Golden Sambuddha,
Bearing the Thirty-two Great Marks
Honored by the monks’ Assembly,
who was leaving the forest then.

Overjoyed I then arranged for
milk-rice served in a bowl of bronze.
Wishing to offer sacrifice
I presented this offering.

The Buddha living at that time,
the World’s Best One, the Bull of Men,
had well-ascended a walkway
in the wind’s path up in the sky.

And having seen that miracle,
marvel making hair stand on end,
placing down that bowl made of bronze,
I worshipped Vipassi right then.

“You are the God, Omniscient One,
over the gods as well as men.
Having taken pity on me,
please accept this food, O Great Sage.”

Discerning what I was thinking,
the Teacher, Great Sage in the World,
the Blessed One, Omniscient One,
the World-Leader, accepted it.

In the ninety-one aeons since
I gave him that alms-food back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of some milk-rice.

In the forty-first aeon hence
I was a ruler named Buddha,
a wheel-turner with great power,
possessor 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 Pāyāsadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Pāyāsadāyaka 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.

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