12. Ekatthambhika (THA-AP14)

The Blessed One named Siddhattha
had a large group of followers.
They had taken the lay refuge
with faith in the Thus-Gone Buddha.

They all gathered and decided
to build a hut for the Teacher.
Still in need of one more pillar
they were searching the thick forest.

Having seen them in the forest
I then went up to that group there.
Pressing both my hands together
I made inquiries of that group.

Those morally-restrained layfolk
asked by me then gave their reply,
“we desire to build a māḷa
but we are still one pillar short.”

“Give me the one pillar duty;
I will give it to the Teacher.
I will take that pillar to him,
all of you please now be at ease.”

Pleased and with minds full of delight
they felled that pillar for me there,
then having turned around to leave
they went back to their own houses.

Not long after that big group left
I then did give him that pillar.
I was the first one to raise it,
happy, and with a happy heart.

Because of the pleasure in my heart
I was born in a god’s mansion.
That lofty residence of mine
was one hundred stories in height.

When the drums are being beaten,
I am then being entertained.
I was the king, Yasodhara,
in the fifty-fifth aeon thence.

There too I had a residence
which was seven stories in height.
Appointed with fine gabled cells
there was one pillar, mind’s delight.

In the twenty-first aeon thence
I was the king known as Udena.
There too I had a residence
which was a hundred stories tall.

In whichever womb I’m reborn,
whether it’s human or divine,
I experience all of that;
that is the fruit of one pillar.

In the ninety-four aeons since
I gave him that pillar back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth;
that is the fruit of one pillar.

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

Thus indeed Venerable Ekatthambhika Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ekatthambhika 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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