164. Desapūjaka (THA-AP166)

Atthadassi, the Blessed One,
the World’s Best One, the Bull of Men,
having risen into the sky
was going through the air back then.

I did pūjā to the place where
the Teacher had been standing when
he, the Sage so Great, rose upward,
feeling well- pleased by my own hands.

In the eighteen hundred aeons
since I saw the Great Sage back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of region-pūjā.

In the eleven-hundredth aeon
I was known as Gosujāta,
a wheel-turning king with great strength,
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 Desapūjaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Desapūjaka 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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Prepared for SuttaCentral by Ayya Vimala.