207. Salaḷamāliya (THA-AP209)

I saw Siddhattha, the Trainer,
seated on a mountainside then,
shining like a dinner-plate tree,
surveying every direction.

Gathering both ends of a bow,
then I joined it with an arrow.
Cutting a flower with its stalk,
I offered it to the Buddha.

In the ninety-four aeons since
I did pūjā with that flower,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā.

In the fifty-first aeon hence
there was one named Jutindhara,
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 Salaḷamāliya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Salaḷamāliya Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

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