215. Raṁsisaññaka (THA-AP217)

I saw the superb Tiger-Bull,
Well-Born-One, on a mountainside,
like the rising hundred-rayed sun,
like the sun when its rays are cool.

The majesty of the Buddha
was shining on the mountainside.
My heart pleased in the rays; for an
aeon I sported in heaven.

In all the subsequent aeons,
goodness was completed by me
because of that mental pleasure,
and remembering the Buddha.

In the thirty thousand aeons
since I obtained that perception,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
the fruit of Buddha-perception.

In the fifty-seventh aeon
there was one lord of the people,
known by the name of Sujāta,
a wheel-turning king with great strength.

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

Thus indeed Venerable Raṁsisaññaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Raṁsisaññaka 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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