19. Sopāka (THA-AP21)

The Blessed One named Siddhattha
came into my presence one time
when I was cleaning a retreat
on a most fine, superb mountain.

Seeing the Buddha who’d arrived
I spread out a woven grass mat
for the World’s Best, the Neutral One,
and gave to him that floral seat.

Sitting on that seat of flowers
Siddhattha the World-Leader
discerning my situation
then spoke about impermanence.

“In flux indeed is all that is;
things that arise and then decline
are being born and then dying;
happy is the relief from them.”

Saying this the Omniscient One,
the World’s Best One, the Bull of Men,
the Hero flew into the sky
just like a swan-king in the air.

Abandoning my own dogma
I then perceived impermanence.
Meditating for just one day,
right then and there I passed away.

Incited by my wholesome roots
I then enjoyed the two-fold bliss.
When my last rebirth was attained
I was born among dog-cookers.

After I set out from the house
I went forth into homelessness.
Dread-locked ascetic seven years,
I attained my arahantship.

Energetic, self-abandoned,
careful about the moral rules,
having pleased the Great Elephant
I got higher ordination.

In the ninety-four aeons since
I did that good karma back then
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth;
that’s the fruit of a flower-gift. (10

In the ninety-fourth aeon since
I obtained that perception then,
meditating upon that sense
my defilements were all destroyed.

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

Thus indeed Venerable Sopāka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Venerable Sopāka 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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