227. Vaṭaṁsakiya (THA-AP229)

I saw the Leader of the World
being led into a garden.
Picking up a wreath for the head
made of gold, superbly fashioned,
and quickly rising up from there,
mounted on an elephant’s back,
I gave it to the Buddha then,
to Sikhi, Kinsman of the World.

In the thirty-one 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 twenty-seventh aeon
hence lived one lord of the people
who was named Mahāpatāpa
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 Vaṭaṁsakiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Vaṭaṁsakiya 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.