321. Ummāpupphiya (THA-AP323)

I saw the Ultimate Person,
Siddhattha, the Unconquered One,
Attentive One, He Who Attained,
sitting down in meditation.

Having gathered blue flax flowers,
I offered them to the Buddha.
All the flowers faced the same way,
stems turned upward, heads turned downward.

Like pretty pictures they remained,
floral canopy in the sky.
Because of that mental pleasure,
I was reborn in Tusitā.

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-fifth aeon hence
there was one man, lord of the earth,
known as Samantacchadana,
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 Ummāpupphiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ummāpupphiya 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.