332. Udakapūjaka (THA-AP334)

I saw the Golden Sambuddha
going in the path of the wind,
glistening like an oil-altar,
blazing up like a fire-altar.

Taking some water with my hand,
I tossed it up into the sky.
The Buddha, Compassionate, Sage,
Great Hero, then accepted it.

Standing in the sky, the Teacher,
whose name was Padumuttara,
discerning what I was thinking,
spoke this verse about me just then:

“Because of this gift of water
and the joy that he produced then,
for one hundred thousand aeons
he’ll come to know no bad rebirth.”

Due to that deed for Buddha,
the World’s Best One, the Bull of Men,
I’ve attained the unshaking state
beyond all conquest and defeat.

In the sixty-five hundredth aeon,
there were three wheel-turning monarchs;
all were named Sahassarāja,
lords over people on four sides.

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

Thus indeed Venerable Udakapūjaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Udakapūjaka 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.