34. Kāḷudāyi (THA-AP36)

Picking a flowering lotus,
and water lily and jasmine,
and taking some rice cooked in milk,
I gave it to the Teacher then,
to Buddha Padumuttara
the World’s Best One, the Neutral One,
who had gone out upon the road,
wandering on journeys back then.

At that time the Great Hero ate
that milk-rice that’s so good to eat,
and taking up that lotus flower
he gave it to the people there.

“This superb lotus is pretty,
pleasant and much loved in the world.
He who gave this flower to me
has done a most difficult deed.

I shall relate details of him
who offered this flower to me
and gave me this rice cooked in milk;
all of you listen to my words:

For ten and also eight more times
he will exercise divine rule.
As the result of his karma,
in the future there will be borne
a canopy built in the sky
of lily and of lotuses,
which in addition will contain
the white flowers known as jasmine.

Five and twenty times he will be
a king who turns the wheel of law.
He will reside upon the earth
and have five hundred earthly reigns.

In one hundred thousand aeons,
arising in Okkāka’s clan,
the one whose name is Gotama
will be the Teacher in the world.

Delighted by his own karma,
incited by his wholesome roots,
he will be the Buddha’s kinsman,
conveying joy to the Śākyans.

And he, having renounced the world,
incited by his wholesome roots,
knowing well all the defilements,
will reach nirvana, undefiled.

Then Gotama, the World’s Kinsman,
will place him in a foremost place
of achieving analysis,
and of doing what should be done.

Being one bent on exertion,
calmed, devoid of grounds for rebirth,
he’ll be the Teacher’s follower;
his name will be Udāyi then.”

Now my heart is liberated;
ill-will has fallen from the mind.
Knowing well all the defilements,
without defilements I now live.

An ardent striver, intelligent,
I satisfied the Sambuddha.
And the Sambuddha, with delight,
did place me in that foremost place.

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

Thus indeed Venerable Kāḷudāyi Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Kāḷudāyi 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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