373. {376.} Gandhamuṭṭhiya (THA-AP378)

When a stupa was being built,
various perfumes were gathered.
Happy, with pleasure in my heart,
I gave a handful of incense.

In the hundred thousand aeons
since I worshipped that stupa then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of stupa-pūjā.

My being in Buddha’s presence
was a very good thing for me.
The three knowledges are attained;
I have done what the Buddha taught!

My defilements are now burnt up;
all new existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint.

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

Thus indeed Venerable Gandhamuṭṭhiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Gandhamuṭṭhiya Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

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