384. {387.} Kadalīphaladāyaka (THA-AP389)

I saw the Leader of the World,
shining like a dinner-plate tree,
like the moon on the fifteenth day,
blazing forth like a tree of lamps.

Having gathered some plantain fruit,
I then gave it to the Teacher.
Happy, with pleasure in my heart,
having worshipped him, I went off.

In the thirty-one aeons since
I gave Buddha that fruit back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of giving fruit.

Being in Best 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 Kadalīphaladāyaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Kadalīphaladāyaka 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.

For more information, visit apadanatranslation.org

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Ayya Vimala.