403. {406.} Nanda (THA-AP408)

I was a deer-hunter back then,
within a grove in the forest.
While searching after spotted deer,
I saw the Self-Become One there.

The Sambuddha named Anuraddha,
the Self-Become, Unconquered One,
Seclusion-Lover, the Wise One,
plunged into the forest back then.

Having gathered four sticks of wood,
I placed them in four corner-spots.
Building a well-built pavilion,
I covered it with lotus blooms.

Having covered the pavilion,
I greeted the Self-Become One.
Laying aside my bow right there,
I went forth into homelessness.

A short time after going forth,
I was afflicted with illness.
Transmigrating through past karma,
I passed away right then and there.

Bound up with my former karma,
I went to Tusitā heaven.
There a mansion made out of gold
is produced according to wish.

My divine carriage stands in wait,
a thousand-horse-yoked vehicle.
Ascending into that carriage,
I travel according to wish.

When I am going out from there,
having been reborn as a god,
a pavilion’s held up for me
a hundred leagues on every side.

I always nestle on a bed
that’s constantly strewn with flowers.
And from the sky, pink lotuses
are raining on me all the time.

When the rays of light are throbbing,
and the sun’s heat scorches the world,
the heat is not oppressing me:
that’s the fruit of a pavilion.

I pass beyond all bad rebirth;
the states of woe are closed to me.
In a pavilion or tree-root,
burning heat is not known by me.

Fixing perception on the earth,
I cross over the great ocean.
That’s my well-done karma, the fruit
of doing that Buddha-pūjā.

Making roads, even with no road,
I am traveling in the sky.
O! that karma well-done by me:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā.

I know former existences,
the “divine eye” is purified,
my defilements are all destroyed:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā.

Buddha’s legitimate offspring,
worthy heir to the Great Teaching,
I’ve renounced my earlier birth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā.

I’m one who pleased the Well-Gone-One,
Gotama, Bull of the Śākyas,
the Dhamma’s heir, I bear its flag:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā.

After serving the Sambuddha,
Gotama, Bull of the Śākyas,
I asked the Leader of the World
about the path that goes beyond.

Being asked, the Buddha then told
the deep and subtle state beyond.
Having heard that Teaching of his,
I attained my arahantship.

O! that karma well-done by me!
I’m fully freed from being born;
I have destroyed all defilements;
now there will be no more rebirth.

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

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!

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

Thus indeed Venerable Nanda Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Nanda 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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