435. {438.} Harīṭakadāyaka (THA-AP440)

Myrobalan and gooseberry,
mango, rose-apple, bahera,
jujube, markingnut, bel—
I’m carrying that by myself.

Seeing a Meditator, Sage,
Trance-Lover, on a mountain slope,
a Great Sage dwelling there alone,
who was tormented by disease,
taking a myrobalan, I
gave it to the Self-Become One.
When the medicine was eaten,
it allayed the Buddha’s illness.

With his pain eliminated,
the Buddha then expressed his thanks:
“Due to this gift of medicine
and the allaying of illness,
being divine or human, or
born in another existence,
may you be happy everywhere,
and may illness not come to you.”

Having said this, the Sambuddha,
the Self-Become One, the Great Sage,
the Hero, rose into the sky,
just like a swan-king in the air.

From when I gave myrobalan
to the Great Sage, the Self-Become,
until this present birth of mine,
illness did not arise for me.

This is the final time for me;
my last rebirth is proceeding.
The three knowledges are attained;
I have done what the Buddha taught!

In the ninety-four aeons since
I gave him medicine back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of medicine.

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 Harīṭakadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Harīṭakadāyaka Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

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