436. {439.} Ambapiṇḍiya (THA-AP441)

I was then an elephant-king,
with tusks like plough-poles, fully grown.
Wandering in a large forest,
I saw the Leader of the World.

Taking a cluster of mangoes,
I gave them to him, the Teacher.
The Great Hero accepted them,
Siddhattha, Leader of the World.

While I meditated on him,
the Victor then consumed that fruit.
Bringing pleasure to my heart there,
I was reborn in Tusitā.

After falling down from there, I
was a monarch who turns the wheel.
Then through that very method, I,
having enjoyed great good fortune,
being one bent on exertion,
calmed, devoid of grounds for rebirth,
knowing well all the defilements,
am living here now, undefiled.

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

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 Ambapiṇḍiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ambapiṇḍiya Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

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