441. {444.} Bhallāṭakadāyaka (THA-AP446)

Spreading out a rug made of grass
for the Gold-Colored Sambuddha,
Bearing the Thirty-two Great Marks,
flying along the forest top,
like a regal sal tree in bloom,
I asked him, the Best of Buddhas:
“let the Buddha show me mercy;
I would like to give you alms food.”

Merciful, Compassionate One,
Atthadassi, Greatly Famed One,
discerning what I was thinking,
descended to my hermitage.

Descending, the Sambuddha then
sat down on that mat made of leaves.
Having taken some markingnut,
I gave it to the Best Buddha.

While I meditated on him,
the Victor then consumed that fruit.
Bringing pleasure to my heart there,
I then worshipped him, the Victor.

In the eighteen hundred aeons
since I gave him that fruit 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 Bhallāṭakadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Bhallāṭakadāyaka Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

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