443. {446.} Ambāṭakiya (THA-AP448)

Vessabhū, the Sage, having plunged
into a sal-forest in bloom,
sat down on a bad mountain road
like a lion, the Well-Born-One.

Happy, with pleasure in my heart,
I presented hog-plum to him,
the Merit-Field, the Great Hero,
feeling well-pleased by my own hands.

In the thirty-one aeons since
I offered that flower to him,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā.

My defilements are now burnt up;
all new existence is destroyed.
All defilements are exhausted;
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 Ambāṭakiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ambāṭakiya 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.

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