447. {450.} Bodhighariya (THA-AP452)

Happy, with pleasure in my heart,
I had a Bodhi-tree shrine made
for Siddhattha, the Blessed One,
the Biped-Lord, the Neutral One.

Being reborn in Tusitā,
I live in a house made of gems.
There’s neither cold nor hot for me;
the wind does not touch my body.

In the fifty-sixth aeon hence
I was a wheel-turning monarch;
my city known as Kāsika,
constructed by Vissakamma,
was spread out for ten leagues in length,
and it measured eight leagues in width.
Nothing in that city was \[made
of\] sticks or of vines or of clay.

My palace known as Maṅgala,
constructed by Vissakamma,
measured a league across in length,
and it was a half a league wide.

Its eighty-four thousand pillars
were all made out of solid gold;
the pinnacles were made of gems,
and the roofs were made of silver.

That house all made of solid gold,
constructed by Vissakamma,
was occupied by me back then:
that’s the fruit of giving a shrine.

After enjoying all of that,
in the world of gods and of men,
today I have reached nirvana,
the peaceful state that’s unexcelled.

In the ninety-four aeons since
I had that Bodhi-tree-shrine made,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving a shrine.

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 Bodhighariya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Bodhighariya Thera is finished.

The Summary:

Vibhīṭakī,Kolaphalī,
Billa-Bhallāṭakappada,
Nigrodha and Ambāṭakī,
Āsanī, Pādapīṭhaka,
Vedika, Bodhigharika:
the verses that are counted here,
which are declared in this chapter,
all-told are one less than eighty.

The Vibhīṭaki Chapter, the Forty-Fifth

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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Prepared for SuttaCentral by Ayya Vimala.