511. {514.} Ketakapupphiya (THA-AP516)

The Ultimate Person dwelt on
the banks of Vinatā River.
I saw the Buddha, Stainless One,
the Calm One, Very Composed One.

Happy, with pleasure in my heart,
I then worshipped the Best Buddha
with a flower of the screw-pine,
with a honey-scented fragrance.

In the ninety-one aeons since
I gave him that flower back then,
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.
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 Ketakapupphiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ketakapupphiya Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

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