515. {518.} Ghosasaññaka (THA-AP520)

I was a deer-hunter back then,
within a grove in the forest.
I saw the Buddha, Stainless One,
honored by the gods’ assembly.

Explaining the Four Noble Truths,
he was preaching the deathless state.
I heard the honey-sweet Teaching
of Sikhi, Kinsman of the World.

I pleased my heart in the sound of
the Unequaled, the Peerless One.
After having pleased my heart there,
I crossed existence, hard to cross.

In the thirty-one aeons since
I obtained that perception then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of perceiving sound.

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 Ghosasaññaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ghosasaññaka Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

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