559. Sīvaka (THA-AP561)

When Vipassi, the Sage So Great,
was going about as he wished,
seeing that his bowl was empty,
I filled it with barley porridge.

In the ninety-one aeons since
I gave that alms food at that time,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of barley porridge.

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 Sīvaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Sīvaka Thera, the ninth.

The Summary of That:

Yasa and Nadī-Kassapa,
Gayā, Kimbila, Vajjita,
two Uttaras and Bhaddaji
and Sīvaka the final one.

The Yasa Chapter, the fifty-sixth.

The Therāpadāna 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.

This is the first-ever complete translation of Apadāna into a Western language.

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Prepared for SuttaCentral by Ayya Vimala.