59. Paduma (THA-AP61)

He was declaring the Four Truths
while turning the best Dhamma-wheel,
raining the rain of deathlessness,
liberating many people.

Taking a lotus with a flag,
standing half a kosa away,
happy, I raised it in the air
for the Sage Padumuttara.

There was a strange occurrence then:
the lotus approached the Buddha.
Discerning what I was thinking
the Best Debater then took it.

Having taken with his fine hand
that superb water-born lotus,
standing in the monks’ Assembly
the Teacher spoke these verses then:

“I shall relate details of him
who just tossed this lotus flower
to the Omniscient Arahant;
all of you listen to my words:

Thirty aeons as king of gods
he will exercise divine rule.
With seven hundred earthly reigns
he will reside upon the earth.

Taking a bowl of lotuses there,
he’ll be a king who turns the wheel.
A rain of flowers from the sky
will rain on him all of the time.

In one hundred thousand aeons,
arising in Okkāka’s clan,
the one whose name is Gotama
will be the Teacher in the world.

Worthy heir to that one’s Dhamma,
Dhamma’s legitimate offspring,
knowing well all the defilements
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.”

Coming forth from my mother’s womb,
both comprehending and mindful,
when I was only five years old
I attained my arahantship.

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught!

Thus indeed Venerable Paduma Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Paduma 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.

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

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