60. Asanabodhiya (THA-AP62)

When I was but seven years old
I saw the Buddha, World-Chief.
Happy, and with a happy heart
I went up to the Best of Men.

Happy, and with a happy heart,
I planted the best Bodhi tree
for him, Tissa, the Blessed One,
the World’s Best One, the Neutral One.

Foot-drinker growing in the earth,
it was known as an “Asana”.
For five years I tended that tree,
the superb Asana Bodhi.

Having seen that flowering tree,
marvel making hair stand on end,
relating my own karma then
I went up to the Best Buddha.

Tissa, who was then Sambuddha,
Self-Become One, the Top Person,
seated in the monks’ Assembly
spoke these verses about me then:

“I shall relate details of him
who has planted this Bodhi Tree
and honored me with Buddha-pūjā;
all of you listen to my words:

For thirty aeons among gods
he will exercise divine rule,
and four and sixty times he’ll be
a king who turns the wheel of law.

Falling from Tusitā heaven,
incited by his wholesome roots,
experiencing the two-fold bliss,
he’ll delight in the human state.

Being one bent on exertion,
calmed, devoid of grounds for rebirth,
knowing well all the defilements
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.”

Binding myself to solitude,
calm of mind, with desires blown out,
like a tusker with broken chains,
I’m living without defilements.

In the ninety-two aeons since
I planted that Bodhi back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of planting Bodhis.

Seventy-four aeons ago
I was a wheel-turning monarch.
I was known as Daṇḍasena,
possessor of the seven gems.

Seventy-three aeons ago
there were seven lords on the earth.
They were all wheel-turning monarchs
who were named Samantanemi.

Five and twenty aeons ago
the Kṣatriyan named Puṇṇaka
was a wheel-turner with great strength,
possessor of the seven gems.

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

Thus indeed Venerable Asanabodhiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Asanabodhiya Thera is finished.

The Summary:

Vījanī and Sataraṁsī
Sayan, Odaki, Vāhiya,
Parivāra and Padīpa,
Dhaja, Paduma-Pūjaka
and Bodhi’s said to be the tenth;
thus two and ninety verses.

The Vījanī Chapter, the Sixth.

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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