76. Tiṇasanthāradāyaka (THA-AP78)

In the Himalayan region
there was a great lake full of life.
It was covered with lotuses
and was the lair of varied birds.

I was living in that region,
bathing and drinking in that lake.
I saw the Top Among the Monks
traveling across the sky then.

Discerning what I was thinking,
the Teacher, Peerless in the World,
having descended from the sky,
stood on the ground there at that time.

Taking some grass cut with a horn
I gave him a mat to sit on.
The Blessed One did sit down there,
Tissa the Guide of the Whole World.

Bringing pleasure to my own heart,
I then worshipped the World-Leader.
Crouched over I went off from there
thinking about the Sage so Great.

Due to that pleasure in my heart,
I was reborn in Nimmāna.
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of a mat-gift.

I was King Migasammata
in the second aeon ago,
a wheel-turner with great power,
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 Tiṇasanthāraka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Tiṇasanthāradāyaka 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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