10. Udakadāyikā (THI-AP10)

In the city, Bandhumatī,
I was a water-fetcher then.
Living by carrying water,
I’m raising my children that way.

“I lack the things to be given
in the unsurpassed merit-field.”
Going to a water-tower,
I supplied the Buddha water.

Due to that karma done very well,
I went to Tāvatiṁsa then.
There I had a well-made mansion
fashioned by carrying water.

I am surrounded all the time
by a thousand celestial nymphs,
and I always am surpassing
all of them in all the ten ways.

I was fixed in the chief queen’s place
of fifty kings among the gods.
I was fixed in the chief queen’s place
of twenty kings who turned the wheel.

Transmigrating in two stations,
the human or else the divine,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving water.

On a mountain top or bad road,
up in the air and on the ground,
whenever I desire water,
I receive it very quickly.

In times of drought my region’s not
scorched by the heat nor boiling hot;
discerning what I am thinking
a great rain-cloud always rains forth.

Whenever I am sent somewhere,
with my assembly of kinsfolk,
if I am wishing for some rain
a great rain-cloud is then produced.

Being burned or having fever
don’t ever affect my body;
on my body there is no dust:
that’s the fruit of giving water.

Today with my mind purified
the evil-minded one is gone.
All my defilements are destroyed;
now there will be no more rebirth.

In the ninety-one aeons since
I did that good karma back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving water.

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 Bhikhhunī Udakadāyikā spoke these verses.

The legend of Udakadāyikā Therī is finished.

The Summary:

Sumedhā, Mekhalādadā,
Maṇḍapa, Saṅkamaṇḍalā,
Nalamālī, Piṇḍadadā,
Kaṭacchu, Uppalappadā,
Dīpad-Odakadā also;
the verses here are counted thus:
one verse and one hundred also
and seventeen added to that.

The Sumedhā Chapter, the First

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.

For more information, visit apadanatranslation.org

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Ayya Vimala.