15. Pañcadīpikā (THI-AP15)

In the city, Haṁsavatī,
I was a wanderer back then.
From ashram to monastery,
I wandered desiring the good.

One day when the moon was waning,
I saw the supreme Bodhi Tree.
Bringing pleasure to my heart there,
I sat down at that Bodhi’s roots.

Standing, with a heart of reverence,
hands pressed together on my head,
knowing mental happiness there,
I then reflected in this way:

“If he has limitless virtue,
is unique, without a rival,
let Buddha show me a marvel;
let him make this Bodhi Tree shine.”

When I made that aspiration,
the Bodhi Tree did then blaze up.
It shined forth in all directions,
displaying every good color.

Seven nights and days I sat there,
at the roots of that Bodhi Tree,
and when the seventh day arrived,
I made an offering of lamps.

Setting them around my seat there,
I proceeded to light five lamps.
And then my lamps all remained lit,
until the sun did rise again.

Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and firm resolve,
discarding my human body,
I went to Tāvatiṁsa then.

There my well-made divine mansion
was known as “Pañcadīpī” then.
It was full sixty leagues in height,
and thirty leagues in width back then.

Uncountable numbers of lamps
are burning in my surroundings.
The divine world is then lit up
with lamp-light, up to its edges.

If when standing looking eastward,
I should desire to see something,
above, below, also across,
I see everything with my eyes.

As far as I should wish to see,
things well done and things not well done,
there’s no obstruction to my sight
in the trees and the mountains there.

I was fixed in the chief queen’s place
of eighty kings among the gods.
I was fixed in the chief queen’s place
of one hundred wheel-turning kings.

In whichever womb I’m reborn,
whether it’s human or divine,
in my surroundings, a whole lakh
of lamps are burning there for me.

Fallen from the world of the gods,
I was born in a mother’s womb.
While I was in that mother’s womb
my eyes were open all the time.

Due to my having good karma,
an entire hundred thousand lamps
are lit in the lying-in room:
that’s the fruit of giving five lamps.

When my final rebirth occurred,
I turned my mind away from lust.
I attained the unaging and
undying cool state, nirvana.

When I was but seven years old,
I attained my arahantship.
The Buddha ordained me right then:
that’s the fruit of giving five lamps.

Meditating on a platform,
beneath a tree, empty spots,
a lamp is always burning there:
that’s the fruit of giving five lamps.

My “divine eye” is purified;
I am skilled in concentration.
I excel in special knowledges:
that’s the fruit of giving five lamps.

Every achievement is achieved;
my duty’s done, I’m undefiled.
Five Lamps is now worshipping your
feet, Great Hero, o Eyeful One.

In the hundred thousand aeons
since I gave him those lamps back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving five lamps.

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 Bhikkhunī Pañcadīpikā spoke these verses.

The legend of Pañcadīpikā Therī 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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