[13. Nanda]

Padumuttara’s khoma cloth[1]
I gave to the Self-Become One,
the Sage So Great, the Blessed One,
the Best in the World, Neutral One. (1) [700]

Then Buddha, named for the lotus[2]
made this prophesy about me:
“due to giving this piece of cloth
you will have the color of gold. (2) [701]

Experiencing two-fold bliss[3]
incited by [your] wholesome roots
you will be the younger brother
of Gotama the Blessed One. (3) [702]

Happy by nature but lustful,
[you] will be greedy for pleasures.
Being incited by Buddha
you will then go forth, renouncing. (4) [703]

After you’ve renounced the world there,
incited by [your] wholesome roots,
knowing well all the defilements.
you’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.” (5) [704]

In the seven-thousandth[4] aeon
there were four with the name CChela;[5]
sixty thousand aeons [ago]
there were four named Upacchela;[6] (6) [705]

in the five-thousandth aeon ago
there were four people [named] CChela;
they were rulers of the four continents
possessors of the seven gems. (7) [706]

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (8) [707]

Thus indeed Venerable Nanda Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Nanda Thera is finished.

  1. reading vattham khomam (BJTS, cty) for vatthuttaman (“excellent cloth” PTS) ↩︎

  2. PTS reads jalajuttamanāyako, “Ultimate Lord of Water-Born Beings;” I follow BJTS and cty in reading jalajuttamanāmako, “named for the ultimate thing born of the water [i.e., a lotus].” This Buddha’s name, “Padumuttara,” means “Supreme Lotus”. ↩︎

  3. as a god, and as a man ↩︎

  4. BJTS reads “in the hundred-thousandth”. ↩︎

  5. “Cloth” ↩︎

  6. “Additional Cloth” ↩︎

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