Upāli Chapter, the Fifth
[41. Upāli (2)[1]]
The World’s Great Lord, surrounded by
a thousand [arahants] undefiled,
being one bound to solitude
went off into seclusion [then]. (1) [1116]
I was dressed in deer-leather [clothes],
carrying[2] a triple rod[3] [there].
[Then] I saw the Chief of the World
encompassed by the Assembly.[4] (2) [1117]
Placing deer-hide on one shoulder,
hands pressed together on my head,
having worshipped the Sambuddha,
I praised the World-Leader kindly: (3) [1118]
“Just as all birds, crows and so on,
hatched from eggs or [born out of] sweat,
born in wombs or viviparous,
always travel[5] across the sky; (4) [1119]
Whatever creatures may exist,
those with and without consciousness,[6]
are all of them included in
the [great] knowledge that you possess. (5) [1120]
Whatever mountain scents there are
in the supreme Himalaya
they all can’t match even a bit
[the scent] of your morality.[7] (6) [1121]
This world together with its gods
is grasped by the darkness-makers.[8]
When your knowledge is shining forth
the darkness-makers are destroyed. (7) [1122]
Just as creatures are in the dark
when the sun has set [for the day],
this world’s enshrouded in darkness
when a Buddha has not appeared. (8) [1123]
Just as the sun when it rises
drives away darkness every day,
so too do you, O Best Buddha,
destroy the darkness every day. (9) [1124]
You are one bent on exertion,
Buddha in the world with [its] gods.
Through their delight in your karma
you satisfy many people.” (10) [1125]
[Then] giving thanks for all of that,
the Great Sage Padumuttara,
the Hero,[9] flew into the sky
just like a swan-king in the air. (11) [1126]
Having flown off, the Sambuddha,
the Great Sage Padumuttara,
the Teacher, standing in the sky,
spoke these verses [about me then]: (12) [1127]
“I shall relate details of him
who has made this praise of knowledge,
combined[10] with [good] analogies;
[all of] you listen to my words: (13) [1128]
Eighteen [different] times he will be
the king over [all of] the gods.
He will reside upon the earth
[and] have three hundred earthly reigns. (14) [1129]
[Full] five hundred times he will reign,
a king who turns the wheel [of law],
[and he will have] much local rule
innumerable by counting. (15) [1130]
In one hundred thousand aeons,
arising in Okkāka’s clan,
the one whose name is Gotama
will be the Teacher in the world. (16) [1131]
Having fallen from Tusitā,
incited by [his] wholesome roots,
a low ascetic with dreadlocks,
he will be known as Upāli. (17) [1132]
And afterwards, having gone forth,
driving away[11] [every] evil,
knowing well all the defilements,
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled. (18) [1133]
And the Śākyas’ Son, Greatly Famed,
the Buddha known as Gotama,
pleased by his Vinaya knowledge
will place him in that foremost place.”[12] (19) [1134]
I, after going forth with faith,
did [my duty], am undefiled.
Knowing well all the defilements,
without defilements I [now] live. (20) [1135]
The Blessed One did pity me;
I am skilled in the Vinaya.
Delighted by my own karma
I’m living without defilements. (21) [1136]
Self-controlled in monastic rules[13]
and in the five organs of sense,
I carry all the Vinaya
entirely, that gemstone-mine. (22) [1137]
And then, discerning my virtue,
the Teacher, the Best in the World,[14]
seated in the monks’ Assembly,
did place me in that foremost place. (23) [1138]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (24) [1139]
Thus indeed Venerable Upāli Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Upāli Thera is finished.
BJTS, Hew, and cty style him Bhāgineyya-Upāli, “Upāli the Nephew”. He is not to be confused with Upāli the top reciter of Vinaya, Therāpadāna #6 ↩︎
reading paridhārako (BJTS, cty) or paridhāraNo (PTS alt) for PTS paricchāraṇo. ↩︎
tidaṇḍam = three stick, three rod. Cty glosses it as “for the sake of keeping pots” (kuṇḍika-ṭṭhāpanatthāya), apparently understanding it as a pingo or else some sort of tripod. But the more likely allusion is to the triśula or trident of Shiva and his devotees, given the deer-leather clothes. ↩︎
lit., “the monks’ Assembly”. ↩︎
reading sabbe antallikkaccharā sadā (BJTS) for sabbe antallikkhe padesagā (PTS). ↩︎
lit., “having consciousness or not having consciousness” ↩︎
lit., “…on the ultimate mountain, Himalaya, they all are not fit to [be] even a bit of [the good scent] in your morality.” ↩︎
lit., “is in the party of what causes the darkness of delusion”. Cf above vv. [1072] and [1073] for similar usage in a similar context. The BJTS reading mohandhakārapakkhanto allows for the plural, which is clear in the subsequent line of verse. ↩︎
BJTS (and PTS alt.) reads dhīro (“the wise one”) ↩︎
reading samāyutaṃ (BJTS, PTS alt) for samāyanaŋ (PTS) ↩︎
the texts all read virājetvāna or virajjitvāna, “to shine;” I follow BJTS Sinhala gloss in understanding this — as context warrants — as “drive away” (Sinhala duru koṭa) ↩︎
it seems that here the text does confuse this Upāli with Upāli the chief reciter of Vinaya. ↩︎
lit., “in the Pāṭimokkha,” the 227 main rules which Theravāda Buddhist monks and nuns are required to chant fortnightly. ↩︎
lit., “Unsurpassed/Unrivaled/Without Better in the World” ↩︎