[97. Madhupiṇḍika[1]]
In a quiet and trouble-free
forest grove, I [once] having seen
Siddhattha the Sage, the Supreme,[2]
Sacrificial Recipient, (1) [1588]
Gone-Out-One, the Great Elephant,
Bull of Men,[3] like a thoroughbred,
shining forth like the morning star,[4]
praised by the assembly of gods,
much[5] happiness arose in me;
knowledge came into being then. (2) [1589][6]
Giving honey to the Teacher
who’d risen from meditation,
[and] worshipping the Teacher’s feet,
I departed facing the east. (3) [1590]
[Then] thirty-four aeons [ago]
I was the king, Sudassana;[7]
sweet honey flowed from lotus roots
whenever I was eating [them].
[And] it rained a rain of honey:
that’s the fruit of former karma. (4) [1591][8]
In the ninety-four aeons since
I gave [him] that honey back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving honey. (5) [1592]
[And] thirty-four aeons ago
there were four [named] Sudassana,
wheel-turning kings with great power,
possessors of the seven gems. (6) [1593]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (7) [1594]
Thus indeed Venerable Madhupiṇḍika Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Madhupiṇḍika Thera is finished.
“Honey-Ball-er” ↩︎
reading seṭṭhaṃ (BJTS) for setthaŋ (PTS) ↩︎
compare nisabha with narasabha, which I also translate “Bull of Men”. ↩︎
osadhī. RD (s.v.) points out that all we really know about this star is that it was particularly bright, leading Childers to translate it as “Venus” and others as the morning star. ↩︎
reading pahutā āsi (BJTS) for pahunā tāva (PTS) ↩︎
BJTS agrees with PTS in presenting this as a six-footed verse ↩︎
“Good to Look At” ↩︎
PTS does not include the last two feet of this verse, which appear only in BJTS. The latter presents it as a six-footed verse, the former as a four-footed verse containing the first four feet translated here. ↩︎