[401. {404.}[1] Dhotaka[2]]
The River named Bhāgīrathī[3]
is fed by the Himalayas.
It is always flowing along,
past[4] the gate of Haṃsavatī. (1) [3962]
The hermitage named Sobhita,[5]
well-built, is on the river’s slopes.
The Buddha, Padumuttara,
the World’s Leader, was dwelling there. (2) [3963]
He was honored the people,
like Indra by the thirty [gods].
The Blessed One was seated[6] there
fearlessly [just] like a lion. (3) [3964]
I was a brahmin living in
the city of Haṃsavatī.
My name [back then] was Chalaṇga,[7]
named thus [because] I was a sage. (4) [3965]
One thousand eight hundred[8] students
were surrounding me at that time.
Joined together[9] with those students,
I went up to the riverbank. (5) [3966]
At that place I saw [Buddhist] monks,
without deceit,[10] cleansed of evil,[11]
crossing Bhāgīrathī [River].
At that time I reflected thus: (6) [3967]
“These sons of Buddha, of great fame,
are crossing evening and morning;
they are being troubled themselves,
[and] their things[12] are getting ruined. (7) [3968]
The Buddha’s said to be the Chief
of the world including the gods.
I have not [yet] made donations[13]
that would cleanse [my] road to rebirth. (8) [3969]
Why then don’t I get a bridge built
on the river for Best Buddha?
Causing that work to be done,[14] I’ll
transmigrate in this existence.” (9) [3970]
Donating a hundred thousand
I had a bridge built [for him there],
trusting that “doing this deed[15] will
be of great [advantage] to me.[16]” (10) [3971]
Having caused [that] bridge to be built,
I went up to the World-Leader.
Hands pressed together on [my] head,
I spoke these words [to him back then]: (11) [3972]
“Donating[17] one hundred thousand,
I’ve caused this magnificent[18] bridge
to be constructed for your sake;
please accept [it], O Sage So Great.” (12) [3973]
Padumuttara, World-Knower,
Sacrificial Recipient,
seated in the monks’ Assembly,
spoke these verses [about me then]: (13) [3974]
“He who had [this] bridge built for me,
[feeling well-]pleased by [his] own hands,
I shall relate details of him;
[all of] you listen to my words: (14) [3975]
Fallen into[19] a cave[20] or from
[the top of] a mountain or tree,
even dying[21] he will get caught:[22]
that’s the fruit of giving bridges. (15) [3976]
As the wind[23] [does not disturb] a
banyan[24] spreading [its] growing roots,[25]
enemies[26] will not defeat[27] [him]:
that’s the fruit of giving bridges. (16) [3977]
No thieves are going to defeat[28] him[29]
and the king[30] will not despise [him].
He’ll surpass all [his] enemies:[31]
that’s the fruit of giving bridges. (17) [3978]
[Even] in an unsheltered space,
being scorched by the [sun’s] harsh heat,
conforming with [his] good karma,[32]
he won’t feel any discomfort.[33] (18) [3979]
In the world of gods or of men,
a well-built elephant-carriage
all of the time will come to be,
discerning what he is thinking. (19) [3980]
A thousand fast carriages with
Sindh horses as quick as the wind
will come to [him] evening and morning:
that’s the fruit of giving bridges. (20) [3981]
Having come to the human state,
this one is going to be happy;
here too for [this] very man the
elephant-carriage will appear.[34] (21) [3982]
In one hundred thousand aeons,
arising in Okkāka’s clan,
the one whose name is Gotama
will be the Teacher in the world. (22) [3983]
Worthy heir to that one’s Dhamma,
Dhamma’s legitimate offspring,
knowing well all the defilements
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.” (23) [3984]
O! that karma well-done by me
for him whose name is “Best Lotus.[35]”
Having done that deed[36] [for him] there,
I attained [my] arahantship.[37] (24) [3985]
Having put forth exertion,[38] I’m
calmed,[39] devoid of grounds for rebirth;[40]
like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (25) [3986]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
All defilements are exhausted;
now there will be no more rebirth. (26) [3988][41]
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! (27) [3987]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (28) [3989]
Thus indeed Venerable Dhotaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Dhotaka Thera is finished.
Apadāna numbers provided in {fancy brackets} correspond to the BJTS edition, which contains more individual poems than does the PTS edition dictating the main numbering of this translation. ↩︎
“Wash-er” ↩︎
This is the BJTS spelling; PTS gives Bhāgīrasī ↩︎
or through? dvārena ↩︎
“beautiful” ↩︎
lit., “sat down” ↩︎
“Six Limbs” or “Six Branches,” as in the six branches of Vedic science. BJTS spells the name Chaḷanga ↩︎
lit., “eighteen hundred” ↩︎
samito, lit., “assembled” (also pacified, calmed) ↩︎
nikkuhe ↩︎
dhotapāpake ↩︎
attā, “things in hand” ↩︎
lit., “there has not been doing of donations (dakkhiṇe) by me” ↩︎
kārāpetvā imaŋ kammaŋ ↩︎
kāraŋ ↩︎
I BJTS follow BJTS’s treatment of kataŋ kāraŋ vipulam me bhavissati as a saying in which the protagonist cultivates trust. ↩︎
lit., doing, katvā, BJTS alt. corrects to datvā ↩︎
mahā° ↩︎
lit., “from” ↩︎
reading darito with BJTS for PTS dalito “broken off” (but cf. RD, darī s.v., dal is alt. for dar in derivatives of this noun. ↩︎
cchuto, which literally means “fallen” as well, paralleling the actual “falling” (patito) governing the first two feet of the verse with a metaphorical one (“fallen from life”) governing the third foot. ↩︎
lacchchati ṭṭhānaŋ, lit., “he will receive a support/place/stand ↩︎
māluto, abl. case ↩︎
nigrodhā = Sinh. nuga, RD: the banyan or Indian fig-tree, Ficus Indica; Bot. dict.: milky fig tree, Ficus altissima (Urti.) ↩︎
lit., “as a banyan…[is not disturbed] because of the wind.” Banyan trees drop new roots from their spreading branches, the image invoked in virūḷha-mūla-santānaŋ ↩︎
amittā, “non-friends” ↩︎
PTS read sahissanti, BJTS (and PTS alt.) reads pasahanti; though the latter is in the present indicative it can also be read as a future-tense verb, hence the two readings produce the same meaning. ↩︎
PTS read sahissanti, BJTS (and PTS alt.) reads pasahanti; though the latter is in the present indicative it can also be read as a future-tense verb, hence the two readings produce the same meaning. ↩︎
lit., “of him,” i.e., “bring about the defeat of him” ↩︎
khattiyo, lit., “ the warrior (kṣatriyan).” BJTS (and PTS alt.) read this in the plural: nâtimaññanti khattiyā, in which case read “kings” or else “noblemen”. ↩︎
amitte, “non-friends” ↩︎
puññakammena saŋyuttā, lit., “with [his] meritorious karma” ↩︎
na bhavissati vedanā, lit., “there will not be feelings” ↩︎
bhavissati, lit., “will become,” “will come to be,” “will exist” ↩︎
jaladuttamanāmake, i.e., Padmuttara (also “Best Lotus”) ↩︎
kāraŋ ↩︎
lit., “I attained the destruction of the outflows” ↩︎
padhānaŋ padahitvāna, lit., “having exerted [myself] in exertion ↩︎
upasanto ↩︎
nirūpadhi ↩︎
note that BJTS inverts the first and second verses of the three-verse concluding refrain. ↩︎