[492. {495.}[1] Upaḍḍhadussadāyaka[2]]
Named Sujāta, the follower
of Padumuttara Buddha,[3]
searching for a robe made of rags,
is always[4] going[5] [through] the trash. (1) [5279]
In the city, Haṃsavatī,
I was the hireling of others.
Having given [him] half a cloth,
I saluted [him] with my head. (2) [5280]
Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and [firm] resolve,
discarding [my] human body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa [then]. (3) [5281]
Thirty-three times the lord of gods,
I exercised divine rule [there].
Seventy-seven times I was
a king who turns the wheel [of law]. (4) [5282]
[There was also] much local rule,
innumerable by counting.
Because of giving half a cloth,
I rejoice with nothing to fear.[6] (5) [5283]
And today [if] I am wishing,
[in] the woods or [on] a mountain,
I am covered in khoma-cloth:
that is the fruit of half a cloth. (6) [5284]
In the hundred thousand aeons
since I gave that donation then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of half a cloth. (7) [5285]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (8) [5286]
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! (9) [5287]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (10) [5288]
Thus indeed Venerable Upaḍḍhadussadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Upaḍḍhadussadāyaka 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. ↩︎
“Half-Cloth Offerer” ↩︎
lit., “Blessed One” ↩︎
BJTS reads tadā, “then” ↩︎
BJTS reads ccharatī with the same meaning ↩︎
akutobhayo, lit., “with fear from nowhere” ↩︎