[547. {550.}[1] CChūlasugandha[2]]
In this [present] lucky aeon
Brahmā’s Kinsman, Greatly Famed One,
known by the name of Kassapa,[3]
Best Debater,[4] [Buddha,] arose. (1) [6294]
Possessing Eighty Lesser Marks,[5]
Bearing the Thirty-Two Great Marks,[6]
Having[7] a Fathom-Wide Aura,
Gone into a Net of Light-Rays,[8] (2) [6295]
as Comforting[9] as is the moon,
Maker of Light [just] like the sun,
Quenching [just] as does a raincloud,
a Mine of Gems like the ocean, (3) [6296]
Through morals like earth; through wisdom
like the sky; through meditation[10]
like Himalaya; like the wind
[he does] not stick to anything. (4) [6297]
At that very time I was born
in Benares, in a big clan,
rich in grain and abundant wealth,[11]
with heaps of various gemstones. (5) [6298]
Approaching the Leader, who was
seated with a large retinue,
I heard [him preaching] the Dhamma,
undying, delighting the mind.[12] (6) [6299]
Bearing the Thirty-Two Marks[13] like
the moon with the constellations,
Possessing Eighty Lesser Marks,[14]
like a regal sal tree in bloom, (7) [6300]
Encircled by a Net of Rays,[15]
like a shining mountain of gold,[16]
Having[17] a Fathom-Wide Aura,
like the sun [shining] on a lake, (8) [6301]
Excellent Golden-Faced[18] Victor,
like a mountain [made] of gemstones,
with a Heart Full of Compassion,[19]
like the ocean through [his] virtue.[20] (9) [6302]
The Ultimate Man, like Mt. Meru,
[his] Praises are Famous World-wide;[21]
Widespread with Fame,[22] the [Great] Hero,
the Sage, who is the Same as Space,[23] (10) [6303]
Heart Unattached[24] in every place,
the Leader is [thus] like the wind;
Support[25] for all living beings,
the Seventh Sage is like the earth. (11) [6304]
[Kassapa,] Unsoiled by the World
like a pink lotus by water,
shines forth like a mountain of fire
Burning the Bad-Speech Undergrowth.[26] (12) [6305]
Everywhere, like an antidote,[27]
he Destroys the Defilement-Poison,[28]
Adorned with the Scent of Virtue,[29]
like Gandhamādana Mountain. (13) [6306]
The Hero’s a Mine of Virtues[30]
like the ocean [is] of gemstones;
Thoroughbred Man[31] like a Sindh horse,
he Carries Off Defilement’s Filth.[32] (14) [6307]
Like a champion great soldier,
he Crushes the Army of Death;[33]
he is like a wheel-turning king,
Lord of Wisdom’s [Seven] Gems.[34] (15) [6308]
Just like a man of medicine,[35]
he Doctors the Illness [called] Faults;[36]
just like the very best surgeon,
he Drains[37] the Abscess [called False] Views.[38] (16) [6309]
At that time, the Torch of the World,[39]
Honored by Gods along with Men,[40]
the Sun among Men,[41] the Victor,
preached Dhamma to[42] his retinue. (17) [6310]
“Giving alms [one becomes] wealthy,
through morals one gains[43] well-being,
through meditation, nirvana:”[44]
thus indeed he gave instruction. (18) [6311]
Everyone in the retinue
hears that, [his] very sweet[45] preaching,
pure in beginning, middle, end,
very tasty,[46] like ambrosia. (19) [6312]
Having heard [his] honeyed Teaching,
pleased in Victor’s dispensation,
going to Buddha[47] for refuge,
I praised [him] as long as [I] lived. (20) [6313]
At that time, for eight days [each] month,[48]
I covered over the ground of
the perfumed hut [where lived] the Sage
with the four types of fragrant [things],
out of my wish[49] for that good smell
for [my own] odor-free body.
Then the Victor prophesied that
[I’d] attain that fragrant body: (21-22) [6314-6315]
“He who covered over the ground
of [my] own perfumed hut with scents,
as the result of that karma,
[while being] reborn here and there,[50]
this man will be one who has a
good-smelling body everywhere.
Having the fragrance of virtue,
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.” (23-24) [6316-6317]
Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and [firm] resolve,
discarding [my] human body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa [then]. (25) [6318]
And now in my final rebirth,
I’m born in a clan of brahmins.
When I was dwelling in the womb,
my mother’s body was fragrant.[51] (26) [6319]
And when I was departing from
[my] mother’s womb, then the city,
Śrāvasti, was diffused with good
scents, as though it had been perfumed. (27) [6320]
And a perfumed rain of flowers,
divinely-scented, delightful,
and very costly incense [too,]
was wafted about all that time. (28) [6321]
And the gods rained down on that house,
the house in which I had been born,
a perfumed [rain] with all good-scented
[types of] incense [and] flowers [too]. (29) [6322]
And while I, a lucky young man,
remained in the prime of [my] youth,
then the Charioteer of Men
guided Sela[52] with retinue. (30) [6323]
I [too], along with all of them,
came to the city, Śrāvasti.
Seeing the Buddha’s majestic
power, I went forth at that time. (31) [6324]
Morals, meditation, wisdom
and the freedom that’s unsurpassed;
cultivating [those] four things,[53]
I attained [my] arahantship.[54] (32) [6325]
And when I was a renouncer,[55]
and when I was an arahant,
and when I attained nirvana,
there was then a good-smelling rain. (33) [6326]
The fragrance of my body is always blowing
costly sandalwood, champaka and blue lotus.
In just that way, gone here and there I’m perfuming,
suppressing [all] different scents in every respect. (34) [6327][56]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. (35) [6328]
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! (36) [6329]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (37) [6330]
Thus indeed Venerable CChūlasugandha Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of CChūlasugandha Thera is finished.
The Summary:
Bhaddiya, Elder Revata,
and Sīvalī, the great getter,
Vaṅgīsa, also Nandaka,
Kāḷudāyi, thus Ābhaya,
Lomasa and Vanavacchcha,
and Sugandha done as the tenth.
There are three hundred verses [here,]
and [also] sixteen more than that.
Then there is the Summary of Chapters:
The chapter called Kaṇikāra,
Phalada, Tiṇadāyaka,
Kaccchchāna, Bhaddiya chapter;
the verses that are counted here
are nine hundred in this[57] [grouping]
and exactly eighty-four [more].
Five [times] one hundred [plus] fifty
apadānas are explained [here].
Along with summary verses
these are six thousand [verses here]
and two hundred verses [as well]
[plus] eighteen [verses] more than that.
To that extent the Buddhāpadāna, Paccchchekabuddhāpadāna and Therāpadāna are finished. Let it be the basis for nirvana![58]
The Bhaddiya Chapter, the Fifty-Fifth[59]
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. ↩︎
“Little Good Scent,” perhaps to distinguish him from the Sugandha Thera whose apadāna appears above as #527 {530}, with which the present apadāna shares some verses. DPPN I: 904 says he is probably identical with Subhūti Thera ↩︎
One BJTS alt. reads gottena, “by lineage” ↩︎
vadataŋ varo ↩︎
anuvyañjanasampanno ↩︎
dvattiŋsavaralakkhaṇo ↩︎
lit., “Surrounded by” ↩︎
raŋsijālasamosaṭo ↩︎
assāsetā ↩︎
lit., samādhi ↩︎
pahūtadhanadhaññasmiŋ taking the compound as a dvandva, see RD, dhana s.v. for a discussion of the options here. This is a stock phrase which means “rich in abundant treasures” ↩︎
amataŋ ccha manoharaŋ ↩︎
dvattiŋsalakkhaṇadharo ↩︎
anuvyañjanasampanno ↩︎
raŋsijālaparikkhitto ↩︎
ditto va kanakācchalo ↩︎
lit., “Surrounded by” ↩︎
soṇṇānano ↩︎
karuṇāpuṇṇahadayo ↩︎
reading guṇena with BJTS (and PTS alt., also alt. guṇe, “in virtue”) for PTS vivaddho (“without aging”?) ↩︎
lokavissutakittī ↩︎
yasasā vitato ↩︎
ākāsasadiso ↩︎
asaṅga-cchitto ↩︎
patiṭṭhā, support, resting place ↩︎
reading kuvāda° with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS kupāda°. PTS reads the second component of the compound as °kacchcha (“reed,” “marshy land”) and BJTS reads it as gacchcha (“shrub” “small plant”); “undergrowth” attempts to capture both meanings. ↩︎
agado viya, “counter-poison” “medicine” ↩︎
reading kilesavisanāsako with BJTS for PTS °nāyako (“he is the Leader of poison of the defilements”) ↩︎
guṇagandhavibhūsito ↩︎
guṇānaŋ ākaro ↩︎
narājañño ↩︎
kilesamalahārako, or “defilement’s stains” ↩︎
mārasenāpamaddano, BJTS reads mārasenappamaddano ↩︎
bojjhaṅgaratan’issaro, a play on the “seven gems” (the wheel, etc.) of the wheel-turning monarch ↩︎
mahābhisakkasaṅkāso ↩︎
dosavyādhitikicchchako ↩︎
°viphālako, lit., “de-fruiter,” BJTS Sinh. gloss sindunā ↩︎
diṭṭhigaṇḍa° ↩︎
lokapajjoto ↩︎
sanarāmarasakkato ↩︎
narādiccchcho ↩︎
lit., “in” ↩︎
sugatūpago, lit., “approaching well-being”. Could also be read as: through morals approaching the Well-Gone-One ↩︎
nibbāti, or “he cools off” ↩︎
mahāssādaŋ ↩︎
mahārasaŋ ↩︎
lit., “to the Well-Gone-One ↩︎
reading māse aṭṭhadinesv-ahaṃ with BJTS for PTS māse aṭṭhadine svaha ↩︎
paṇidhāya, or “firm resolve”, Sinh. prārthanāva ↩︎
PTS yahiŋ tahiŋ; BJTS tahiṃ tahiṃ ↩︎
lit., “my mother was fragrant through her body” ↩︎
#389 {392}, above, esp. vv.66-71 [3648-3653] ↩︎
or “cultivating [those] four in the Teaching” ↩︎
lit., “destruction of the outflows” ↩︎
or “one who had gone forth”: pabbajito ↩︎
this verse is in a more complex meter, with twelve-syllable feet. ↩︎
lit., “here” ↩︎
BJTS omits these two concluding lines, because the BJTS recension of the apadāna does not end here, even though BJTS includes these chapter summary verses for an incomplete hundred (sātakaṃ). ↩︎
BJTS places this statement above the summary, rather than after it ↩︎