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tha-ap.425 Thera Apadana

Ekâsanadāyaka

In the Himalayan region,
there’s a mountain named Kosika.
My well-built hermitage is there,
with well-fashioned halls made of leaves.

My name back then was Nārada,
and I was known as Kassapa.
I’m living on Kosika then,
seeking the path of purity.

The Victor, Padumuttara,
the Great Master of Everything,
Solitude-Lover, Sambuddha,
came there in the path of the wind.

Seeing the rays of the Great Sage,
flying over the forest then,
I prepared a couch out of sticks,
and spread my leather robe on it.

After preparing him that seat,
hands pressed together on my head,
declaring my great state of mind,
I spoke these words to him back then:

You are the Surgeon, Great Hero,
the Physician for the diseased.
O Guide, give your healing to me,
one who’s afflicted with disease.

O Sage, those seeking what is right
who see you, O Best of Buddhas,
always gain success in their goal:
existence is shattered for them.

There’s nothing for me to give you;
I live eating only wild fruits.
But I do have this seat to give;
sit down on this couch made of sticks.”

The Blessed One did sit down there,
unfrightened like a lion-king.
After spending a moment there,
he spoke these words to me back then:

“Be confident, don’t be afraid;
you have obtained a wishing stone.
Everything which you have wished for
will be fulfilled in the future.

It is no trifle, what you’ve done,
in the unexcelled merit-field.
Self-lifting up is possible
for one whose mind is well-controlled.

Because of this gift of a seat,
done with intention and resolve,
for one hundred thousand aeons
you won’t fall into suffering.

Fifty times the lord of the gods,
you will exercise divine rule,
and eighty times you’ll be a king,
a king who turns the wheel of law.

And there will be much local rule,
innumerable by counting.
Being happy in every place,
you’ll transmigrate in existence.”

Having said this, the Sambuddha,
the Leader, Ultimate Lotus,
the Hero rose into the sky,
just like a swan-king in the air.

Elephant- and horse-vehicles,
with chariots and palanquins—
I am obtaining all of them:
that’s the fruit of a single seat.

Even having entered the woods,
whenever I wish for a seat,
discerning what I am thinking,
a palanquin’s waiting on me.

Being gone into the water
whenever I wish for a seat,
discerning what I am thinking,
a palanquin’s waiting on me.

In whichever womb I’m reborn,
whether it’s human or divine,
a hundred thousand palanquins
are waiting on me all the time.

I transmigrate in just two states:
that of a god, or of a man.
When human I‘m born in two clans:
the kṣatriyan or the brahmin.

Having given a single seat
in the unexcelled merit-field,
taking the Teaching-palanquin,
I’m living without defilements.

In the hundred thousand aeons
since I gave that gift at that time,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of a single seat.

My defilements are now burnt up;
all new existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint.

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!

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught!

Thus indeed Venerable Ekâsanadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ekâsanadāyaka Thera is finished.

- Translator: Jonathan S. Walters

- Editor: Ayya Vimala