The Blessed One named Siddhattha
came into my presence one time
when I was cleaning a retreat
on a most fine, superb mountain.Seeing the Buddha who’d arrived
I spread out a woven grass mat
for the World’s Best, the Neutral One,
and gave to him that floral seat.Sitting on that seat of flowers
Siddhattha the World-Leader
discerning my situation
then spoke about impermanence.“In flux indeed is all that is;
things that arise and then decline
are being born and then dying;
happy is the relief from them.”Saying this the Omniscient One,
the World’s Best One, the Bull of Men,
the Hero flew into the sky
just like a swan-king in the air.Abandoning my own dogma
I then perceived impermanence.
Meditating for just one day,
right then and there I passed away.Incited by my wholesome roots
I then enjoyed the two-fold bliss.
When my last rebirth was attained
I was born among dog-cookers.After I set out from the house
I went forth into homelessness.
Dread-locked ascetic seven years,
I attained my arahantship.Energetic, self-abandoned,
careful about the moral rules,
having pleased the Great Elephant
I got higher ordination.In the ninety-four aeons since
I did that good karma back then
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth;
that’s the fruit of a flower-gift. (10In the ninety-fourth aeon since
I obtained that perception then,
meditating upon that sense
my defilements were all destroyed.The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught!
Thus indeed Venerable Sopāka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Venerable Sopāka Thera is finished.