In the city, Haṁsavatī,
I was a grass-bearer back then.
I am living by bearing grass,
and by that I feed my children.The Victor, Padumuttara,
was the Master of Everything.
Doing away with the darkness,
the World-Leader arose back then.While sitting down in my own house,
this is what I thought at that time:
“The Buddha’s risen in the world,
but I lack anything to give.
I only have this single cloak,
I do not have my own donor.
Suffering is a taste of hell;
I will now plant a donation.”Contemplating it in this way,
I brought pleasure to my own heart.
Taking that single piece of cloth,
I gave it to the Best Buddha.Having given that single cloth,
I gave rise to great shouts of joy,
“If you are a Buddha, Wise One,
carry me across, O Great Sage.”Padumuttara, World-Knower,
Sacrificial Recipient,
singing the praises of my gift,
the Buddha then gave thanks to me:“Because of this single cloak-gift,
done with intention and resolve,
he will not go to a bad place
for one hundred thousand aeons.Thirty-six times a lord of gods,
he will exercise divine rule.
And thirty-three times he’ll become
a king who turns the wheel of law.There will be much regional rule,
incalculable by counting.
In the world of gods or of men,
you’ll transmigrate in existence.Good-looking and full of virtue,
with a body that’s not surpassed,
you’ll obtain, whenever you wish,
unwavering limitless cloth.”When he had said this, the Buddha
known by the name Supreme Lotus,
the Wise One rose into the sky,
just like a swan-king in the air.In whichever womb I’m reborn,
whether it’s human or divine,
I have no lack of possessions:
that’s the fruit of a single cloth.With every footstep that I take,
some cloth is then produced for me.
I stand upon cloth underneath;
a canopy on top of me.And today I still am wishing
that I could cover with some cloth
even the whole universe
with its forests and its mountains.Just because of that single cloth,
transmigrating from birth to birth,
I was one of golden color,
transmigrating from birth to birth.One result of that single cloth:
no ruination anywhere.
This one will be my final life;
that now is bearing fruit for me.In the hundred thousand aeons
since I gave that cloth at that time,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of a single cloth.My defilements are now burnt up;
all new existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint.The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught!
Thus indeed Venerable Ekadussadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Ekadussadāyaka Thera is finished.