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tha-ap.340 Thera Apadana

Uttareyyadāyaka

In the city, Haṁsavatī,
I was a brahmin at that time,
a scholar who knew the mantras,
a master of the three Vedas.

I was honored by my students,
of good birth, well-educated,
I went out from the city then
for a water-consecration.

The Victor, Padumuttara,
was the Master of Everything.
The Victor entered the city
with one thousand undefiled ones.

Seeing him surrounded by saints,
I brought great pleasure to my heart,
as though made free of lust by just
seeing him, the Good-Looking One.

Hands pressed together on my head
I worshipped the Compliant One.
Happy, with pleasure in my heart,
I donated an upper cloak.

Taking it with both of my hands,
I threw that cloak into the sky.
That cloak became a canopy
as big as Buddha’s retinue.

It remained there covering that
massive group of monks and others
going about in search of alms;
then that miracle made me smile.

When he departed from the house,
the Self-Become One, Chief Person,
the Teacher, standing in the road,
gave me this expression of thanks:

“I shall relate details of him
who, happy, heart filled with pleasure,
made a gift of this cloak to me;
all of you listen to my words:

For thirty thousand aeons he
will delight in the world of gods.
Fifty times the lord of the gods,
he will exercise divine rule.

While he, endowed with good karma,
is dwelling in the world of gods,
there will be a cloth canopy
a hundred leagues on every side.

And thirty-six times he will be
a king who turns the wheel of law,
and he will have much local rule,
innumerable by counting.

While he, endowed with good karma,
is transmigrating in the world,
everything wished for with his mind
will be realized, all the time.

This man is going to receive
cloth which is very expensive:
silk cloth and woolen blankets too,
khoma and also cotton cloth.

Everything wished for with his mind,
this man is going to receive.
He’s always going to enjoy
the result of one piece of cloth.

And afterwards, having gone forth,
incited by his wholesome roots,
he will realize for himself
the Blessed Gotama’s Teaching.

O! That karma well done by me
for the Omniscient One, Great Sage!
Having given a single cloak,
I have attained the deathless state.

When I am in a pavilion,
a tree-root or an empty house,
a cloth canopy is carried
for me, a fathom on each side.

And because of that robe I gave,
I’m dressed in clothes without asking.
I receive food and also drink:
that’s the fruit of an upper cloak.

In the hundred thousand aeons
since I did that good karma then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that is the fruit of giving cloth.

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

Thus indeed Venerable Uttareyyadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Uttareyyadāyaka Thera is finished.

- Translator: Jonathan S. Walters

- Editor: Ayya Vimala