The Self-Become, Unconquered One,
the Buddha, who had an illness,
was living amidst the mountains,
near the top of a mountain slope.All around my hermitage there,
when Buddha was passing away,
there was shouting out all the time,
there was brilliant light all the time.Throughout that forest grove all the
bears and wolves, kara bānā bears,
the tigers and the lions too,
are roaring loudly all the time.After seeing those strange omens
I ascended the mountain slope.
There I saw him, the Sambuddha,
passed away, the Unconquered One,
like a regal sal tree in bloom,
like the risen hundred-rayed sun,
aglow like charcoal that’s still hot,
passed away, the Unconquered One.Making it full of grass and sticks,
I then made a pyre for him there.
Having made that well-fashioned pyre,
I cremated the Buddha’s corpse.After I’d cremated his corpse,
I sprinkled scented water there.
A spirit standing in the sky
fixed a name for me for all time:“That duty was fulfilled by you
for the Great Sage, the Self-Become.
O sage you’re always going to be
named “the full one” in each lifetime.”After falling from that body,
I went to the world of the gods.
There a divinely-made perfume
is then exuded in the sky.Even in that world of gods the
name assigned me was “the full one.”
Whether born human or divine,
I fulfill all my intentions.This is the final time for me;
my last rebirth is proceeding.
And here as well “the full one” is
the name assigned me that’s well known.Having regaled the Sambuddha,
Gotama, Bull of the Śākyas,
knowing well all the defilements,
I am now living, undefiled.In the ninety-one aeons since
I did that good karma back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
the fruit of duties for the corpse.My defilements are now burnt up;
all new existence is destroyed.
Knowing well all the defilements,
I am now living, undefiled.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 Puṇṇaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Puṇṇaka Thera is finished.