In the Himalayan region,
there’s a mountain named Anoma.
My well-made hermitage is there,
with halls well-constructed of leaves.And a river is flowing there,
beautiful, with excellent banks,
and along those banks are growing
many pink and blue lotuses.That river is flowing back then,
covered with fish and tortoises,
sheatfish, pāvusa, valaja,
reed-fish, red-fish and maggura.Timira trees are blooming there,
ashoka, khuddamālaka,
laurel, and mountain laurel trees
are perfuming my hermitage.Winter cherry is blooming there,
and forests of Arab jasmine;
sal and salalā trees are there,
and lots of blooming campaka.Arjuna trees and hiptage vines,
and sugarcane are blossoming;
silver greywood, madhugandhi,
blossoming in my hermitage.Half a league on every side is
covered with bimbijālika,
golden shower, trumpet-flower,
jasmine, also piyaṅguka.Mātaṅgava and sattali
trumpet-flower, Chinese chaste tree,
much sage-leaf alangium there,
and tālakūṭa blossoming.There is much sāleyyaka there,
blossoming in my hermitage.
Many trees are beautiful when
they are bursting into flower.
On every side the scents of that
are wafting through my hermitage.Myrobalan and gooseberry,
mango, rose-apple, bahera,
jujube, markingnut, and bel,
as well as phārusaka fruits,wild mangosteen, chirauli-nut,
mahuwa and kāsumārī,
breadfruit and jak are growing there,
bananas and jujube fruits,large quantities of hog-plum there,
as well as vallikāra fruits,
citron and sapāriya trees
are blooming in my hermitage.Ālaka and isimugga,
after that lots of moda-fruit;
all around, heavy with ripe fruit,
are wave-leafed and glomerous figs.Pepper, and black peppercorns there,
banyan, also wood-apple trees,
a lot of glomerous fig trees,
kaṇḍapakka and pārī trees.These and many other trees too
are fruiting in my hermitage.
Also many flowering trees,
flowering in my hermitage.Titan arum, also bindweed,
bilāni, takkaḷāni bulbs,
ālaka and tālaka too
are all found in my hermitage.Close to that hermitage of mine,
there was a large natural lake.
It was beautiful, with good banks,
cool water, crystal-clear water.Many pink and blue lotuses
are mixed with white lotuses there;
covered with mandālaka blooms,
it’s full of various good scents.Pink lotuses germinate there;
others, flowering, make pollen.
Many pink lotus buds and leaves
and pericarps float on that lake.Honey flows from the lotus stems
and milk and ghee from lotus roots.
On all sides, with the scent of that,
it’s full of various good scents.White lotuses, ambagandhī,
and many nayita are seen;
as befits a natural lake,
there’s a lot of screw-pine in bloom.Bandhujīva in full flower,
sweetly-scented setavārī,
crocodiles and alligators
and other fierce beasts are born there.Many uggāhas and pythons
live there in that natural lake;
sheatfish, pāvusa, valaja,
reed-fish, red-fish and maggura.It’s covered with fish and turtles,
also with small, tailless monkeys;
pigeons and ravi-swans as well,
wild jungle fowl, nadīcaras,wattled lapwings and ruddy geese,
campakas as well as pheasants,
squirrels, also osprey and hawks,
and many birds called uddhara,paddy-birds, Ceylon lorikeets,
crabs and many yak-oxen too,
kāreṇiyas and tilakas
are then residing on that lake.Lions and tigers and leopards,
bears and wolves, kara bānā bears,
monkeys, also even centaurs
are seen inside my hermitage.Smelling those sweetly-perfumed scents,
feeding myself upon those fruits,
drinking perfumed water, I am
living there in my hermitage.Eṇi-deer as well as wild boar,
spotted deer, also smaller breeds,
and aggikas and jotikas
are living in my hermitage.Swans and curlews and peacocks too,
mynah birds and also cuckoos;
there are many mañjarikas,
owls and poṭṭhasīsas there.There are goblins, also titans,
many fairies, also demons,
garuḷas, also snake-demons,
living there in my hermitage.Sages who possess great powers,
peaceful-hearted and attentive,
holding long-spouted waterpots,
all wearing robes of deer-leather,
wearing braids and carrying weights,
are living in my hermitage.Looking but a plough’s length ahead,
clever and living peacefully,
happy if receiving or not,
they’re living in my hermitage.Throwing off their clothes made of bark,
rattling their deer-leather robes,
supported by just their own strength,
they are then flying through the sky.They are not carrying water,
nor branches nor wood for the fire;
those things are supplied by themselves:
that’s the fruit of a miracle.Taking a tub made of iron,
they’re living inside the forest;
even elephants, great cobras
and lions do not frighten them.Some would travel to Goyāna,
others to Pubbavideha,
and some to Utturukuru,
depending on just their own strength;
carrying their alms food from there,
they are eating it together.When all of those fierce ascetics,
those neutral ones, were taking off,
the forest is then noisy with
the flapping of deer-leather robes.Of that sort were those great heroes,
those fierce ascetics, my students;
always surrounded by them, I
am living in my hermitage.Satisfied through their own karma,
educated, come together,
morally-upright and clever,
skillful in the four boundless states,
wishing to boost their own karma,
they are propitiating me.Padumuttara, World-Knower,
Sacrificial Recipient,
recognizing the proper time,
the Guide approached my hermitage.Having approached, the Sambuddha,
the Zealous One, Clever, the Sage,
the Sambuddha, taking his bowl,
approached me begging for alms food.Spreading out a mat made of grass
for the Great Hero who’d approached,
the one whose name was “Best Lotus,”
I showered him with sal flowers.Having the Sambuddha sit down,
my mind stirred up with emotion,
quickly ascending a mountain,
I brought some fragrant aloe wood.Taking a divinely-scented
jak fruit big as a water-jug,
hoisting it up on my shoulder,
I went up to him, the Leader.Giving the fruit to the Buddha,
I anointed him with aloe.
Happy, with pleasure in my heart,
I worshipped him, the Best Buddha.Padumuttara, World-Knower,
Sacrificial Recipient,
seated amidst those great sages,
then spoke these verses about me:“He who gave me fruit and aloe,
and also a place to sit down,
I shall relate details of him;
all of you listen to my words:In a village or a forest,
atop mountains or inside caves,
recognizing this man’s wishes,
food will come into existence.Whether born in the world of gods
or in that of men, this person
will satisfy his retinue
with food and also with clothing.In whatever womb he’s reborn,
whether it’s human or divine,
having inexhaustible food,
this person’s going to transmigrate.For thirty thousand aeons he’ll
delight in the world of the gods.
A thousand times he’ll be a king,
a king who turns the wheel of law.Seventy-one different times
he will exercise divine rule,
and he will have much local rule,
innumerable by counting.In one hundred thousand aeons,
arising in Okkāka’s clan,
the one whose name is Gotama
will be the Teacher in the world.Worthy heir to that one’s Dhamma,
Dhamma’s legitimate offspring,
knowing well all the defilements,
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.”The gain for me was well-received,
which is that I saw the Leader.
Obtaining the three knowledges,
I have done what the Buddha taught!In a village or a forest,
atop mountains or inside caves,
recognizing what I’m wishing,
food is always coming to me.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 Upasīva Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Upasīva Thera is finished.