In the city, Haṁsavatī,
I was the son of a rich man.
I amuse myself all the time,
endowed with sensual pleasures.Ascending one palace of three
raised up for me by architects,
I amuse myself constantly
with dancing and with singing there.Musical instruments played for
me, keep up the right melody.
All of the women are dancing;
they’re carrying my mind away.Head-twisters, tiny dwarf-dancers,
bower-crouchers, in-the-middlers,
leapers and comedy-dancers
are always entertaining me.Cymbal-beaters, kumbhathūn-ers,
many dancers, puppet-masters;
those dancers and puppet-masters
are always entertaining me.Bath boys and those who dress the hair,
cooks, garland-makers, dice-players,
all the boxers and the wrestlers
are always entertaining me.When those well-trained professionals
are playing at those different arts,
I do not know the night from day,
like Indra with the thirty gods.Wayfarers, people on the road,
beggars and many travelers,
they are always approaching me,
and taking their meals at my house.Buddhist monks and also brahmins,
the unexcelled fields for merit,
working to increase my merit
are also coming to my house.All the Jains: the Padakas the
Laṭakas, Pupphasāṭakas,
Tedaṇḍakas, Ekasikhas
are also coming to my house.Ājīvikas: the Godhammas,
Viluttāvīs, Devadhammis,
and the Rajojalladharas,
are also coming to my house.Ascetics and forest dwellers:
Parivattakas, Siddhipattas
many Koṇḍas, Puggalikas,
are also coming to my house.Oḍḍakas, also Damiḷas,
Sākulas, Malayāḷakas,
Sabaras, and Yonakas too
are also coming to my house.Andhakas, all the Muṇḍakas,
Kolakas, Sānuvindakas,
and Ārāvacīnaraṭṭhas
are also coming to my house.Alasandakas, Pallavakas,
Babbaras, Bhagga-kārusas,
Rohitas and Cetaputtas,
are also coming to my house.Madhurakas, Kosalakas,
Kāsikas, Hatthiporakas,
Isiṇḍas, and Matthalas too
are also coming to my house.Velāvakas and Arammas,
Okkalas, many Mekalas,
Khuddakas and Suddakas too
are also coming to my house.Rohanas, also Sindhavas,
Cittas and Ekakaṇṇikas,
Suraṭṭhas and Aparantas
are also coming to my house.Suppārikas, Kikumāras
Malayas, Soṇṇabhūmakas,
Vajjihāras too, all of them
are also coming to my house.Basket-makers, also weavers,
leather workers and carpenters,
metal-smiths as well as potters
are also coming to my house.Gem-sellers and bronze-purveyors,
workers in gold and cloth-merchants,
and those who work in tin, they all
are also coming to my house.Fletchers and the makers of bows,
weavers and makers of perfumes,
as well as tailors, all of them
are also coming to my house.Oil-handlers and wood-gatherers,
water-carriers and servants,
cooks and those who protect the soup
are also coming to my house.Gate-keepers and sentinels,
eulogizers, flower-pluckers,
elephant riders and keepers
are also coming to my house.I gave wealth to the indolent
Maharaja named Ānanda,
covering his deficiency
with gems of the seven colors.I satisfied with gemstones all
those people who were praised by me,
the multi-colored populace,
discerning what they were thinking.When the lovely words were spoken,
when the drums were being sounded,
when the conch-shells were being blown,
I’m delighting in my own house.The Buddha in that period
was Leader Padumuttara.
He was with one hundred thousand
whose defilements were now extinct.The Eyeful One had gone onto
the road, together with the monks.
Lighting up Every Direction,
he blazed forth like a tree of lamps.They all are pounding on their drums
for the traveling World-Leader.
His brilliant light is being shed,
like the sun when it has risen.Even behind paneled windows
not penetrated by its rays,
all the time, inside the houses,
there was an enormous brilliance.After seeing the Buddha’s light,
I said to the assemblymen,
“Without a doubt the Best Buddha
is this one going on the road.”Having come down from the palace,
I quickly went to the bazaar.
Having greeted the Sambuddha,
I spoke these words to him back then:“O may the Buddha pity me,
the Leader named Supreme Lotus.”
The Sage then consented to come,
with the hundred thousand masters.Thus inviting the Sambuddha,
I led him to my own great house.
There I satisfied the Great Sage
with food to eat and drinks to drink.Knowing it grew too late to eat
for the Best Buddha, Neutral One,
I served the Best Buddha with a
hundred musical instruments.Padumuttara, World-Knower,
Sacrificial Recipient,
sitting down inside my own house,
spoke these verses about me then:“He who served me with instruments,
and who gave me alms food and drink,
I shall relate details of him;
all of you listen to my words:This man is going to make the whole
world into a single kingdom.
Possessing gold, possessing wealth,
he’ll be one with abundant food.Undertaking the five precepts,
and then the ten ways of acting;
undertaking, making progress,
he will then train his retinue.Sixty thousand instruments and
women who are all-adorned
will play for this one constantly:
that is the fruit of attendance.For thirty thousand aeons he
will delight in the world of gods.
Sixty-four times the lord of gods,
he will exercise divine rule.And seventy-four times he’ll be
a king who turns the wheel of law,
and there will be 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.In whichever womb he’s reborn,
whether it’s human or divine,
being one with no lack of wealth,
he will go to the human state.Having become a learned man,
a master of the three Vedas,
this one will wander the whole earth,
searching for ultimate meaning.And afterwards he will go forth,
incited by his wholesome roots.
He’ll thrill in the dispensation
of Gotama, the Blessed One.After pleasing the Sambuddha,
Gotama, Bull of the Śākyas,
having burnt up his defilements,
this one will become an arahant.”Like a tiger-king in the woods,
like a lion, king of the beasts,
today I’m living without fear
in the Buddha’s dispensation.I do not see me being born
in want or in a bad rebirth
in the world of gods or people:
that is the fruit of attendance.I’m now intent on seclusion,
calmed, devoid of grounds for rebirth;
like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint.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 Jatukaṇṇika Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Jatukaṇṇika Thera is finished.