buddha daily wisdom image

tha-ap.448 Thera Apadana

Ambāṭakiya

Vessabhū, the Sage, having plunged
into a sal-forest in bloom,
sat down on a bad mountain road
like a lion, the Well-Born-One.

Happy, with pleasure in my heart,
I presented hog-plum to him,
the Merit-Field, the Great Hero,
feeling well-pleased by my own hands.

In the thirty-one aeons since
I offered that flower to him,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā.

My defilements are now burnt up;
all new existence is destroyed.
All defilements are exhausted;
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 Ambāṭakiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ambāṭakiya Thera is finished.

- Translator: Jonathan S. Walters

- Editor: Ayya Vimala