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tha-ap.474 Thera Apadana

Maṇipūjaka

The Victor, Padumuttara,
was a Master of Everything,
Seclusion-Lover, the Sambuddha
was flying through the sky back then.

In the Himalayan region,
there was a large natural lake.
My palace was located there,
bound up with my good karma.

Having gone out from the palace,
I saw the Leader of the World,
bright like a blue water lily,
blazing up like a fire-altar.

Thinking, “I’ll worship the Leader,”
though I searched I saw no flower.
Bringing pleasure to my own heart,
I worshipped him, the Teacher, then.

With the gem I had on my head,
I worshipped him, the World-Leader:
“Let there be a lucky result
of this offering of a gem.”

Padumuttara, World-Knower,
Sacrificial Recipient,
the Teacher, standing in the sky,
spoke this verse about me then:

“Let your thought have a good result;
let you receive huge happiness.
Because of offering this gem,
let you experience great fame.”

Having said this, the Blessed One,
the one whose name was “Best Lotus,”
the Best Buddha then flew away,
to where his mind directed him.

Sixty aeons the lord of gods,
I exercised divine rule.
And another hundred times I
was a monarch who turns the wheel.

When I had become a god who
remembered his former karma,
a gemstone comes to be for me,
which functioned as my source of light.

Eighty-six thousand women then
were married to me as my wives,
with varied clothes and jewelry
and wearing earrings made of gems,
with long eyelashes, lovely smiles
and slim waists, pleasant to look at.
They’re constantly waiting on me:
that’s the fruit of offering gems.

Well-made things to adorn myself
are coming to me as I wish,
made of gold and made of gemstones,
and likewise made out of rubies.

Delightful gabled huts and caves,
and beds that are very costly,
discerning what I am thinking,
are produced according to wish.

The gain for them is well-received
who get to listen to Buddha,
the Merit-Field for humankind,
the Medicine for all that breathe.

My karma too was so well done,
which is that I saw the Leader.
I am freed from all suffering;
I’ve attained the unshaking state.

In whichever womb I’m reborn,
whether it’s human or divine,
on all sides are the seven gems;
there is light for me all the time.

Because of that gem-offering,
having enjoyed great good fortune,
the knowledge-light is seen by me;
I’ve attained the unshaking state.

In the hundred thousand aeons
since I offered that gem to him,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of offering gems.

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 Maṇipūjaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Maṇipūjaka Thera is finished.

- Translator: Jonathan S. Walters

- Editor: Ayya Vimala