When Dipaṅkara was Buddha,
the Victor said of Sumedha:
“Aeons beyond measure from now,
this one will become a Buddha.The one named Māyā’s going to be
the birth-mother of this person;
Suddhodhana the father’s name;
this one will be named Gotama.Being one bent on exertion,
having practiced austerities,
the Sambuddha will awaken
Great Famed, at the Bodhi tree’s roots.Upatissa and Kolita
will be the two chief followers;
the one whose name is Ānanda
will attend upon this Victor.Khemā and Uppalavaṇṇā
will be chief female followers;
Citta and Ālavaka will
be the chief pious laymen.Khujjuttarā, Nandamātā
will be chief pious laywomen;
the Bodhi tree of this Hero
is known as the Aśvattha tree.”After having heard those words of
the Great Sage, the Unequaled One,
overjoyed, both gods and men, are
praising him, hands pressed together.At that time I was a young man,
well-educated, named Megha.
Having heard that best prophesy
for Sumedha, then a great sage,
cultivating confidence in
Sumedha, font of compassion,
when that hero renounced the world,
I renounced right along with him.Restrained in the monastic rules,
and also in the five senses,
he lived pure, mindful, a hero,
doer of what the Victor taught.While I was living in that way,
I strayed away from the good road,
urged into bad behavior by
a certain evil friend of mine.Having been controlled by reason,
I fell from the dispensation;
afterward, by that bad friend, the
murder of my mother was schemed.I did no-interval karma,
and I killed with an evil mind;
I fell from there right into hell,
born in a very cruel place.Being gone to that woeful state,
I long transmigrated in pain,
not seeing the Hero again,
Sumedha, the Bull among Men.In this aeon, in the ocean,
I was a timiṅgala fish.
Having seen a ship in the sea,
I approached it looking for food.Seeing me, the traders, afraid,
remembered the Best of Buddhas;
I heard a huge sound shouted out,
“Gotama!” they cried in terror.Recalling the past perception,
I passed away right on the spot.
I was reborn in Śrāvasti,
a brahmin in a high-ranked clan.My name was Dhammarucī then,
a loather of every evil.
Having seen the Lamp of the World,
being only seven years old,I went to great Jetavana,
and went forth into homelessness.
I approach the Buddha three times
every night, also every day.Seeing me, seeing me, the Sage
called me “long time Dhammarucī.”
After that I told the Buddha
how my past karma had progressed:Very long, marked with hundreds of good deeds,
conditions then gradually purified.
Today I am looking closely indeed,
I am seeing your body without compare.Very long, darkness is destroyed by it.
Through guarding purity, the stream has been cleansed.
Very long, now purified without fault,
is the eye made out of knowledge, O Great Sage.A long time, now come together with you;
not destroyed, again the interval was long;
today, again come together with you,
O Gotama, deeds do not just disappear.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 Dhammarucī Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Dhammarucī Thera is finished.