One hundred thousand aeons hence
the Leader arose in the world,
the Great Light, Chief of the Three Worlds,
who name was Padumuttara.My mind thrilled, having heard the Sage,
praising the virtue of a monk
who had instant comprehension;
doing a deed for the Great Sage,
having given alms for a week
to the Sage with his students, I
saluting him, the Sambuddha,
then aspired to attain that place.The Buddha prophesied of me:
“All of you look at this brahmin,
fallen down in front of my feet,
broad-shouldered, contemplating me,
gold brahmin’s cord on his torso,
skin that’s white upon his body,
who has pouty, copper-red lips,
teeth that are white, sharp and even,
with the utmost strength of virtue,
his body hair growing upward,
with senses flooded by virtue,
with a face blossoming in joy,
wishing for the place of the monk
who has instant comprehension.
In the future, a Great Hero
will come to be, named Gotama.Worthy heir to that one’s Dhamma,
Dhamma’s legitimate offspring,
the one whose name is Bāhiya
will be the Teacher’s follower.”Then very happy, being roused,
for as long as I lived, doing
deeds for the Sage, fallen, I went
to heaven, as though my own home.Born as a god or as a man,
because of the power of that
karma, transmigrating I then
enjoyed good fortune everywhere.Again, when Hero Kassapa’s
dispensation had reached its goal,
ascending to a mountain-top,
engaged in the Victor’s teachings,of pure morals, wise, doers
of the Victor’s dispensation,
fallen from there, we five people,
then went to the world of the gods.Then I was born as Bāhiya,
in Bhārukaccha, best city.
From there by boat I venture forth
on the ocean full of danger.After going for a few days
from there, the boat was broken up;
then I fell into the ocean,
awful, fearful, sea-monster-mine.At that time, after much struggling,
having crossed over the ocean,
disoriented, I arrived
at the good seaport Suppāra.Having dressed in robes made of bark,
I entered the village for alms.
Then a man there, delighted, said,
“This is an arahant who’s come;
honoring him with food and drink,
with clothes and also with a bed,
and furthermore with medicine,
we’ll be happy through that karma.”Receiving that, then going back,
thus honored and worshipped by them,
wrongly I gave rise to the thought
that “this one is an arahant.”Afterward, discerning my mind,
the non-returner god reproached:
“You don’t know the path, the method;
how could you be an arahant?”Reproached by him I was then moved;
I questioned him back in this way:
“Who, or where in the world are they,
those supreme men, the arahants?”“Of Vast Wisdom, Greatly Very Wise, the
Victor, in Śrāvasti, in Kosala’s palace,
the Śākyas’ Son, the Arahant, Undefiled One
is preaching Dhamma for reaching arahantship.”Then having heard that word of him I was well-gladdened,
very astonished like a pauper finding treasure,
mind thrilled for ultimate arahantship, and to
know the Good-Looking One, the Limitless Pasture.Delighting at that time, departing for the Teacher,
always I see the Victor whose Face is Stainless.
Approaching the delightful grove named Vijita,
I questioned brahmins, “Where is the World’s Delighter?”Then they replied, “the One Worshipped by Men and Gods
has entered the city wishing to eat some food;
very quickly indeed, zealous to see the Sage,
approach and worship him, the Foremost of People.And then, having gone speedily
to Śrāvasti, the best city,
I saw the Buddha wandering
for alms, without greed or desire,
bowl in hand, eyes undistracted,
as though dividing ambrosia,
like the abode of good fortune,
face bearing the blaze of the sun.Coming together, bowing down,
I then spoke these words to him there:
“O Gotama, be the refuge
for one who’s lost on the wrong road.”The Seventh Sage said this to me:
“I’m wandering on my alms-round
to help living beings cross; not
the time to tell you the Dhamma.”Again and again I asked the
Buddha, being greedy for Dhamma.
He then preached the Dhamma to me,
the state that is deep and empty.Hearing his Teaching, I attained
the destruction of the outflows,
my lifespan obliterated.
O! the Teacher’s mercifulness!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 prophesied the elder named
Bāhiya Dārucīriya.
He fell down on a garbage heap
when he had been gored by a cow.Having detailed his own former
conduct, he who was very wise,
that hero fully passed away
in Śrāvasti, supreme city.Then departing from the city,
the Seventh Sage, having seen him—
the wise one who wore robes of wood,
outsider come to the outside,
now fallen onto the safe ground,
like the fallen flag of Indra,
lifespan gone, defilements gone, a
doer of the Victor’s teachings—the Teacher said to followers
who delighted in the teachings:
“get, and having taken it burn,
the body of your fellow monk.Build a stupa and worship it;
this great wise one reached nirvana,
foremost in instant comprehension,
follower who heeded my words.One word in a verse, hearing which,
one becomes calm, is better than
even a thousand verses, if
they possess words without meaning.Where the waters and the earth, the
fire and the wind have no footing,
there the stars are not shining, and
the sun remains invisible;
the moon does not shed light there, and
darkness is not to be found there.And when one knows that place oneself,
a sage, a brahmin with wisdom,
he’s freed from form and formlessness,
from happiness and suffering.”
Thus he spoke, the Buddha, the Lord,
the Sage, Refuge of the Three Worlds.
Thus indeed Venerable Bāhiya Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Bāhiya Thera is finished.