Floating in the great ocean, my
palace then was very well-made.
There was a pond, also well made,
full of the cries of ruddy geese,covered with mandālaka blooms
and with pink and blue lotuses.
And a river was flowing there,
beautiful, with excellent banks,covered with fish and tortoises,
with various birds spread about,
noisy with peacocks and herons,
and the calls of birds like cuckoos.Pigeons and ravi-swans as well,
ruddy geese and nadīcaras,
lapwings and mynah birds are here,
small monkeys, jīvajīvakas.It resounds with swans and herons,
owls and many piṅgalas.
The sand contains the seven gems,
strewn with jewels and costly pearls.All of the trees, made out of gold,
pervaded by various scents,
are lighting up my palace there,
by day and night, all of the time.Sixty thousand instruments are
being played morning and evening.
Sixteen thousand women as well
are waiting on me constantly.Happy, with pleasure in my heart,
having departed my palace,
I worshipped that Greatly Famed One,
Sumedha, Leader of the World.Having greeted the Sambuddha,
inviting him and Assembly,
that Wise One then agreed to come,
Sumedha, Leader of the World.Having preached the Dhamma to me,
the Great Sage later took his leave.
Having greeted the Sambuddha,
I returned to my palace then.I summoned all the people there:
“All of you gather together.
In the first part of the day,
the Buddha will come to the palace.”“We dwelling near you have received
something that’s well-gotten for us.
We too will do a pūjā for
the Teacher, the Best of Buddhas.”After putting up food and drink,
I announced that it was the time.
The Leader of the World arrived
with one hundred thousand masters.I went to meet him with the five
musical instruments sounding.
The Supreme Person sat down on
a chair made out of solid gold.I placed a canopy above,
which was made out of solid gold;
fans are then diffusing perfumes
within the Assembly of monks.I regaled the monks’ Assembly
with large amounts of food and drink;
I gave individual pairs
of cloth to the monks’ Assembly.The one whom they called Sumedha,
Sacrificial Recipient,
sitting in the monks’ Assembly,
spoke these six verses at that time:“This one who gave me food and drink
and fed all of these monks with it,
I shall relate details of him;
all of you listen to my words:For eighteen hundred aeons he
will delight in the world of gods.
A thousand times he’ll be a king,
a king who turns the wheel of law.In whichever womb he’s reborn,
whether it’s human or divine,
a canopy of solid gold
will always be carried for him.In thirty thousand aeons hence,
arising in Okkāka’s clan,
the one whose name is Gotama
will be the Teacher in the world.Worthy heir to that one’s Dhamma,
Dhamma’s legitimate offspring,
knowing well all the defilements,
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.Sitting in the monks’ Assembly
he will then roar the lion’s roar.
On his pyre an umbrella’s borne;
beneath it he is cremated.”Monkhood has been attained by me;
my defilements are now burnt up.
In a pavilion or tree-root,
burning heat is not known by me.In the thirty thousand aeons
since I gave that gift at that time,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
the fruit of giving everything.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 Yasa Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Yasa Thera, the first.