In the city, Haṁsavatī,
I was a garland-maker then.
My mother and my father too
went off to work every day then.When the sun was high in the sky,
I saw a Buddhist monk just then,
who was going along the road,
so I spread out a seat for him.Preparing that seat with woolen
rugs with fleece and decorations,
happy, with pleasure in my heart,
I then spoke these words to that monk:“The ground is scorched and boiling hot;
the sun is at its midday high;
the breezes are not blowing now;
the time is right to come sit down.This seat already is prepared
just for your sake, o sage so great;
having taken pity on me,
please sit down on this seat of mine.”The monk, well-tamed, with a pure mind,
did sit down there at my request.
Having taken his begging bowl,
I gave as much as it would hold.Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and firm resolve,
discarding my human body,
I went to Tāvatiṁsa then.There my well-made divine mansion,
well-fashioned by giving that seat,
welled up full sixty leagues in height,
and was thirty leagues wide back then.There were diverse couches for me,
made of gold and made of silver,
likewise some were made of crystal,
and also made out of ruby.My couch was well-spread with cushions,
covered with embroidered wool rugs
and coverlets of silk with gems,
as well as some of fur with fringe.Whenever I desire a trip,
filled with laughter and amusement,
I am going with the best couch,
in accordance with my wishes.I was fixed in the chief queen’s place
of eighty kings among the gods.
I was fixed in the chief queen’s place
of seventy wheel-turning kings.Transmigrating from birth to birth,
I always obtained great riches.
There was no lack in terms of wealth:
that’s the fruit of giving one seat.Transmigrating in two stations,
the human or else the divine,
I did not know another state:
that’s the fruit of giving one seat.I am reborn in just two castes,
kṣatriyan, or else a brahmin.
Everywhere I’m of high family:
that’s the fruit of giving one seat.I know no mental turbulence,
nor is my heart tormented then.
I also know no ugliness:
that’s the fruit of giving one seat.Wet-nurses are waiting on me,
and many hump-backed servant-women;
I am going from lap to lap:
that’s the fruit of giving one seat.Other people bathe and feed me,
and they fondle me every day.
Others anoint me with perfumes:
that’s the fruit of giving one seat.When I dwell in an empty room,
a pavilion, beneath a tree,
discerning what I am thinking,
a couch is then produced for me.Now it is my final lifetime,
turning in my last existence.
Even today, breaking my reign,
I went forth into homelessness.In the hundred thousand aeons
since I gave him that gift back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving one seat.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 Bhikkhunī Ekāsanadāyikā spoke these verses.
The legend of Ekāsanadāyikā Therī is finished.