The nun named Uppalavaṇṇā,
master of the superpowers,
having worshipped the Teacher’s feet,
spoke these words to him at that time:“Birth and rebirth crossed beyond,
I’ve attained the unshaking state.
All suffering’s destroyed by me;
I’m declaring it, O Great Sage.Throughout the multitudes who are
pleased in Buddha’s dispensation,
if I’ve wronged some people may they
forgive it facing the Victor.Great Sage, I am declaring that
if there’s some mistake I’ve made,
transmigrating in existence,
may you forgive that transgression.”“Show your superpowers to those
who practice my dispensation.
Cut off today the doubts throughout
the multitude, which is fourfold.”“Great Hero, I am your daughter.
O Wise One, O Effulgent One,
I’ve done very difficult deeds,
difficult and numerous too.My skin is blue-lotus-colored;
by name I am named “Blue Lotus.”
I’m your follower, Great Hero,
worshipping your feet, Eyeful One.Rāhula and I myself
due to our similar mindsets,
were born in the same conditions
various hundred many times.Rebirth is together with him
and after birth too, together.
Now in our final existence
both, born in varied conditions,together: Rāhula’s your son;
I’m your daughter, named “Blue Lotus.”
See my superpowers, Hero;
I’ll show my strength to the Teacher.”She put the four great oceans down
into the palm of her own hand,
just like a youthful physician
does oil destined for the bladder.Tearing up earth, she put it down
into the palm of her own hand,
like a tender young boy picking
a flower that’s full of color.Her palm, big as the universe,
covering the world from the top,
caused raindrops of various hues
to rain forth again and again.Making earth into a mortar,
making Mount Meru her pestle,
as though a youthful grinding girl,
grinding grain flour, she made gravel.“I am the Best Buddha’s daughter;
by name I am named “Blue Lotus.”
A master of superpowers,
I practice your dispensation.”Making varied transformations,
showing them to the World’s Leader,
announcing name and lineage,
I worship your feet, Eyeful One.I’ve mastered the superpower
called the “divine ear” element.
I’m also a master, Great Sage,
of the knowledge in others’ hearts.I remember my former lives;
my “divine eye” is purified.
All the defilements are destroyed;
I will not be reborn again.In meaning and in the Teaching,
etymology and preaching,
my knowledge is vast and flawless,
through the Great Sage’s majesty.In the presence and the absence
of the Chief Victors, formerly,
much service was performed by me
for the sake of you, O Great Sage.What good karma was done by me,
formerly in existence, Sage;
that merit heaped up by me was
for the sake of you, Great Hero.Avoiding wrong behavior and
the nine impossible places;
the ultimate life’s my duty
for the sake of you, Great Hero.I donated from my own funds
ten thousand ten millions in gold;
my very life was abandoned
for the sake of you, Great Hero.”Then all of them, greatly composed,
hands pressed together on their heads,
said, “Sister, how’d you make the effort
for such unmatched superpower?”One hundred thousand aeons hence
I was a cobra-god maiden,
known by the name of Vimala,
well-honored among the maidens.The great cobra Mahoraga,
pleased in Buddha’s dispensation,
invited Padumuttara
of Great Power, with followers.Sounding musical instruments,
going out to meet the Sambuddha,
he made the Buddha’s road ready —
a pavilion made out of gems,
a palanquin made out of gems,
things to enjoy made out of gems,
strewn with sand that was mixed with gems,
adorned with flags covered in gems.The World’s Leader, surrounded by
the multitude, which is fourfold,
sat down on an excellent seat
there in Mahoraga’s palace.The cobra-king, greatly famed one,
gave excellent and excellent
food and drink, hard food that’s filling,
soft food to drink, very costly.Having eaten, having rinsed the
bowl completely, the Sambuddha
then made an expression of thanks
to us, the cobra-god maidens.Discerning what was in my heart
and my mind which was fixed on him,
taking pleasure in the Teacher,
when the cobra maidens had seen
the one whose name was Best Lotus,
Greatly Famed All-Knower in bloom,
that Great Hero, at that moment,
showed a nun with superpowers.That Buddhist nun, very skillful,
displayed diverse superpowers.
Thrilling with delight, and awe-struck,
I said this to him, the Teacher:“I too saw the superpower
of this happy Buddhist nun.
Just how, Hero, did she become
so skillful in superpowers?”“This nun with great powers is my
legitimate daughter, mouth-born;
she’s followed my instructions, thus
she’s so skilled in superpowers.”Hearing the words of the Buddha,
delighted indeed I aspired,
“I too shall become such a one,
so skillful in superpowers.I am delighted, I’m happy;
in the not-yet-become future,
my supreme aspiration reached,
I will be like her, O Leader.”Satisfying with food and drink
the World’s Leader with Assembly,
on a palanquin made of gems,
within a shining pavilion,I worshipped him, the World’s Leader,
that my color should be that of
an aruṇa type blue lotus,
foremost flower of the cobras.Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and firm resolve,
discarding my human body,
I went to Tāvatiṁsa then.Fallen from there, being reborn
as a human being, I gave
a Self-Become Lonely Buddha
alms food covered with lotuses.In the ninety-first aeon hence
the Leader known as Vipassi
arose, the One Good to Look At,
the One with Eyes for Everything.Being a millionaire’s daughter
in Benares, supreme city,
inviting him, the Sambuddha,
the World’s Leader with Assembly,after donating a very
large almsgiving to the Guide, and
worshipping with lotuses, I
wished through them for splendid color.In this present lucky aeon
Brahma’s Kinsman, Greatly Famed One,
the Buddha known as Kassapa
was born, the Best of Debaters.The attendant of the Great Sage
was the ruler of men back then,
the king of Kāsi, named Kiki,
in Benares, greatest city.I was that king’s second daughter,
who was named Samaṇaguttā.
Hearing the Best Victor’s Teaching,
I chose to seek ordination.Our father did not permit it;
we stayed at home during that time,
comfortable royal maidens
doing our practice with vigor
in virginal celibacy,
for twenty times a thousand years,
fond of waiting on the Buddha,
the king’s seven joyful daughters.Samaṇī, and Samaṇaguttā,
Bhikkhunī, Bhikkhadāyikā,
Dhammā, and also Sudhammā,
and seventh Saṅghadāyikā,now I, and the nun named Khemā,
Paṭācārā and Kuṇḍalā,
Kisāgotamī, Dhammadinnā,
and Visākhā is the seventh.Due to those karmas done very well,
with intention and firm resolve,
discarding my human body,
I went to Tāvatiṁsa then.Fallen from there, being reborn
as a human, in a great clan,
I gave an arahant a robe
of costly saffron-colored silk.Fallen from there, reborn among
brahmins in Ariṭṭhapura,
daughter of Tirīṭavaccha,
I was charming Ummādantī.Fallen from there, I was born in
an undistinguished rural clan.
I was then engrossed in guarding
rice in a not-quite-ripened field.Having seen a Lonely Buddha,
giving him five hundred grains of
roasted paddy, lotus-covered,
I wished to have five hundred sons.With those wishes having given
honey to that Self-Become One,
fallen from there I was reborn
in a lotus in the forest.Being the Kāsi king’s chief queen,
I was respected and worshipped.
I bore royal princes for him,
not one fewer than five hundred.When my sons had become young men,
while sporting at their water sports,
seeing fallen lotus petals,
they turned into Lonely-Leaders.
I was then grieved, being bereft
of those heroes who were my sons.
Fallen from there, I was born in
a village near Isigili.When I, Buddha-mother reborn,
then well-guarded myself,
was going carrying rice gruel,
having seen eight Lonely-Leaders
going to the village for alms,
I remembered my former sons.
Then a stream of milk spurted out
from me out of love for my sons.And then I gave rice gruel to them,
feeling well-pleased by my own hands.
Fallen from there I was reborn
in “Joy” with the thirty-three gods.Feeling both happiness and pain,
transmigrating from birth to birth,
my very life was abandoned
for the sake of you, Great Hero.Thus suffering in varied forms,
various forms of happiness:
when my last rebirth was attained,
I’m born in Śrāvasti city,
in a wealthy millionaire’s clan,
comfortable, decorated,
glistening with various gems,
endowed with every sense-pleasure.I was respected and worshipped,
revered, likewise also esteemed.
I achieved radiant beauty,
much-respected among the clans.And I was very much desired,
through the good fortune of beauty,
desired by various hundreds
of millionaire’s sons living there.After abandoning my house,
I went forth into homelessness.
When eight months had not yet elapsed,
I attained the Four Noble Truths.“With superpowers creating
a chariot with four horses,
I will worship the feet of the
Buddha, World’s Lord, Resplendent One.”“O nun, having approached a tree in full bloom,
you remain alone, at that sāla tree’s roots.
You have no second in natural beauty.
Foolish one, aren’t you afraid of wanton men?”“Even if a hundred thousand wanton men
come to this place, should behave in such a way,
I would not be terrified, not a hair raised:
I’m not afraid of you, Death, when I’m alone.I, this nun am disappearing;
I am hiding in your belly;
you do not see me, standing here
in the spot between your eyebrows.Becoming master of my mind,
I developed superpowers;
I’m liberated from all bonds:
I am not afraid of you, friend.Sense pleasures are swords and daggers;
the heaps executioner’s blocks.
I now dislike the enjoyment
of sense-pleasures of which you spoke.Everywhere, enjoyments are slain;
the mass of darkness is destroyed.
Know it like this, O evil one:
you have been killed, O end-maker.”The Victor, pleased by my virtue,
then placed me in that foremost place.
To the crowds the Guide announced me
“best of those with superpowers.”The Teacher’s been worshipped by me;
I have done what the Buddha taught.
The heavy load has been laid down,
the ties to existence severed.The reason for which I went forth
from my home into homelessness —
I have now achieved that purpose:
destruction of all the fetters.By the moment they’re bringing me
monastic robes and begging bowls,
all the requisites and lodgings,
in the thousands from everywhere.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 Bhikkhunī Uppalavaṇṇā spoke these verses.
The legend of Uppalavaṇṇā Therī is finished.