In the city, Haṁsavatī,
I was a wanderer back then.
From hermitage to hermitage,
I wandered desiring the good.One day when the moon was waning,
I saw the supreme Bodhi Tree.
Bringing pleasure to my heart there,
I sat down at that Bodhi’s roots.Standing with a heart of reverence,
hands pressed together on my head,
knowing mental happiness there,
I then reflected in this way:“If he has limitless virtue,
is unique, without a rival,
let Buddha show me a marvel;
let him make this Bodhi Tree shine.”When I made that aspiration,
the Bodhi Tree did then blaze up.
It shined forth in all directions,
displaying every good color.Seven nights and days I sat there,
at the roots of that Bodhi Tree,
and when the seventh day arrived,
I made an offering of lamps.Setting them around my seat there,
I proceeded to light five lamps.
And then my lamps all remained lit,
until the sun did rise again.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
was known as “Pañcadīpī” then.
It was a hundred leagues in height,
and sixty leagues in width back then.Uncountable numbers of lamps
are burning in my surroundings.
The divine world is then lit up
with lamp-light, up to its edges.If when standing looking eastward,
I should desire to see something,
above, below, also across,
I see everything with my eyes.As far as I should wish to see,
things well done and things not well done,
there’s no obstruction to my sight
in the trees and the mountains there.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 one hundred wheel-turning kings.In whichever womb I’m reborn,
whether it’s human or divine,
in my surroundings, a whole lakh
of lamps are burning there for me.Fallen from the world of the gods,
being born in a mother’s womb,
while I was in that mother’s womb,
my eyes were open all the time.Due to my having good karma,
an entire hundred thousand lamps
are lit in the lying-in room:
that’s the fruit of giving five lamps.When my final rebirth occurred,
I turned my mind away from lust.
I attained the unaging and
undying cool state, nirvana.When I was but seven years old,
I attained my arahantship.
Discerning my virtue, Buddha
Gotama ordained me right then.Meditating on a platform,
beneath a tree, in palaces,
in caves or empty buildings then
five lamps are burning there for me.My divine eye is purified;
I am skilled in concentration.
I excel in special knowledges:
that’s the fruit of giving five lamps.Every achievement is achieved;
my duty’s done, I’m undefiled.
With five lamps I’m worshipping your
feet, Great Hero, o Eyeful One.In the hundred thousand aeons
since I gave him those lamps back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving five lamps.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 Pañcadīpikā spoke these verses.
The legend of Pañcadīpikā Therī is finished.