[373] 4.
Slow was my progress;
in the past I was despised;
and my brother dismissed me:
"Now you go home!"
Dismissed, I stood there dejected
at the gatehouse of the Saṅgha's monastery,
still longing for the teaching (sāsana).
The Blessed One came there;
he stroked my head;
taking me by the arm,
he led me into the monastery.
Out of compassion for me, the Teacher
gave me a cloth for wiping the feet:
"Fix your attention upon this clean thing,
well fixed, to one side."
Having heard his word,
I dwelt delighting in the teaching;
I practiced concentration (samādhi)
for the attainment of the supreme goal.
I know my former abodes;
the divine eye (dibbacakkhu) has been purified;
the three true knowledges (vijjā) have been attained;
the Buddha's teaching has been done.
Having multiplied himself a thousandfold,
Panthaka sat in the delightful mango grove
until the announcing of the time.
Then the Teacher sent to me
a messenger to announce the time;
and when the time had been announced,
I approached through the air.
Having paid homage at the Teacher's feet,
I sat down to one side;
and knowing that I was seated,
the Teacher then accepted [the offering].
He who receives the sacrificial gifts of all the world (āyāga),
the acceptor of oblations (āhuti),
the field of merit (puññakkhetta) for human beings—
he accepted the offering (dakkhiṇā).
Cūḷapanthaka the Elder.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.