[393] 9.
Having left behind mother and father, sisters, relatives, and brothers,
having given up the five strands of sensual pleasure (kāmaguṇa), Anuruddha meditates.
Attended by dance and song, wakened by cymbals and gongs,
he did not attain purity thereby, delighting as he did in the domain of Māra.
But having transcended this, delighting in the Buddha's teaching,
having transcended the entire flood (ogha), Anuruddha meditates.
Forms, sounds, tastes, odours, and touches, delightful to the mind —
having transcended these as well, Anuruddha meditates.
Returned from the alms round, alone, without a second, the sage
seeks out rag-robes (paṃsukūla) — Anuruddha, free of taints (anāsava).
The sage picked out, took, washed, dyed, and wore
the rag-robes — wise Anuruddha, free of taints.
One of many wishes, discontented, entangled in company, and restless —
for him these qualities are evil and defiling.
But one who is mindful (sato), of few wishes, content, untroubled,
delighting in seclusion, glad, ever with energy (vīriya) aroused —
for him these qualities are wholesome, partaking of awakening (bodhipakkhika),
and he becomes free of taints: thus it was said by the Great Seer.
Knowing my thought, the Teacher, unsurpassed in the world,
came to me by spiritual power (iddhi) in a mind-made body.
When the thought arose in me, he taught what went beyond it:
the Buddha, delighting in non-proliferation (nippapañca), taught non-proliferation.
Having understood his Dhamma, I dwelt delighting in the teaching.
The three true knowledges (vijjā) have been attained; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
Fifty-five years it has been since I took up the sitter's practice, never lying down;
twenty-five years since drowsiness (middha) was uprooted.
There was no in-breath or out-breath in the one of steady mind (citta), the Stable One (tādin):
imperturbable, bent on peace, the One with Vision (cakkhumā) attained final Nibbāna (parinibbuta).
With unshrinking mind he endured the feeling (vedanā):
like the quenching (nibbāna) of a lamp was the deliverance of his mind.
These now are the last [states] of the Sage, having contact (phassa) as the fifth;
there will be no other dhammas, now that the Fully Awakened One has attained final Nibbāna.
There is now no dwelling again amid the host of gods, O Jālinī;
the wandering-on through births is utterly destroyed; now there is no renewed existence.
He by whom, within a moment, the world is known a thousandfold,
together with the Brahmā realm —
that bhikkhu, a master of the qualities of spiritual power
and of passing away and reappearance, sees the deities in due time.
Formerly I was Annabhāra, a poor man, a carrier of fodder;
I gave [alms] to the renowned ascetic Upariṭṭha.
Then I was born into the Sakyan family; they knew me as "Anuruddha,"
attended by dance and song, wakened by cymbals and gongs.
Then I saw the Fully Awakened One, the Teacher who fears nothing from any quarter;
having gladdened my mind with confidence in him, I went forth into homelessness.
I know my past abodes, where I dwelt before:
among the Tāvatiṃsa gods I took my place, by birth as Sakka.
Seven times, as lord of men, I exercised kingship —
a conqueror to the four horizons, sovereign of the Rose-Apple Land (Jambusaṇḍa) —
and without rod, without sword, I governed by Dhamma.
Seven from here, seven from there — fourteen rounds of transmigration:
I recollected those abodes, dwelling at that time in the deva world.
When the concentration (samādhi) possessed of five factors was at peace, developed to unification,
and tranquility had been won, my divine eye (dibbacakkhu) was purified.
Established in the five-factored jhāna, I know the passing away and reappearance of beings,
their coming and their going, their existence in this state and their becoming otherwise.
The Teacher has been served by me … the conduit to existence (bhavanetti) has been uprooted.
In Veḷuvagāma of the Vajjis, at the exhaustion of my life,
beneath a bamboo thicket, I shall attain Nibbāna — free of taints.
The Elder Anuruddha.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.