[124]
Not far from Himavant there is a mountain named Kukkura;
in the midst of it dwelt a brahmin who had mastered the mantras (mantapāragū).
Five thousand pupils attended upon me at all times;
they rose before me, and they were confident in the mantras.
"A Buddha has arisen in the world — may your honour know this!
His are the eighty minor marks (byañjana) and the thirty-two excellent characteristics (varalakkhaṇa);
the supreme Conqueror (jinavara), radiant a fathom around, shines like the very sun."
Having heard the words of his pupils, the brahmin who had mastered the mantras
departed from the hermitage; the brahmin[2] asked after the quarter —
the region wherein dwelt the Great Hero (mahāvīra), the Leader of the World (lokanāyaka):
"When I have seen[3] it, I shall pay homage to the Conqueror (jina), the person without counterpart (appaṭipuggala)."
With uplifted mind, glad at heart, I worshipped that Tathāgata.
#1 M.: vītamalā sanāmā ca. Yu.: cīnamālā sanāmā ca. #2 M.: sissako. #3 M.: disaṃ. Yu.: na hi disvāna passissaṃ. (M. = Burmese edition; Yu. = European edition)
"Come, pupils, let us go; we shall see the Tathāgata;
having venerated the Teacher's feet, we shall hear the Conqueror's teaching."
When I had set out and gone but a single day, I contracted an illness;
oppressed by the illness, I went[1] to lie down at the foot of a sāl tree.
Having gathered all my pupils together, I asked them about the Tathāgata:
"Of what kind is the excellence of the Protector of the World (lokanātha), of him whose wisdom is supreme?"
Questioned by me, they answered just as though they were seeing him;
with reverence they showed me that foremost of Buddhas as if he stood before my face.
Having heard their words, I made my own mind serene with confidence;
having made a stūpa (thūpa) of flowers, I met my end right there.
They cremated my body and went into the presence of the Buddha[2];
raising their joined palms, they saluted the Teacher.
Having made a stūpa of flowers for the Well-Gone One (sugata), the Great Seer (mahesi),
for a hundred thousand aeons (kappa) I was not reborn in any bad destination (duggati).
In the forty-thousandth aeon there were sixteen khattiyas,
Aggisama by name, wheel-turning monarchs (cakkavattī) of great might.
In the twenty-thousandth aeon there were thirty-eight kings,
wheel-turning monarchs, lords of the earth, Ghaṭāsanasama by name.
The four analytic insights (paṭisambhidā), and likewise these eight liberations (vimokkha),
and the six superknowledges (chaḷabhiññā), have been realized;
the Buddha's teaching has been fulfilled.
#1 M.: sālaṃ vāsayituṃ gamiṃ. Yu.: sālaṃ vesayituṃ gamiṃ. #2 M.: buddhasantikaṃ.
Thus indeed the Venerable Pupphathūpiya, the Elder, spoke these verses.
The Apadāna of the Elder Pupphathūpiya is concluded.
Third: the Apadāna of the Elder Pāyāsadāyaka (123).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.