[5] When the Blessed One Padumuttara,
eldest of the world, the steadfast one,
the Lord of the World, had attained final Nibbāna,
the people performed worship of the Teacher.
The populace, exultant in mind,
gladdened and delighted —
and when spiritual urgency (saṃvega) had arisen in them,
rapture (pīti) arose¹ in me.
Gathering my kinsmen and friends together,
I spoke these words:
"The Great Hero has attained final Nibbāna;
come now, let us perform worship!"
"So be it!" they assented,
and begot in me a joy yet greater:
"In the Buddha, the Lord of the World,
we shall make a store of merit."
Having made a well-wrought offering-shrine (agghiya),
risen a hundred cubits high,
and a pinnacled mansion (vimāna) of one hundred and fifty cubits,
towering into the sky —
having made the offering-shrine there,
adorned with well-ordered rows,
I made my own mind (citta) serene with confidence
and worshipped the supreme shrine (cetiya).
[Page note: ¹ Ma., Yu.: "udapajjatha."]
Like a mass of fire it blazed,
like a royal sāl tree in full bloom;¹
like Indra's pillar (indalaṭṭhi) in the sky,
it shone² to the four quarters.
Having made my mind serene with confidence there,
and having done abundant wholesome deeds,
recollecting my former deed
I was reborn among the Thirty (Tidasa).
Mounted upon a divine vehicle
drawn by a thousand yoked horses,
my mansion stood lofty,
risen seven stories high.
A thousand gabled mansions (kūṭāgāra) there were,³
fashioned all of gold;
blazing with their own splendor,
they illumined⁴ all the quarters.
And there were other turrets (niyyūha) then,
made of ruby;⁵
they too shone with their radiance
all around the four quarters.
Gabled mansions sprung from meritorious deeds,
well fashioned,
wrought of gems as well, shone
from quarter to quarter,⁶ all around.
Vast was the radiance
of these as they blazed forth:
I surpassed all the devas —
this is the fruit of meritorious deeds.
Sixty thousand aeons (kappa) ago
I was the khattiya named Ubbiddha,
a conqueror over the four quarters;
I dwelt ruling the earth.
And likewise in the fortunate aeon
thirty times was I —
well content through my own deeds —
a wheel-turning monarch (cakkavatti) of great might,
endowed with the seven treasures,
sovereign over the four continents;
there too my mansion
rose aloft like Indra's pillar,
[Page notes: ¹ Ma.: "aggikkhandhova jalito kiṃsuko-iva phullito"; Yu.: "…jalito…." ² Ma.: "obhāseti." ³ Ma.: "ahaṃ"; Yu.: "sabbe sovaṇṇamayā ahaṃ." ⁴ Ma., Yu.: "pabhāsayaṃ." ⁵ Ma.: "niyyūhā lohitaṅgamayā." ⁶ Ma., Yu.: "disā dasa."]
twenty-four [yojanas] in length
and twelve in breadth.
The city named Rammaka¹
had firm ramparts and arched gateways,
five hundred [yojanas] in length
and half of that in breadth,
thronged with crowds of people,
like the city of the Thirty.
Just as twenty-five needles,
placed within a needle-case,
knock one against another,
constantly crowded close,²
even so was my city,
teeming with elephants, horses, and chariots,³
crowded then with human beings —
Rammaka,¹ supreme among cities.
Having eaten and drunk there,
I went again to the state of a deva;
in my final existence
I had the excellence of family (kulasampadā).
Born into a brahmin family,
with a great store of treasures amassed,
I abandoned eighty koṭis of gold
and went forth.⁴
The four analytic insights (paṭisambhidā),
and these eight liberations (vimokkha),
and the six superknowledges (chaḷabhiññā) have been realized;
the Buddha's teaching has been fulfilled.
Thus indeed did the Venerable Mahākassapa the Elder speak these verses.
The Apadāna of Mahākassapa the Elder is concluded.
[Page notes: ¹ Ma.: "Rammaṇaṃ." ² Ma.: "ākiṇṇaṃ hoti laṅkataṃ"; Yu.: "…hoti taṃ tadā." ³ Ma.: "hatthissarathasaṅkulaṃ." ⁴ Ma.: "hiraññassāpi pabbajiṃ."]
Sixth: The Apadāna of Anuruddha the Elder (4)
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.