[125] A hundred thousand aeons from now there arose the Leader,
the wise one, the benefactor of all the world, Padumuttara by name.
At that time I was a brahmin, renowned, gone to the far shore of the Vedas;
while walking about for the day's abiding I saw the Leader of the World,
proclaiming the four truths, awakening [the world] together with its devas,
and extolling among the great multitude his disciple, a brilliant speaker (cittakathika).
Then, glad in mind (citta), I invited the Tathāgata,
and, having adorned a pavilion with cloths dyed in many colors,
radiant with various gems, I fed him there together with the Saṅgha.
Having fed [them] for seven days with food of manifold excellent flavors,
and having honored him together with his disciples with flowers variegated and manifold,
I prostrated at the base of his feet and aspired to that position.
Then the excellent Sage, compassionate, an abode of compassion, said:
"Behold this eminent twice-born one, whose face and eyes are like the lotus,
abounding in rapture and gladness, his body-hair standing on end,
bringing joy, wide-eyed, cherishing devotion to my dispensation,
fallen at the base of my feet, single in his observance, glad of heart:
he aspires to that position — the state of a brilliant speaker.
A hundred thousand aeons from now, arising in the Okkāka clan,
the Teacher named Gotama by name will appear in the world.
An heir in his teachings, a true-born son formed by the Dhamma,
Kumārakassapa by name, he will be the Teacher's disciple.
By force of those splendid flowers and cloths
and of those gems, he will attain the foremost place among brilliant speakers."
Through that deed well done, and through [my] intention and resolves,
on abandoning the human body I went to Tāvatiṃsa.
I whirled about from existence to existence like a dancer in the midst of the stage;
having become the offspring of the deer Sākha, I descended into a doe's womb.
Then, while I was in the womb, [my mother's] turn for slaughter came round;
forsaken by Sākha, my mother went to Nigrodha for refuge.
By that king of deer, who had given up his very life,
she was delivered from death; and she then admonished me thus:
"One should keep company with Nigrodha alone; one should not dwell with Sākha:
death with Nigrodha is better than such life as there might be with Sākha."
Instructed by that leader of the deer herd,
I and my mother and the others, relying on his counsel,
went to the delightful abode of Tusita,
just as those [long] abroad [return] to their own home.
Again, when the teaching of Kassapa the Wise was sinking to its setting,
I climbed a rocky mountain peak and applied myself to the Conqueror's teaching.
And now I have been born at Rājagaha in a wealthy merchant's family;
my mother, being with child, went forth into homelessness.
Discovering that she was pregnant, they brought her before Devadatta,
who said: "Expel this wicked bhikkhunī!"
Even now, shown compassion by the Conqueror, the Lord of Sages,
my mother, she who bore me, [dwells] happy in the bhikkhunīs' residence.
Learning of that, the Kosala [king], guardian of the earth, reared me
with the upbringing of a prince; and by name I was Kassapa.
On account of Mahākassapa I became Kumārakassapa;
and when I heard it taught by the Buddha that this body is like an ant-hill,
thereupon my mind was liberated, entirely, through not clinging;
and having tamed Pāyāsi, I attained that foremost position (etadagga).
My defilements (kilesa) have been burned away; all existences have been extirpated;
like an elephant that has burst its bonds, I dwell free of taints (āsava).
Welcome indeed was my coming into the presence of my Buddha!
The three true knowledges (vijjā) have been attained; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
The four analytic insights (paṭisambhidā), and also these eight liberations (vimokkha),
and the six superknowledges (abhiññā) have been realized; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
Thus indeed the Venerable Elder Kumārakassapa spoke these verses.
The Apadāna of the Elder Kumārakassapa is concluded.
The twenty-fourth recitation section (bhāṇavāra).
The sixth: the Apadāna of the Elder Bāhiya (536).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.