[126] A hundred thousand aeons ago from now there arose the Leader, of great radiance, foremost in the three worlds, Padumuttara by name.
When the Sage was proclaiming the excellence of a bhikkhu of swift direct knowledge (khippābhiññā), I heard it, and with uplifted heart I did service to the Great Seer.
Having given a seven days' gift to the Sage together with his pupils, having venerated the Fully Awakened One, I then aspired to that position.
Then the Buddha declared of me: "Behold this brahmin fallen at my feet, his gaze full [of gladness],
his limbs built up by golden offerings, gleaming white, delicate of skin, his full lips copper-red as the bimba fruit, his teeth white, sharp, and even,
greatly desirous of virtue, the hair of his body rising erect, become a very basin for a flood of virtues, his face abloom with rapture:
he aspires to the position of the bhikkhu of swift direct knowledge. In the future there will be a Great Hero named Gotama.
An heir in that one's dhammas, a true-born son formed of the Dhamma, Bāhiya by name he shall be, a disciple of the Teacher."
Then, rejoicing, I rose up, and having done service to the Great Sage as long as life lasted, at death I went to heaven as though to my own dwelling.
Whether become a deva or a human being, I was happy; borne on by the impetus of that deed, wandering on, I enjoyed prosperity.
Again, when the dispensation of Kassapa the Wise had come to its setting, I climbed a crag of rock and applied myself to the Conqueror's teaching.
Pure in virtue, possessed of wisdom, doers of the Conqueror's teaching, we five persons, passing away from there, went to the world of the devas.
Thereafter I was born as Bāhiya in Bhārukaccha, best of cities; then by ship I set forth upon the ocean, where success is scant.
Then, when it had gone on for a few days, the ship broke apart; and then I fell into the fearsome, dreadful abode of sea-monsters.
Then, striving hard, I swam across the great ocean and reached Suppāraka, the excellent port, scarcely conscious.
Clothing myself in bark-strip garments (dārucīra), I entered the village for alms; and the people there, delighted, said: "An arahant has come here!
Having honored him with food and drink, with clothing, bedding, and medicine, we shall be happy."
A gainer then of the requisites, honored and revered by them, I conceived — without proper reflection — the thought: "I am an arahant."
Then a deity of former times (pubbadevatā), knowing my mind, admonished me: "You do not know the means or the path; how then could you be an arahant?"
Admonished by that deity, stirred with urgency, I then questioned it: "Who, then, are they, and where in the world — the arahants, supreme among men?"
"At Sāvatthī, the royal city of the Kosalans, the Conqueror of abundant wisdom, of noble and vast intelligence, the son of the Sakyans, an arahant free of taints (āsava), teaches the Dhamma for the attainment of arahantship."
When I heard its word I was filled with delight; like a pauper who has found a treasure, struck with wonder, my heart uplifted toward supreme arahantship, [I yearned] to behold the One fair to see, whose range is boundless.
Then, setting out from there, [I thought,] "May I ever look upon the Conqueror, the Teacher of stainless countenance"; and coming to that delightful [domain] called the Victor's, I asked the brahmins: "Where is the Delighter of the World?"
Then they said: "He whom men and devas venerate has entered the town in quest of food. Go quickly, you who are eager for the sight of the Sage; draw near and venerate that supreme person."
Then, going in haste to Sāvatthī, best of cities, I saw him walking for alms, free of hankering, free of greed,
bowl in hand, his eyes unwavering, making the Deathless (amata) shine forth here, like the very abode of splendor, his countenance outshining the brilliance of the sun.
Coming up to him, I prostrated myself and spoke this word: "Be a refuge, O Gotama, for one gone utterly astray upon an evil road!"
"For the saving of living beings I am walking for alms; this is not the time for a talk on Dhamma to you" — so spoke the Sage supreme.
Then again and again, hungering for the Dhamma, I entreated the Buddha; and he taught me the Dhamma, the profound way of emptiness (suññata).
Having heard his Dhamma, I attained the destruction of the taints; and my span of life being wholly spent — ah, the Teacher, compassionate indeed!
My defilements (kilesa) have been burned away; all existences (bhava) have been extirpated; like an elephant that has burst its bonds, I dwell free of taints.
Welcome indeed was it for me, in the dispensation of my Buddha! The three true knowledges (vijjā) have been attained; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
The four analytic insights (paṭisambhidā), and these eight liberations (vimokkha) as well, and the six superknowledges (chaḷabhiññā) have been realized; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
Thus did the Elder Bāhiya Dārucīriya declare, when he had fallen upon a rubbish heap by [the doing of] a cow, a spirit unseen.
Having proclaimed his own former conduct, that steadfast one of great wisdom attained final Nibbāna at Sāvatthī, best of cities.
As he was going out from the city, the supreme Seer saw him — the steadfast Bāhiya, wearer of bark-strip garments, who had banished the fever [of defilement] —
fallen on the ground like a staff, like Indra's banner cast down, his life-span ended, his defilements dried up, a doer of the Conqueror's teaching.
Then the Teacher addressed his disciples, who delight in the dispensation: "Take up and cremate the body of your fellow in the holy life;
build a stūpa and pay it honor. He of great wisdom has attained Nibbāna; this disciple of mine, a doer of my word, was the foremost of those of swift direct knowledge.
Though there be even a thousand verses made up of unprofitable lines, better is a single line of verse, hearing which one is stilled.
Where water and earth, fire and air find no footing — there no stars gleam, there the sun sheds no light;
there the moon does not shine, [yet] no darkness is found there. And when the sage, a brahmin through sagehood, has known this for himself,
then from form and the formless, from happiness and from suffering (dukkha), he is freed." Thus spoke the Protector, the Sage, refuge of the three worlds.
It was thus, indeed, that the Venerable Elder Bāhiya spoke these verses.
The Apadāna of Bāhiya the Elder is concluded.
The seventh: the Apadāna of Mahākoṭṭhika the Elder (537).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.