[128] The Victor named Padumuttara, the sage who knew all the world,
the One with Vision, arose in the hundred-thousandth aeon (kappa) from now.
An exhorter, an instructor, a deliverer of all living beings,
the Buddha, skilled in teaching, brought a great multitude across.
Sympathetic, compassionate, seeking the welfare of all living beings,
he established all the followers of other sects (titthiya) who came to him in the five precepts (pañcasīla).
Thus [the dispensation] was free of disorder, empty of sectarians,
and adorned with arahants who had attained mastery, steadfast ones.
That great sage rose to a height of fifty-eight cubits (ratana),
like a pillar of gold, bearing the thirty-two excellent marks.
At that time the lifespan extended a hundred thousand years;
remaining so long, he brought a great multitude across.
Then I was a brahmin in Haṃsavatī, esteemed as worthy;
approaching the Lamp of the World, I listened to the teaching of the Dhamma.
Then, in the great assembly, hearing him place a disciple of the Great Man
in the foremost position (etadagga), I was gladdened.
Having invited the Great Victor together with his large retinue,
I gave an offering in company with a thousand brahmins.
Having given the great offering and saluted the Leader,
standing to one side, elated, I spoke these words:
"Through my faith in you, O Hero, and through the merit of my service (adhikāra),
wherever I am reborn, may my assembly be great."
Then the Teacher, his fine voice like an elephant's trumpeting,
his call like the karavīka's, said to the assembly: "Behold this brahmin,
golden-hued, mighty-armed, his face and eyes like the lotus,
his body-hair standing on end, elated, possessed of faith in my qualities.
He has aspired to the position of that lion-voiced bhikkhu;
in the future time you shall obtain this heart's desire.
A hundred thousand aeons from now, arisen in the family of Okkāka,
there will be a Teacher in the world, Gotama by name.
An heir in his teachings, a true-born son formed by the Dhamma,
Kassapa by name, he will be a disciple of the Teacher."
In the ninety-second aeon from now there was the unsurpassed Teacher,
matchless, without equal: Phussa, supreme leader of the world.
He indeed, having slain all darkness and disentangled the great tangle,
rained down the rain of the Deathless (amata), satisfying the world together with its devas.
At that time we were royal ministers in Bārāṇasī;
we were three brothers, all of us deeply trusted by the king,
of heroic build, strong, unconquered in battle.
Then, the frontier having risen in revolt, the lord of the earth said to us:
"Come, go to the frontier; having settled the forces of the land
and made my realm secure, return again" — thus he charged us.
Then we said: "If you would grant us the Leader,
that we might attend upon him, we shall then accomplish it for you."
Then, the boon received, sent by the guardian of the earth,
we made the frontier lay down its weapons and came back to him again.
Having asked the king for the attendance upon the Teacher,
and having obtained the Leader of the World, the excellent sage, we honored him for as long as life lasted.
Costly cloths and exquisite foods,
delightful lodgings and beneficial medicines —
these, righteously produced by us, we gave to the Sage together with the Saṅgha;
virtuous, compassionate, our minds devoted to mental development (bhāvanā),
having always attended upon the Leader with a mind of loving-kindness (mettā),
when that supreme one of the world had attained final Nibbāna, we performed worship according to our means.
Passing away from there, we went to Tāvatiṃsa,
and there we all experienced great happiness — this is the fruit of worship of the Buddha (buddhapūjā).
Just as a garland-maker displays many a varied form from what he has obtained,
even so, coming to be in existence after existence, I became the overlord of Videha.
Through the word of Guṇa the naked ascetic, my disposition ruined by wrong view (micchādiṭṭhi),
I had mounted the road to hell; and of Rucā, my daughter,
the counsel I did not heed; but, admonished in many ways
by Nārada the Brahmā, I abandoned the evil view.
Having fulfilled with distinction the ten courses of [wholesome] action (kammapatha),
I abandoned the body and went to heaven as though to my own abode.
When the last existence arrived, I was a kinsman of Brahmā:
I was born in a brahmin family in flourishing Bārāṇasī.
Terrified of death, disease, and aging, I plunged into the great forest;
seeking the state of Nibbāna, I went forth among the matted-hair ascetics (jaṭila).
Then my two brothers went forth together with me;
having built a hermitage at Uruvelā, I dwelt there.
Kassapa by clan, dwelling at Uruvelā,
from that came my designation, "Kassapa of Uruvelā."
My brother beside the river was called by the name Nadīkassapa;
the one at Gayā was renowned by the name Gayākassapa.
Two hundred [pupils] belonged to the youngest, three [hundred] to the middle brother;
mine were a full five hundred, and all the pupils followed me.
Then the Buddha, foremost in the world, the charioteer of men, approached me
and, working manifold miracles (pāṭihāriya) for me, he trained me.
With a retinue of a thousand I became one ordained by "Come, bhikkhu" (ehibhikkhu);
together with all of them I attained arahantship.
They, and many others besides, surrounded me as my following,
and I was able to instruct them; therefore the seventh of seers
placed me in the foremost position for possessing a great assembly.
Ah, the service rendered to the Buddha has become fruitful for me!
My defilements (kilesa) have been burned away; all existences have been uprooted;
like an elephant that has burst its bonds, I dwell without 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 these eight liberations (vimokkha),
the six superknowledges (chaḷabhiññā) have been realized; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
It was thus that the Venerable Uruvelakassapa the Elder spoke these verses.
The Apadāna of the Elder Uruvelakassapa is concluded.
The ninth: the Apadāna of the Elder Rādha (539)
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.