[77] On the mountain Himavant I was the ascetic (tāpasa) named Devala;
there I had a walking-path, fashioned for me by non-human beings.
Laden with my burden of matted locks, bearing then a water-pot,
seeking the supreme goal, I went forth then from the great forest.
Eighty-four thousand pupils attended upon me;
intent upon their own tasks, they dwelt then in the great forest.
Going forth from the hermitage, I made a shrine (cetiya) of sand;
gathering flowers of many kinds, I worshipped that shrine.
Having made my mind (citta) serene there, I entered the hermitage;
all my pupils, assembling, asked about this matter:
"The stūpa made of sand, which you venerate, O lord —
we too wish to know; being asked, pray tell us."
"Have you not seen, in the words of the hymns, those endowed with vision, of great fame?
It is they whom I venerate — the supreme Buddhas of great fame."
"What are they like, those great heroes, the omniscient leaders of the world?
Of what appearance are they, of what virtue? What are they like, those of great fame?"
"The Buddhas bear the thirty-two marks (lakkhaṇa), and forty teeth besides;
their eyes, with lashes like an ox's, are like the jiñjuka fruit.
"And when walking, those Buddhas look ahead but a yoke's length;
their knee makes no sound; no noise of a joint is heard.
"And when walking, the Well-Gone Ones (sugata) go unhurried;
they set forward the right foot first: such is the nature of Buddhas.
"And those Buddhas are fearless, like the maned lion, king of beasts;
they neither exalt themselves nor disparage any living being.
"Released from conceit and contempt, they are even toward all beings;
the Buddhas exalt not themselves: such is the nature of Buddhas.
"And when the Fully Awakened Ones arise, they display a light;
they make manifest the sixfold quaking of this entire earth.
"And they behold hell (niraya); then hell is quenched;
the great cloud pours down rain: such is the nature of Buddhas.
"Such are they, those great nāgas; peerless are they, of great fame;
none surpasses them in glory: immeasurable are the Tathāgatas."
All my pupils, with reverence, rejoiced at my word;
and they practiced accordingly, each according to his ability and strength.
Eager for their own task, they paid honor to the sand [shrine],
trusting in my word, their minds set upon Buddhahood.
Then a deva-son (devaputta) of great fame, passing away from Tusita,
arose in his mother's womb; the ten-thousandfold [world-system] quaked.
I was standing on the walking-path not far from the hermitage;
all my pupils, assembling, came into my presence:
"The earth bellows like a bull; it roars like the king of beasts;
it cries like a crocodile — what will be the result?"
"The Fully Awakened One whom I proclaim beside the stūpa of sand —
he, the Blessed One, the Teacher, has now come to his mother's womb."
Having given them a talk on Dhamma, having extolled the Great Sage,
having dismissed my own pupils, I folded my legs crosswise.
And my strength indeed was spent; ill in the extreme,
recollecting the supreme Buddha, I died right there.
Then all my pupils, assembling, built a funeral pyre;
and taking my bodily remains, they raised them upon the pyre.
Surrounding the pyre, with joined palms lifted to their heads,
stricken by the dart of sorrow, they gathered together and wailed.
While they were lamenting, I came to the side of the pyre:
"I am your teacher; do not grieve, you of good wisdom.
"Strive for your own good, untiring by day and by night;
do not be heedless; the moment has been furnished to you."
Having thus admonished my own pupils, I returned to the deva world;
and for eighteen aeons I remained in the deva world.
Five hundred times I was a wheel-turning monarch (cakkavatti),
and many hundreds of times I exercised rulership among the devas.
In the remaining aeons I wandered on in mixed [births];
I know of no bad destination: this is the fruit of the raising up [of the shrine].
Just as in the month of Komudī many trees come into blossom,
even so I too, in due season, was brought into blossom by the Great Seer.
My energy (viriya) is my burden-bearer under the yoke, carrying me on to security from bondage;
like an elephant that has burst its bonds, I dwell without taints (āsava).
It was a hundred thousand aeons ago that I extolled that Buddha;
I know of no bad destination: this is the fruit of extolling.
My defilements (kilesa) have been burned away; all existences have been extirpated;
like an elephant that has burst its bonds, I dwell without taints.
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) as well,
the six superknowledges (chaḷabhiññā) have been realized; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
Thus indeed did the Venerable Puḷinuppādaka Thera speak these verses.
The Apadāna of Puḷinuppādaka Thera is concluded.
The Eighth: the Apadāna of Taraṇiya Thera (488).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.