[88] Not far from Himavant there is a mountain named Yamaka; there my hermitage was well made, my leaf-hut well built.
I was a matted-hair ascetic (jaṭila) of fierce austerity, Nārada by name; fourteen thousand pupils waited upon me.
Withdrawn into seclusion, I then thought thus: "The great multitude honors me, yet I honor nothing at all.
There is no one to counsel me; no one exists who might admonish me; without teacher or preceptor I dwell in the forest.
One whom I might attend upon, setting up toward him a mind of reverence—such a teacher I have none; my dwelling in the forest is fruitless.
An object of veneration (āyāga) should be sought by me, and likewise one worthy of reverence and esteem; then I shall dwell possessed of a support, and no one will reproach me."
A little river with shelving banks, with lovely fords, delightful, strewn with very pure sand, was not far from my hermitage.
Then, approaching the river named Amarikā, I heaped together the sand and made a shrine (cetiya) of sand.
"Such is the stūpa (thūpa) of those who were Fully Awakened Ones, sages, makers of an end of existence"—[with this in mind] I made it as that sign.
Having built the stūpa upon the sand, I made it golden; and with three thousand golden kiṅkiṇi-flowers I made offering.
Evening and morning I paid homage, filled with rapture (pīti), with joined palms; as though before the Fully Awakened One face to face, I venerated the shrine of sand.
Whenever defilements (kilesa) arose—thoughts bound up with the household life—I recalled the well-made stūpa and contemplated it at that very moment.
I dwelt in reliance upon the Caravan-Leader (satthavāha), the Guide; [I would admonish myself:] "You should restrain the defilements—it is not fitting for you, dear sir."
The moment I adverted to the stūpa, reverence arose in me then; I dispelled the base thoughts, like an elephant tormented by the goad.
As I was dwelling thus, the King of Death crushed me; having died there, I went to the Brahmā world (brahmaloka).
Having dwelt there as long as the life-span lasted, I arose in the Tidiva heaven; eighty times, as lord of the devas, I exercised rulership over the devas.
And three hundred times I was a wheel-turning monarch (cakkavatti); my extensive regional kingship was beyond reckoning by count.
I experienced the ripening of those kiṅkiṇi-flowers: twenty-two thousand surrounded me in [each] existence.
Because I had served the stūpa, dust and grime did not cling to me; sweat did not break forth upon my limbs; I was radiant.
Ah, well made was my stūpa, well seen the river Amarikā! By making a stūpa of sand I attained the unshakeable state.
For a being who wishes to do what is wholesome and who grasps the essential, there is no field nor non-field: the practice itself is the essential thing.
Just as a man endowed with strength, eager to cross the flood, might take a small piece of wood and dash into the great sea,
thinking, "Relying upon this piece of wood I shall cross the mighty ocean," so by exertion and energy (viriya) a man would cross the sea;
even so, the deed done by me, limited and slight though it was—relying upon that deed, I passed beyond saṃsāra.
When my last existence arrived, urged on by the bright root [of merit], I was born in the city of Sāvatthī, in an eminent (mahāsāla), very wealthy family.
My mother and father had faith and had gone to the Buddha for refuge; both of them had seen and heard [the Dhamma]; they followed after the dispensation (sāsana).
Taking a chip (papaṭikā) of the Bodhi tree, they had a golden stūpa made; evening and morning they paid it homage, [as though] face to face with the Son of the Sakyans.
On the uposatha day they would bring the golden stūpa out; proclaiming the praises of the Buddha, they passed the three watches [of the night].
Upon seeing the stūpa I remembered the shrine of sand; and sitting on a single seat I attained arahantship.
The Twenty-second Recitation Section (bhāṇavāra).
Seeking that Wise One, I saw the General of the Dhamma (dhammasenāpati); having gone out from the household, I went forth in his presence.
At seven years from birth I attained arahantship; the Buddha, the One with Vision (cakkhumā), knowing my quality, conferred upon me the full ordination (upasampadā).
While I was still but a boy, the task was brought to completion by me; today what was to be done in the dispensation of the Sakyan Son has been done by me.
Passed beyond all enmity and peril, gone beyond all ties, a seer—your disciple [am I], O Great Hero: this is the fruit of the golden stūpa.
My defilements have been burned away; all existences have been extirpated; like an elephant that has sundered its bonds, I dwell without taints (āsava).
Welcome indeed was it for me in my Buddha's presence! The three true knowledges (vijjā) have been attained; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
The four analytical knowledges (paṭisambhidā), and also these eight liberations (vimokkha), and the six direct knowledges (chaḷabhiññā) have been realized; the Buddha's teaching has been done.
Thus indeed the Venerable Elder Puḷinathūpiya spoke these verses.
The Apadāna of the Elder Puḷinathūpiya is concluded.
The Ninth: The Apadāna of the Elder Naḷakuṭikadāyaka (499).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.