Skip to reading
← Therāpadāna

109. Biḷālidāyaka

Tha-ap 111

Layered Himalayan ridges beyond a high mountain pass.

Walt 1663 In the Himalayan region,
I dwelt on a mat made of leaves.
Not feeling any greed for food,
I was always happy back then. Verse 1

Walt 1664Digging up roots like kaḷamba,
biḷāli and takkaḷi too
I ate them prepared by adding
jujube, marking-nut, and bel. Verse 2

Walt 1665 Padumuttara, World-Knower
Sacrificial Recipient,
discerning what I was thinking,
came into my presence just then. Verse 3

Walt 1666 Taking some biḷāli roots for
the Great Elephant who had come,
the God of Gods, the Bull of Men,
I placed them in his alms-bowl then. Verse 4

Walt 1667 The Great Hero then consumed them
which made me extremely happy.
After eating, the Omniscient One
spoke this verse to me at that time: Verse 5

Walt 1668 “You’ve brought pleasure to your own heart
by giving me these roots to eat.
For one hundred thousand aeons
you’ll come to know no bad rebirth.” Verse 6

Walt 1670 This is my last going around;
all new existence is destroyed.
I am bearing my last body
in the Buddha’s dispensation. Verse 7

Walt 1669 In the fifty-fourth aeon thence
the one known as Sumekhali
was a wheel-turner with great strength,
possessor of the seven gems. Verse 8

Walt 1671 The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 9

Thus indeed Venerable Biḷālidāyaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Biḷālidāyaka Thera is finished.

Connections

Collection & context

About this edition

Translation by Jonathan S. Walters · SuttaCentral · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US

Noncommercial reuse with attribution and the same license. Original publication and digitization credits are preserved below.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

Legends of the Buddhist Saints (Apadāna) is released under the Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike license.

This is the first-ever complete translation of Apadāna into a Western language.

For more information, visit apadanatranslation.org

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Ayya Vimala.

Published source. Translation wording and order are preserved; source headings and notes are retained, with navigation and formatting adapted for this reader.

The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork for Buddhist Atlas, an evocative companion rather than a historical depiction.