164. Desapūjaka

Tha-ap 166

An imagined Tibetan landscape inspired by Mount Kailash.

Walt 2067 Atthadassi, the Blessed One,
the World’s Best One, the Bull of Men,
having risen into the sky
was going through the air back then. Verse 1

Walt 2068 I did pūjā to the place where
the Teacher had been standing when
he, the Sage so Great, rose upward,
feeling well- pleased by my own hands. Verse 2

Walt 2069 In the eighteen hundred aeons
since I saw the Great Sage back then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of region-pūjā. Verse 3

Walt 2070 In the eleven-hundredth aeon
I was known as Gosujāta,
a wheel-turning king with great strength,
possessor of the seven gems. Verse 4

Walt 2071 The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 5

Thus indeed Venerable Desapūjaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Desapūjaka Thera is finished.

Connections

Collection & context

TherāpadānaThe collection containing this text
The Pāli canonCanonical collection in which this edition is preserved
Theravāda traditionsTransmission and study context
The early Buddhist communityHistorical and traditional setting

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.