321. Ummāpupphiya

Tha-ap 323

Walt 2825 I saw the Ultimate Person,
Siddhattha, the Unconquered One,
Attentive One, He Who Attained,
sitting down in meditation. Verse 1

Walt 2826 Having gathered blue flax flowers,
I offered them to the Buddha.
All the flowers faced the same way,
stems turned upward, heads turned downward. Verse 2

Walt 2827 Like pretty pictures they remained,
floral canopy in the sky.
Because of that mental pleasure,
I was reborn in Tusitā. Verse 3

Walt 2828 In the ninety-four aeons since
I did pūjā with that flower,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā. Verse 4

Walt 2829 In the fifty-fifth aeon hence
there was one man, lord of the earth,
known as Samantacchadana,
a wheel-turning king with great strength. Verse 5

Walt 2830 The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 6

Thus indeed Venerable Ummāpupphiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Ummāpupphiya 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

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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.

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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.

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