Skip to reading
← Therāpadāna

447. {450.} Bodhighariya

Tha-ap 452

Gentle ripples across a mountain lake reflecting green hills and clouds.

Walt 4785 Happy, with pleasure in my heart,
I had a Bodhi-tree shrine made
for Siddhattha, the Blessed One,
the Biped-Lord, the Neutral One. Verse 1

Walt 4786 Being reborn in Tusitā,
I live in a house made of gems.
There’s neither cold nor hot for me;
the wind does not touch my body. Verse 2

Walt 4787-4788 In the fifty-sixth aeon hence
I was a wheel-turning monarch;
my city known as Kāsika,
constructed by Vissakamma,
was spread out for ten leagues in length,
and it measured eight leagues in width.
Nothing in that city was \[made
of\] sticks or of vines or of clay. Verse 3-4

Walt 4789 My palace known as Maṅgala,
constructed by Vissakamma,
measured a league across in length,
and it was a half a league wide. Verse 5

Walt 4790 Its eighty-four thousand pillars
were all made out of solid gold;
the pinnacles were made of gems,
and the roofs were made of silver. Verse 6

Walt 4791 That house all made of solid gold,
constructed by Vissakamma,
was occupied by me back then:
that’s the fruit of giving a shrine. Verse 7

Walt 4792 After enjoying all of that,
in the world of gods and of men,
today I have reached nirvana,
the peaceful state that’s unexcelled. Verse 8

Walt 4793 In the ninety-four aeons since
I had that Bodhi-tree-shrine made,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of giving a shrine. Verse 9

Walt 4794 My defilements are now burnt up;
all new existence is destroyed.
Like elephants with broken chains,
I am living without constraint. Verse 10

Walt 4795 Being in Best Buddha’s presence
was a very good thing for me.
The three knowledges are attained;
I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 11

Walt 4796 The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 12

Thus indeed Venerable Bodhighariya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Bodhighariya Thera is finished.

The Summary:

Vibhīṭakī,Kolaphalī,
Billa-Bhallāṭakappada,
Nigrodha and Ambāṭakī,
Āsanī, Pādapīṭhaka,
Vedika, Bodhigharika:
the verses that are counted here,
which are declared in this chapter,
all-told are one less than eighty.

The Vibhīṭaki Chapter, the Forty-Fifth

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.