89. Bodhisaññaka

Tha-ap 91

Soft morning light falling through a rain-washed bamboo grove.

Walt 1542 There was a great Bodhi festival
for the Blessed One Vipassi.
I attended that festival,
being a person who’d renounced. Verse 1

Walt 1543 Taking water strewn with flowers
I poured it on the Bodhi Tree.
“Freed, he will make all of us free;
Gone Out, he will make us go out.” Verse 2

Walt 1544 In the ninety-one aeons since
I watered that Bodhi Tree then,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
the fruit of Bodhi-perception. Verse 3

Walt 1545 When thirty-three aeons had passed
there were eight wheel-turning kings,
lords over men who were all then
known as Udakāsecana. Verse 4

Walt 1546 The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught! Verse 5

Thus indeed Venerable Bodhisaññaka Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Bodhisaññaka 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.