Verses of the Senior Monks 16.9

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1. Verses of the Senior Monks 16.9
2. The Book of the Twenties
3. Chapter One
4. Anuruddha
5. Leaving my mother and father behind,
6. as well as sisters, kinsmen, and brothers;
7. having given up the five sensual titillations,
8. Anuruddha practices absorption.
9. Surrounded by song and dance,
10. awakened by cymbals and gongs,
11. he did not find purification
12. while delighting in Māra’s domain.
13. But he has gone beyond all that,
14. and delights in the Buddha’s teaching.
15. Having crossed over the entire flood,
16. Anuruddha practices absorption.
17. Sights, sounds, tastes, smells,
18. and touches so delightful:
19. having crossed over these as well,
20. Anuruddha practices absorption.
21. Returning from almsround,
22. alone, without partner,
23. seeking rags from the dust heap,
24. Anuruddha is without defilements.
25. The thoughtful sage
26. selected rags from the dust heap;
27. he picked them up, washed, dyed, and wore them;
28. Anuruddha is without defilements.
29. The principles of someone
30. who has many wishes and is not content,
31. who socializes and is conceited,
32. are wicked and corrupting.
33. But someone who is mindful, few of wishes,
34. content and untroubled,
35. delighting in seclusion, joyful,
36. always resolute and energetic;
37. their principles are skillful,
38. leading to awakening;
39. they are without defilements—
40. so said the great seer.
41. “Knowing my thoughts,
42. the supreme Teacher in the world
43. came to me in a mind-made body,
44. using his psychic power.
45. He taught me more
46. than I had thought of.
47. The Buddha who loves non-proliferation
48. taught me non-proliferation.
49. Understanding that teaching,
50. I happily did his bidding.
51. I’ve attained the three knowledges,
52. and have fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.
53. For the last fifty-five years
54. I have not lain down to sleep.
55. Twenty-five years have passed
56. since I eradicated drowsiness.”
57. “There was no more breathing
58. for the unaffected one of steady heart.
59. Imperturbable, committed to peace,
60. the Clear-eyed One was fully quenched.
61. He put up with painful feelings
62. without flinching.
63. The liberation of his heart
64. was like the extinguishing of a lamp.”
65. “Now these touches and the other four
66. are the last to be experienced by the sage;
67. nor will there be other phenomena
68. since the Buddha was fully quenched.
69. O Penelope, weaver of the web—
70. there’s no more abodes in the host of gods.
71. Transmigration through births is finished,
72. now there’ll be no more future lives.”
73. “The mendicant by whom the galaxy
74. with the age of the Divinity are known in an hour—
75. that master of psychic ability sees the gods
76. at the time they pass away and are reborn.”
77. “In the past I was Annabhāra,
78. a poor carrier of fodder.
79. I practiced as an ascetic,
80. the renowned Upariṭṭha.
81. Then I was reborn in the Sakyan clan,
82. where I was known as ‘Anuruddha’.
83. Surrounded by song and dance,
84. I was awakened by cymbals and gongs.
85. Then I saw the Buddha,
86. the Teacher, fearing nothing from any quarter;
87. filling my mind with confidence in him,
88. I went forth to homelessness.
89. I know my past lives,
90. the places I used to live.
91. I was born as Sakka,
92. and stayed among the thirty-three gods.
93. Seven times I was a king of men
94. ruling a kingdom,
95. victorious in the four quarters,
96. lord of the Black Plum Tree Land.
97. Without rod or sword,
98. I governed by principle.
99. Seven from here, seven from there—
100. fourteen transmigrations in all.
101. I shall remember my past lives:
102. at that time I stayed in the realm of the gods.
103. I have gained complete tranquility
104. in immersion with five factors.
105. Peaceful, serene,
106. my clairvoyance is purified.
107. Steady in five-factored absorption,
108. I know the passing away and rebirth of beings,
109. their coming and going,
110. their lives in this state and that.
111. I’ve served the teacher
112. and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.
113. The heavy burden is laid down,
114. the conduit to rebirth is eradicated.
115. In the Vajjian village of Veḷuva,
116. my life will come to an end.
117. Beneath a thicket of bamboos,
118. being undefiled, I will be fully extinguished.”