194. Asokapūjaka

In lovely Tivarā City,
there was a royal garden then.
I was a royal attendant,
the warden of the garden there.

The Self-Become One, Full of Light,
named Paduma was Buddha then.
Sitting in a lotus’ shade
that Sage had not yet left the world.

Seeing an ashoka in bloom
heavy with clusters, beautiful,
I gave a bloom to the Buddha,
the excellent-lotus-named Sage.

In the ninety-four aeons since
I offered that flower to him,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of Buddha-pūjā.

In the seventieth aeon
were sixteen Aruṇañjahas,
wheel-turning monarchs with great strength,
possessors of the seven gems.

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

Thus indeed Venerable Asokapūjaka Thera spoke these verses.