I had a walkway constructed
for the Sage, Anomadassi,
the World’s Best One, the Neutral One
by having it smeared with plaster.

Then I spread upon that walkway
flowers of various colors.
Making an awning in the sky
I fed the Buddha, Supreme One.

Having pressed my hands together,
worshipping the One With Good Vows,
at that time I dedicated
a long hall to the Blessed One.

Discerning what I was thinking,
the Teacher, Best One in the World,
the Blessed One, the Eyeful One
accepted it, pitying me.

Accepting it, the Sambuddha,
Best Recipient in the World
seated in the monks’ Assembly
spoke these verses about me then:

“I shall relate details of him,
who now with such a happy heart
donated this long hall to me;
all of you listen to my words:

When it is the time of death for
this one endowed with good karma,
a chariot will then appear,
a thousand horses yoked to it.

By that conveyance then this man
will go up to the world of gods.
The gods are going to all rejoice
when that wholesome birth occurs there.

He’ll inhabit a mansion there,
the best mansion, very costly,
smeared with clay that’s full of gemstones
and supplied with fine gabled cells.

He will then delight in heaven
for full thirty thousand aeons.
He will be the king of the gods
for those thirty thousand aeons.

Seventy seven times he’ll be
a king who turns the wheel of law.
They all will have a single name,
“Yasodhara,” and be the same.

Experiencing the two-fold bliss,
heaping up a heap of merit,
he will be a wheel-turning king
in the twenty-eighth aeon hence.

And he’ll have a superb mansion,
constructed by Vissakamma.
Even when alone he’ll hear the
ten sounds, living in that city.

Uncountable aeons later
he’ll be the king of a country,
king of the earth with great power;
his name will then be Okkāka.

And she who is most excellent
of his sixteen thousand women
will give birth to nine sons of his,
Kṣatriyan princes of good birth.

That Kṣatriyan woman will die
after her nine sons have been born.
Then he will take as his chief queen
a young and beloved maiden.

Satisfying King Okkāka,
that maiden will receive a boon.
As the boon that she receives she’ll
have the nine sons go forth from there.

After going forth they all will
go into the Himalayas.
Scared of dividing the clan they
will all cohabit with sisters.

And one among those girls will be
afflicted with bad diseases.
Saying, ‘don’t ruin our family,’
the Kṣatriyans will bury her.

A king, having carried her off
will afterwards live well with her.
And from that time there’ll be the group,
“arising in Okkāka’s clan”.

The progeny of them will be
those known as “Koḷiya” at birth.
There they will magically produce
vast quantities of human food.

Having fallen from that body
this one will go up to heaven.
There he’ll gain a superb mansion
which is delightful to the mind.

Having fallen down from heaven,
incited by his wholesome roots,
having gone to a human state
he will be known as Soṇa then.

Resolved, with strenuous effort
in the Teacher’s dispensation,
knowing well all the defilements,
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled.

The Blessed One, Boundless Vision,
Gotama the Bull of the Śākyas,
Privileged Knower, the Great Hero,
will place him in a foremost place.”

hiatus?
Tamed in the ultimate taming,
my heart is now well-directed,
and my burden has been laid down:
I’ve reached nirvana, undefiled.

Shiny-Bodied, Great Elephant,
Unfrightened like a lion-king,
seated in the monks’ Assembly,
he placed me in the foremost place.

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

Thus indeed Venerable Soṇa Koḷiyavessa Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Koḷiyavessa Thera is finished.