In this present lucky aeon
Brahmā’s Kinsman, Greatly Famed One,
known by the name of Kassapa,
Best Debater, Buddha, arose.

Then I, after having gone forth
in the Buddha’s dispensation,
wandering in the holy life
as long as I lived, fell from there.

Due to that karma done very well,
with intention and firm resolve,
discarding my human body,
I went to Tāvatiṃsa then.

Fallen from there, in a forest,
I was then born as a pigeon.
A Buddhist monk was living there,
always delighting in trances,
loving-hearted, compassionate,
with a face always greatly pleased,
even-minded, a great hero,
learned in the four boundless states.

In not a long time I trusted
that follower of the Buddha,
whose thoughts were without obstructions,
friendly toward all living beings.

Then whenever I approached him,
every day he preached the Dhamma,
and gave a little of his food
to me, seated before his feet.

After living like that back then,
with great love for the Victor’s son,
having died I went to heaven,
like home after being abroad.

Fallen from heaven I’m reborn
as human due to good karma.
Throwing away life in the house,
I then went forth repeatedly.

As monk, ascetic or brahmin,
I was thus one who had gone forth,
becoming a forest-dweller
in various hundreds of lives.

And now in my final rebirth,
a brahmin named Vacchagotta
in lovely Kapilavastu,
I set forth along with my wife.

My mother’s pregnancy craving
when she was close to giving birth,
resolved her to live in the woods,
when I had come out of her womb.

My mother then gave birth to me
within a beautiful forest.
As I departed from her womb,
they swaddled me in saffron cloth.

After that Prince Siddhartha was
born, Banner of the Śākyan Clan.
I became his beloved friend,
held in confidence and honored.

When Beings’ Hardwood departed,
renouncing all of his vast fame,
after having gone forth as well,
I went to the Himalayas.

Seeing respected Kassapa,
preacher of rigor, in the woods,
hearing the Victor’d arisen,
I approached the Coachman of Men.

He then preached the Dhamma to me,
with all of the meanings explained.
Then, going forth under Buddha,
I went to the forest again.

Zealously living there I then
learned the six special knowledges.
O! I have obtained a good gain,
being pitied by my good friend.

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

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!

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

Thus indeed Venerable Vanavaccha Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Vanavaccha Thera is finished.