PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto I.
Psalms of Single Verses
L
Vimala
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
He was reborn in this Buddha-age at Rājagaha, of a wealthy family, and (because of a wish he had uttered over a pious act when Kassapa was Buddha) his body was as pure as a dewdrop on a lotus-leaf, or as that of the Bodhisat in his last birth. Wherefore he was named Vimala (Immaculatus). When grown up he was filled with faith on seeing the Buddha at Rājagaha,[1] and leaving the world, took a form of study and went to dwell in a mountain cave in Kosala.
Now one day a vast storm-cloud spread over the firmament and the rain fell, allaying heat and feverishness, so that the Thera was able to concentrate till he had won arahantship. Thereupon rejoicing over his accomplished task, he broke forth in this psalm:
[50] The burdened earth is sprinkled by the rain,
The winds blow cool, the lightnings roam on high.
Eased and allayed th' obsessions of the mind,
And in my heart the spirit's mastery.[2]
This verse was the Thera's confession of aññā.
[2] Lit., 'the heart (consciousness) of me is well composed.'
