PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto I.
Psalms of Single Verses
LV
Añjana-vaniya[1]
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
He was reborn in this Buddha-age at Vesālī, of the family of a rāja[2] of the Vajjians. When he was grown up, a threefold panic had arisen in the Vajjian territory — to wit, the fear of drought, of sickness, and of non-human foes. This is all told in the Commentary on the Ratana-Sutta.[3] When the Exalted One quieted the panic at Vesālī, and a great concourse heard him preach, this rāja's son heard him also, and winning faith, left the world.
When he had fulfilled the preliminary training, he dwelt in the Añjana Wood at Sāketa. And when the rains drew near, he procured a worn castaway couch, and placing it on four stones and enclosing it above and around with grasses, he set up a door to it, and so got a sheltered [57] retreat for the rainy season. After only one month his strenuous study won for him arahantship. Thereafter, feeling the bliss of emancipation, he roused himself, and contemplating his victory with rapture uttered this verse:
[55] Deep in the leafy glndes of Añjana
My couch into a little hut I made.
The threefold wisdom have I made my own,
And all the Buddha's ordinance is done.[4]
[1] The Commentary has Añjanavanira.
[2] On rājas, see above, LI.
[3] Or Jewel Discourse, Sutta-Nipāta and Khuddaka-Pāṭha; an interesting remark, if the Commentary he refers to is the Paramattha-jotikā. I have found no canonical account of this panic.
