PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto I.
Psalms of Single Verses
LIX
Kosalavihārin
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
His story resembles that of the Añjana-Woodlander, with this difference: after his novitiate, he dwelt in the forest by a village in the kingdom of Kosala, near the dwelling of a lay adherent. The latter, seeing him camped under a [60] tree, made a little hut and gave it him. There the Thera attained arahantship. Then filled with rapture at his emancipation, he uttered this psalm:
[59] Strong in my faith[1] I left the world. Now here
Within the woods a hut is made for me;
And I with zeal and ardour meditate,
With watchful wit and clarity of mind.
This was his confession of aññā, and because he dwelt so long in Kosala, he became known as the Kosala settler.
[1] 'When I saw the might of the Exalted One at Vesālī, I thought: "Absolutely able to guide is this doctrine and ordinance; therefore shall I verily through this attainment be set free from old age and death." And because of the faith thus arisen, I went forth' (Commentary). The last two lines in the stanza are an expansion of four adjectives, the sentence lacking expressed subject and predicate.
