PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN

Canto V.
Psalms of Five Verses

CCIV
Kassapa of Gayā

Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.

Public Domain

[Pali]

 

Reborn in this Buddha-age in a brahmin clan [his story resembles that of Kassapa of the River, save that his company numbered 200, and that he dwelt at Gayā].^[1] He confessed aññā by exalting the washing away of evil, thus:

[345] At morn, at noonday, at the eventide
Thrice in the day I gat me at Gayā
Down in the water at Gayā's spring feast,^[1]
For 'sins that I have done in other births,

[346] In days gone by, those here and now hereby
I wash away: — 'thus did I once believe.

[347] I heard a voice that uttered winning words,
Whereof the burden wedded Norm and Good.
And on their meaning, true and genuine,
I pondered much and reasoned earnestly.

[348] Now from all evil am I truly bathed,
Cleansed from error, pure, immaculate.
In purity heir of the Purified,
His child, even the Buddha's very son.

[349] For I have plunged into the Eightfold Stream,
And every evil thing I've washed away.
The Threefold Wisdom have I found and won,
And all the Buddha bids us do is done.

 

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^[1] Oddly enough, the Commentary does not mention his relationship to Uruveḷa-Kassapa, nor to Kassapa of the River. See Vinaya Texts, loc. cit

^[2] The Commentary repeats (cf. above, p. 181) that the annual sacramental festival in the month of Phagguṇa is here alluded to, and not the name of the town only, as Dr. Neumann holds.