Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/130

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14
THE NIDĀNAKATHĀ.

"This man lies here having made the resolution to become a Buddha, his prayer will be answered; at the end of four asankheyyas and a hundred thousand cycles hence he will become a Buddha named Gotama, and in that birth the city Kapilavatthu will be his residence, Queen Māyā will be his mother. King Suddhodana his father, his chief disciple will be the thera Upatissa, his second disciple the thera Kolita, the Buddha's servitor will be Ānanda, his chief female disciple the nun Khemā, the second the nun Uppalavannā. When he attains to years of ripe knowledge, having retired from the world and made the great exertion, having received at the foot of a banyan-tree a meal of rice milk, and partaken of it by the banks of the Neranjarā, having ascended the throne of Knowledge, he will, at the foot of an Indian fig-tree, attain Supreme Buddhahood. Therefore it is said,

70. Dīpankara, knower of all worlds, receiver of offerings,
Standing by that which pillowed my head, spoke these words:

71. See ye this austere hermit with his matted hair,
Countless ages hence he will be a Buddha in this world.

72. Lo, the great Being departing from pleasant Kapila,
Having fought the great fight, performed all manner of austerities,

73. Having sat at the foot of the Ajapāla tree, and there received rice pottage,
Shall approach the Neranjarā river.

74. Having received the rice pottage on the banks of the Neranjarā, the Conqueror
Shall come by a fair road prepared for him to the foot of the Bodhi-tree.

75. Then, unrivalled and glorious, reverentially saluting the throne of Bodhi,
At the foot of an Indian fig-tree he shall attain Buddhahood.

76. The mother that bears him shall be called Māyā,
His father will be Suddhodana, he himself will be Gotama.

77. His chief disciples will be Upatissa and Kolita,
Void of human passion, freed from desire, calm-minded and tranquil.

78. The servitor Ānanda will attend upon the Conqueror,
Khemā and Uppalavannā will be his chief female disciples,

79. Void of human passion, freed from desire, calm-minded and tranquil.
The sacred tree of this Buddha is called Assattha.