PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto II.
Psalms of Two Verses
CLXVIII
Vajjita
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
Reborn in this Buddha-age in a wealthy Kosalan family, after deceasing from the Brahma world, he ever wept in his mother's arms. And because he could not endure the touch of a woman, he came to be called Vajjita - 'abstaining.' Come of age, he saw the Master work the twin-miracle,[1] and believing, he entered the Order, and acquired sixfold abhiññā. Thereupon remembering his former existence, he was stirred with holy emotion, and said:
[215] A traveller I these long, long ages past,
And round about the realms of life I've whirled;
One of the many-folk and blind as they,
No Ariyan truths had I the power to see.
[216] [156] But earnestly I strove for light and calm;
And now all shattered lies the endless way.
All future bournes abolished utterly,
Now cometh never more rebirth for me.
And this became the Thera's confession of aññā.
[1] Cf. p. 36, n. 1.
