La Dalu Bopath Lyrics by Karunarathna Diwulgane

As the tender young Bodhi leaves sway softly,
Queen Yashodhara…
where she could bear it no longer, she wept in secret,
remembering the bond they had shared through past lives in saṃsāra (the cycle of rebirth).
As the tender young Bodhi leaves sway softly.

Along every road and crossing he travelled, life after life,
she stood like an unshaken pillar of light.
Through all of this saṃsāra, until he reached nirvana,
she followed behind him like a shadow.

As the tender young Bodhi leaves sway softly….

When her bruised, loving heart was shaken and she wept,
Yashodhara fell at his feet.
The flowers of nirvana bloomed, and she gave her blessing,
and like a morning, the lamp burned out into peace.

As the tender young Bodhi leaves sway softly….

This is a devotional song about Yashodhara, the woman who was the Buddha’s wife before he left home to seek enlightenment. It is set in the quiet space under the Bodhi tree, and it looks back across the many lifetimes she spent at the Bodhisatta’s side, life after life, as he made his long journey toward becoming the Buddha. The opening image, tender young Bodhi leaves swaying softly, sets the gentle, sacred mood. The Bodhi tree is the tree the Buddha sat under when he reached enlightenment, so its fresh leaves stand for awakening itself, and their soft trembling mirrors the trembling of Yashodhara’s own heart.

The first verse catches her in a private moment of grief. She has held it in for so long, but here, where she can bear it no longer, she weeps in secret, and what brings the tears is the memory of everything they were to each other across countless past births in saṃsāra, the long cycle of rebirth in which, the tradition says, she walked beside him in life after life.

The heart of the song is in how it pictures her constancy. Along every road and river crossing he travelled, through every lifetime, she stood like “an unshaken pillar of light,” a steady lamp that never wavers, and she followed him “like a shadow” all the way until he saw nirvana. A shadow never leaves the thing it belongs to. That is the image of her love and her loyalty, never out in front, never demanding, just always there, one step behind, for as long as the journey took.

The last verse is where the ache turns into release. Her bruised, loving heart finally breaks open and she falls weeping at his feet, but instead of clinging she lets go. “The flowers of nirvana bloomed” and she gives her blessing, her sādhu, to his path and to her own. The closing line is the most moving, like a lamp burning out gently as morning comes, her longing quietens into peace. A lamp going out at dawn is not loss; the light is no longer needed because the sun has risen. It is the song’s way of saying she found her own calm at last, her love completed not by holding on but by letting him, and herself, arrive.