Pv 26Without Rippling

– PETAVATTHU

– THE MINOR SECTION

3.1

BJT 392"You move here, upon the river Gaṅgā, without causing the water to be broken apart. You are naked, yet your upper half does not resemble that of a peta; you wear a garland and are adorned. O peta, where will you go? Where will your dwelling place be?"

BJT 393That peta said: "I will go to Cundatthika, along the road leading to the village of Vāsabha, and in the vicinity of Bārāṇasī."

BJT 394And having seen that peta, the well-known minister named Koliya gave to that peta barley cakes, food, and two bolts of yellow cloth.

BJT 395While the boat was halted, the minister had those things conveyed to the barber; and when they had been given to the barber, the offerings were at once seen upon the body of the peta.

BJT 396Therefore the peta was clothed in fine fabric, wearing a garland, and adorned. The offering placed rightly brought benefit to that peta. Therefore, out of compassion for them, one should give to the petas again and again.

BJT 397Some are clothed in rags, others cover themselves with their own hair; the petas wander about, going this way and that in search of food.

BJT 398Some run off to distant places, receive nothing, and return hungry, dizzy, staggering, and falling down upon the ground.

BJT 399There, some of them fall and collapse upon the ground, as though scorched by fire during the summer season, because in the past they did not perform good deeds.

BJT 400"We, in times past, were of evil character — female householders, mothers within households; even while objects of generosity were at hand, we did not create an island of refuge for ourselves.

BJT 401Even when plentiful food and drink was being thrown away, we did not give anything to renunciants who were practicing rightly.

BJT 402Fond of wrongful conduct, lazy, fond of sweets, gluttonous, giving food only in small morsels, we reviled those who received.

BJT 403Those houses, those servant-girls, and those ornaments of ours — they serve others, while we receive suffering as our share.

BJT 404When reborn as humans after the time as petas, they become despised basket-weavers, dishonest cartwrights, lowly and poverty-stricken people, and bath-attendants again and again.

BJT 405Whatever families are lowly and poor — it is in those very families that they are born; this is the lot of the miserly.

BJT 406Those who in times past performed good deeds, who were donors free from miserliness — those beings fill the heavens and illuminate the Nandana garden.

BJT 407They delight in the Vejayanta palace, enjoying sensual pleasures as they wish. Dying from there, they are reborn in noble families of great wealth.

BJT 408In towered mansions and in palaces, reclining on couches spread with long-piled woolen carpets, their limbs fanned cool by those who hold peacock-feather fans — born into honored families, they are people of great renown.

BJT 409Wearing garlands and adorned, they pass from one set of arms to another; wet-nurses attend upon them day and night, seeking to create their comfort.

BJT 410The beloved, sorrowless Nandana, the great garden of the Thirty-Three — this place is not for those who have not performed meritorious deeds; this place is only for those who have performed meritorious deeds.

BJT 411For those who have not performed meritorious deeds, there is no happiness in this life or the next; but for those who have performed meritorious deeds, there is happiness in this life and in the next life as well.

BJT 412Those who wish to be companions of those devas must perform many good deeds, for those who have performed meritorious deeds rejoice in the heavens, endowed with all prosperity."

The story of the Peta Without Rippling of the Water is the first.