Pv 33The Deer-Hunter (2nd)
Pāli / Sanskrit:Dutiyamigaluddakapetavatthu
Taking the life of another will only lead to suffering.
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– GHOST STORIES
– MINOR COLLECTION
3.8
BJT 497"In the peaked house and in the palace, on the long couch spread with a long-haired woolen carpet, you took delight in skilled performances with five kinds of musical instruments.
BJT 498Then, at the end of the night until the rising of the sun, you were cast out in the charnel ground, experiencing much suffering.
BJT 499So what evil deed was done, by body, by speech, or by mind? Through the ripened fruit of what karma do you experience this suffering?"
BJT 500"In lovely Rājagaha, in beautiful Giribbaja, I was formerly a hunter of wild animals, and I was an unrestrained hunter.
BJT 501I had a devoted friend who was a faithful male lay follower. The monk who regularly visited his home was a disciple of the Blessed Gotama.
BJT 502Pitying me, that friend also restrained me time and again: 'Dear friend, do not create evil karma, do not go to the realm of suffering.
BJT 503If you desire well-being after death, abstain from the taking of life, from lack of restraint.' I listened to his words, he who longed for my happiness and who was compassionate toward my benefit.
BJT 504Yet, being one who had long delighted in evil, without discernment, I did not follow all of his counsel. That one, of vast intelligence, out of compassion further prescribed for me a form of restraint:
BJT 505'If, friend, you kill living beings during the day, then let you have restraint during the night.' I, having slain living beings during the day, abstained and was restrained during the night.
BJT 506Now at night I am entirely content; during the day I go to a state of suffering, being gnawed. By that wholesome karma, I enjoy non-human pleasures during the night; during the day, dogs that have just been beaten come near me and gnaw me everywhere.
BJT 507And those who constantly pursue and always adhere to the teaching of the Fortunate One—I think that those persons fully attain the very state of the Deathless, the unconditioned state."
The ghost story of the deer-hunter, the second, is the eighth.
Translated by Bhikkhu Indacanda, 2011. Based on the Buddha Jayanthi edition of the Pali canon, as corrected by Bhikkhu Indacanda. Full text, translation, and notes are available at the translator's website: http://tamtangpaliviet.net/.
Used by kind permission of the translator.
Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.
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