Vv 18Servant Girl’s Mansion
Pāli / Sanskrit:Dāsivimānavatthu
Only those who do good, wholesome deeds are reborn in heaven.
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– STORIES OF HEAVENLY MANSIONS
– A. HEAVENLY MANSIONS OF WOMEN
– THE CITTALATĀ CHAPTER
2.1
BJT 156"Just like Sakka, the Lord of the gods, you lead a company of women wandering about in the lovely Cittalatā garden, causing all the directions to blaze with light, like the star osadhī.
BJT 157By what have you gained this complexion? By what has this been accomplished for you here? And by what do pleasurable enjoyments arise for you?
BJT 158O celestial being of great might, I ask you: 'When you were a human being, what meritorious deed did you perform? By what do you possess the might to shine so brilliantly, and your complexion illuminates all the directions?'"
BJT 159That celestial being, delighted at being questioned by the venerable Moggallāna, being asked the question, explained which deed this result belongs to:
BJT 160"I, when a human being in the human realm, was a female servant, one who waited upon others in a household. Being a female lay disciple of the renowned Gotama of the Clear Vision, I strove in accordance with the teaching of such a one.
BJT 161Let this body be broken apart as intended; never let there be any slackening here. The path of the five precepts is good and safe.
BJT 162It is without thorns, without entanglement, straight, and has been pointed out by persons of virtue. See the fruit of striving in what this girl has attained:
BJT 163I am the beloved queen of Sakka, the Heavenly King, who holds sovereign power. Sixty thousand musical instruments perform entertainment for me.
BJT 164The male musicians Ālamba, Gaggara, Bhīma, Sādhuvādī, Saṁsaya, Pokkhara, and Suphassa, and the celestial maidens Vīṇā, Mokkhā, …
BJT 165… Nandā, together with Sunandā, Soṇadinnā, Sucimhitā, Alambusā, Missakesī, and the fierce celestial maiden Puṇḍarīkā, …
BJT 166… Eṇiphassā, and Suphassā, Subhaddā, and Muduvādinī — these and others are those who perform entertainment most excellently among the celestial beings.
BJT 167At the appropriate time, the celestial beings come of their own accord and say: 'Come, let us dance, let us sing. Come, let us delight you.'
BJT 168This lovely, sorrowless Nandana garden, the great garden in the realm of the Thirty-Three, is not for those who have not performed meritorious deeds; this place is only for those who have performed meritorious deeds.
BJT 169There is no happiness for those who have not performed meritorious deeds, here or elsewhere; but there is happiness for those who have performed meritorious deeds, in this very place and beyond as well.
BJT 170For those who aspire to such companionship, much good should be done, for those who have performed meritorious deeds are those who have accomplished wealth and rejoice in the heavenly realm."
The Heavenly Mansion of the Female Servant.
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.
The “…” is an abbreviation carried over from the Pāli original itself, called peyyāla. The early canon was memorized and recited, so passages repeated verbatim from a preceding discourse were commonly contracted to an elision mark rather than written out in full. Venerable Thích Minh Châu's translation preserves this convention. Some texts therefore look short — but that is the canonical form, not missing content or a truncated translation. The elided passages can be read in full in the preceding discourses of the same chapter.
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