Khuddaka Nikaya - Nettippakarana - Second Grouping - Illustrative Quotations 7

Khuddaka Nikaya - Nettippakarana ( The Guide ) - Second Grouping - Illustrative Quotations 7

ACCORDING TO
KACCANA THERA

TRANSLATED FROM THE PALI BY
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
Pali Text Society
[vii (a)]
911. Herein, what is action ?
(When one is overcome by death1
And letting go the human state,
What is there then that is his own ?
What takes he with him when he goes ?
And what mil follow him as would
His shadow keep him company ?
The merit and the evil, both,
That here a mortal has performed,
That then is there and is his own,
That takes he with him when he goes,
And that will follow him as would
His.shadow keep him company) (§896).
This is action.
912. (Again, bhikkhus, when a fool is on his chair [179] or his bed
or resting on the ground, then the evil actions that he did in the past
through misconduct by body, speech or mind cover him and overspread
and envelop him. Just as the shadow of a great rock-peak in the
evening sun covers and overspreads and envelops the ground, so too,
when a fool is on his chair or his bed or resting on the ground, then
the evil actions that he did in the past through misconduct by body,
speech or mind cover him and overspread and envelop him. Then it
910/1 All Tipitaka refs. have hoti, not atthi, in these contexts.
911/1 Antakenddhipannassa at §896 and maranend^hibhutassa here, though
the rest of the verse is the same.

occurs to the fool 'I have left undone what is good, I have left undone
what is profitable, I have made myself no shelter from anguish, I have
done what is evil, I have done what is cruel, I have done what is wicked.
Whatever is the destination of those who have so acted, there I shall go
when I depart
9
, and he sorrows and laments, beating his breast, he
weeps and becomes distraught) (M. iii, 164-5). (Again, bhikkhus,
when a wise man is on his chair or his bed or resting on the ground,
then the good actions that he did in the past through good conduct by
body, speech and mind cover him and overspread and envelop him.
Just as the shadow of a great rock-peak in the evening sun covers and
overspreads and envelops the ground, so too, when a wise man is on
his chair or his bed or resting on the ground, then the good actions that
he did in the past through good conduct by body, speech and mind cover
him and overspread and envelop him. Then it occurs to the wise
man 'I have left undone what is evil, I have left undone what is cruel,
I have left undone what is wicked, I have done what is good, I have
done what is profitable, I have made myself a shelter from anguish.
Whatever is [180] the destination of those who have so acted, there I
shall go when I depart
9
, and he neither sorrows nor laments, nor,
beating his breast, does he weep and become distraught) (M. iii, 171).
([He knows] 'Merit has been made by me and no evil done. Whatever
is the destination of those who have left undone what is evil, left undone
what is cruel, left undone what is wicked, who have done what is good,
done what is profitable, and made themselves a shelter from anguish,
with that destination I shall coexist in the existence that follows the
departing', and so he has no remorse. Bhikkhus, I say that death
is auspicious, completion of time is auspicious, for a woman or a
man, whether householder or gone forth from the house-life, who has
no remorso ( ).
This is action.
913. (Bhikkhus, there are these three kinds of misconduct. What
three ? Misconduct by body, misconduct by speech, and misconduct
by mind. These three kinds of misconduct) (Iti. 54; Pe 49). (Bhik-
khus, there are three kinds of good conduct. What three ? Good
conduct by body, good conduct by speech, and good conduct by mind.
These three kinds of good conduct) {Iti. 55; Pe 53).
This is action.

[vii (b)]
914. Herein, what is ripening ?
(Bhikkhus, it is gain for you, it is great gain for you, to have found
the moment for living the divine life out. Bhikkhus, I have seen
hells that provide the six bases for contact. There whatever the form
one sees with the eye, one sees only the un-wished-for, never the wished
for, sees only the undesired, never the desired, sees only the disagreeable,
never the agreeable. Whatever the sound one hears with the ear . . .
odour one smells with the nose . . .flavour one tastes with the tongue .. .
tangible one touches with the body . . . Whatever the idea one cognizes
with the mind, one cognizes only the un-wished-for never the wished
for, cognizes only the undesired, never the desired, cognizes only the
disagreeable, never the agreeable. Bhikkhus, it is gain for you, it is
great gain for you, to have found the moment [181] for living the
divine life out. Bhikkhus, I have seen heavens that provide the six
bases for contact. There whatever the form one sees with the eye,
one sees only the wished for, never the un-wished-for, sees only the
desired, never the undesired, sees only the agreeable, never the dis-
agreeable. Whatever the sound one hears with the ear . . . odour one
smells with the nose . . . flavour one tastes with the tongue . . . tangible
one touches with the body . . . Whatever the idea one cognizes with the
mind, one cognizes only the wished for, never the un-wished-for,
cognizes only the desirable, never the undesirable, cognizes only the
agreeable, never the disagreeable.
1
Bhikkhus, it is gain for you, it is
great gain for you, to have found the moment for living the divine
life out) (S. iv, 126).
2
This is ripening.
915. (Full sixty thousand years gone by
Ripened in hell. When will it end ?
There is no end ! Where is the end ?
No sign of any end at all
Appears for you and me, good sir;
For evil we did then perform) {Ja. iii, 47; Pe 49).
This is ripening.
914/1 For 'hell' see n. 786/2.
914/2 For this para cf. Pe 49, lines 13-14 and 58, line 17.

[vii (c)]
916. Herein, what is action and ripening ?
( Whenever a negligent man has done wrong,
Then wherever he goes in the bad destinations
The wrong that he did will [continue to] hurt him
Like a black cobra snake that lays hold of itself ) ( ).
x
The right idea and wrong idea
Have never the same ripening:
The wrong idea guides men to hell,
The right idea brings them to heaven ) (Thag. 304).
This is action and ripening.
917. (Bhikkhus, fear no kinds of merit. It is a designation for the
pleasure that is wished for, desired, dear, and agreeable, [182] namely
t
The kinds of merit
9
. For long I had acquaintance with merit made,
whose ripening was coessential with the wished for, and desirable, the
dear and agreeable. For seven years I maintained lovingkindness in
being in my heart. Thereafter for seven aeons of world-contraction
and world-expansion I never came back to this world; for with the
aeon contracting, I passed on up into the [world of] the Abhassara
(Streaming-Radiance) [High Divinity]; and with the aeon expanding,
I reappeared [in the next lower world] in a High Divinity's empty
mansion. There I was the Divinity, the High Divinity, the Trans-
cendent Being Untranscended, Infallible in Vision, Wielder of
Mastery.
1
And then thirty-six times I was Sakha Ruler of Gods
[in the second paradise of sensual desire]. And many hundred times
I was a Wheel-Turning Monarch2
as a rightful emperor with the
ideal of righteousness, conqueror of the Earth's four corners, with
stabilized provinces, and in possession of the seven Jewels. What
need to speak of local kingship ? It occurred to me [to wonder] 'What
action of mine is it the fruit of, with what action's ripening is it, that I
have now such vast success and might V, [and the answer] occurred to
me 'It is the fruit of three kinds of action of mine, it is with three
kinds of action's ripening, that I now have such vast success and
916/1 The reading is sayarh. The point of the simile thus seems to be that
bad actions cause self-inflicted pain, like that of a cobra biting itself.
917/1 For this description of Brahma ('the High Divinity') see M. Sutta 49
and D. i, 221.
917/2 For the 'Wheel-Turning Monarch' (cakkavatti) see M. Sutta 129.

might: It is owing to giving, it is owing to [self-]tami?ig, and it is
owing to refraining9
) (Iti. 14f.).
Herein, the 'giving', the 'taming' and the 'refraining' are action,
while the ripening, with that as its condition, that was coessential
with the experience, is ripening.
918. Likewise the Oula-Kammavibhanga-Sutta (M. Sutta 135)
should be quoted as taught to the student Subha Todeyyaputta.
Herein, those ideas that conduce to short life and to long life, to
much affliction and to little affliction, to little influence and to
much influence, to uncomely looks and to comely looks, to low
birth and to high birth, to little property and to great property, to
want of understanding and to possession of understanding, [183]
are action, while the short life and long life, . . . the want of under-
standing and the possession of understanding, therein, are ripening.
1
This is action and ripening.