[8] (If, by giving up a limited happiness,
one would behold abundant happiness,
let the wise one give up the limited happiness,
contemplating the abundant happiness.)
Outside the walls they stand,
and at the junctions and the crossroads;
at the door-posts they stand,
having come to their own home.
Yet when abundant¹ food and drink,
fare both hard and soft, is set out,
no one remembers those beings,
owing to those beings' kamma.
Thus do those who are compassionate
give for their relatives,
at the proper time, drink and food
that is pure, excellent, and suitable:
"May this be for our relatives!
May our relatives be happy!"
And they, having come together there —
the departed relatives (petā) assembled —
respectfully rejoice in appreciation
over the abundant¹ food and drink:
"Long may our relatives live,
on whose account we have this gain!
Honor has been paid to us,
and the givers are not without fruit."
For there is no ploughing there,
nor is cattle-herding found there;
there is no trading such as here,
no buying and selling with gold.
On what is given from here
the departed, those who have died, subsist there.
As water rained upon the heights²
flows down to the low ground,
even so, what is given from here
avails the departed.
As the full rivers
fill up the ocean,
even so, what is given from here
avails the departed.
"He gave to me, he did for me;
they were my relatives, my friends, my companions" —
recollecting what they did in the past,
one should give offerings (dakkhiṇā) for the departed.
For neither weeping nor sorrow
nor any other lamentation
is of any avail to the departed,
though their relatives remain thus.
But this offering that has been given,
well established in the Saṅgha,
serves his welfare for a long time
and avails him at once.
So this duty to relatives has here been shown,
and lofty honor has been paid to the departed,
and strength has been furnished to the bhikkhus,
and no small merit (puñña) has been generated by you.
The Tirokuḍḍakaṇḍa (the "Outside-the-Walls" Section) is concluded.
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The Nidhikaṇḍa (the "Treasure-Store" Section) in the Khuddakapāṭha
¹ Ma. (Burmese-script edition) reads pahūte.
² Ma. (Burmese-script edition) reads unname.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.