[111] "Upon the unparting water here in the Gaṅgā you go —
naked, in your fore half like a ghost of the departed (peta), yet wearing garlands, adorned.
Where will you go, peta? Where will your dwelling be?"
"I shall go to Cundaṭṭhila" — so speaks that peta —
"between Vāsabhagāma, hard by Bārāṇasī."
And seeing him, the great minister renowned as Koliya
gave to the peta a meal of parched flour (sattubhatta) and a pair of yellow cloths.
While the boat lay to, he had these given to a barber;
and upon their being given to the barber, on the instant [the fruit] was seen upon the peta.
Then, clad in fine raiment, wearing garlands, adorned —
for the peta standing on that spot the offering (dakkhiṇā) took effect.
Therefore, out of compassion, one should give for the petas again and again.
Some clothed in rags, others clothed in their own hair,
petas go forth after food; they set out in every direction.
Some, having run even far, turn back having gained nothing;
famished and swooning they go, dashed down upon the ground;
and some, fallen right there, dashed down upon the ground —
having done no good before — [lie] as if scorched by fire in the blazing heat.
"Formerly we were of evil character — housewives, mothers of families;
though there were things fit to be given, we made no island [of refuge] for ourselves.
Food and drink indeed in plenty — even cast away it was —
yet to those gone forth (pabbajita), faring rightly, we gave nothing at all.
Averse to work, indolent, fond of sweet things, gluttonous,
givers of a mere lump of a morsel, we reviled those who received.
Those houses and those slave-women, those very ornaments of ours —
others take their pleasure in them; we are sharers in suffering (dukkha)."
Despised, they become basket-weaver women, cartwright women, and huntresses;
caṇḍāla women they become, destitute women, and barber-women, again and again.
Whatever families are low and wretched,
in those very ones are they born: such is the destiny (gati) of the miser.
But those who did good before — givers, rid of miserliness —
fill heaven (sagga) full and illumine the Nandana [Grove];
and having delighted in the Vejayanta Palace, enjoying pleasures at will,
when they pass away from there they are born in exalted families endowed with wealth:
in gabled hall and palace, on a couch spread with fleecy rugs,
their limbs fanned with peacock-tail fans, born into a family, possessed of glory.
From lap to lap they pass, wearing garlands, adorned;
nurses wait upon them evening and morning, [tending] to their comfort.
This is not for those who have made no merit (puñña); for those alone who have made merit is this
sorrowless, delightful Nandana, the great grove of the Thirty (Tidasa) gods.
For those who have made no merit there is no happiness, here or in the world beyond;
but for those who have made merit there is happiness, both here and in the world beyond.
By those who long for companionship with them much that is wholesome (kusala) must be done;
for those who have made merit rejoice in heaven, endowed with riches.
The Abhijjamāna Peta Story, the first.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.