[123] 3.
There was a king, Piṅgalaka by name, lord of the Suraṭṭhas;
having gone to attend upon the Moriyas, he came back again to Suraṭṭha.
In the heat, at the midday hour, the king came upon a mire;
he saw a delightful road — a pathway conjured up by petas (departed spirits).
The king addressed his charioteer: "This road is delightful,
secure, safe, and auspicious;
drive on by this very road, charioteer — from here it is near to the Suraṭṭha country."
By it the king of Suraṭṭha set out together with his fourfold army.
A man, terrified in appearance, said this to the king of Suraṭṭha:
"We have entered upon a wrong road, frightful, hair-raising:
in front the road appears, but behind none is seen;
we have entered upon a wrong road — into the presence of Yama's men;
a non-human odour wafts; a dreadful noise is heard."
Alarmed, the king of Suraṭṭha said this to his charioteer:
"We have entered upon a wrong road, frightful, hair-raising:
only in front is the road seen, and behind none is seen;
we have entered upon a wrong road — into the presence of Yama's men;
a non-human odour wafts; a dreadful noise is heard."
And mounting upon his elephant's back, gazing out to the four quarters,
he saw a banyan tree (nigrodha), a tree rich in shade,
like a dark storm-cloud in colour, its crown gleaming like a rain-cloud.
The king addressed his charioteer: "What is this vast thing that appears,
like a dark storm-cloud in colour, its crown gleaming like a rain-cloud?"
"That, great king, is a banyan, a tree rich in shade,
like a dark storm-cloud in colour, its crown gleaming like a rain-cloud."
Thither the king of Suraṭṭha set out, to where that vast one appeared,
like a dark storm-cloud in colour, its crown gleaming like a rain-cloud.
Dismounting from his elephant's back, the king approached the tree;
he sat down at the root of the tree with his ministers and retinue;
he saw a jug filled with drinking-water and daintily wrought cakes.
And a man with the appearance of a deva, adorned with every ornament,
approached the king of Suraṭṭha and said this:
"Welcome to you, great king, and your coming is no ill coming!
Let your majesty drink the water; eat the cakes, O tamer of foes."
When the king with his ministers and retinue had drunk the water,
and had eaten the cakes and drunk, the king of Suraṭṭha said this:
"Are you a devatā, or a gandhabba, or Sakka Purindada?
Not knowing, we ask you: how are we to know you?"
"I am not a deva, nor a gandhabba, nor yet Sakka Purindada:
I am a peta, great king, come here from Suraṭṭha."
"Of what virtue were you, of what conduct, formerly in Suraṭṭha?
Through what holy life (brahmacariya) of yours is this power now yours?"
"Hear that, great king, tamer of foes, increaser of the realm —
and let the ministers, the councillors, and the brahmin chaplain (purohita) hear.
In Suraṭṭha, sire, I was a man of evil heart,
one of wrong view (micchādiṭṭhi), immoral, a miser, an abuser.
I hindered the many folk who were giving and doing [good works];
when others were giving, I made obstacles, [saying:]
'There is no result of giving — whence any fruit of restraint?
There is no such thing as a teacher — who shall tame the untamed?
Beings are all just equal — there is none who should honour the eldest in a family;
there is no strength or energy — whence a man's exertion?
There is no such thing as fruit of giving; it does not purify one who bears enmity;
a mortal gains what is to be gained; he is carried along by what is born of destiny's turning.
There is no mother, no father, no brother; there is no world beyond this one;
there is nothing given, nothing offered; even [merit] well laid up is not found.
Even if one should slay a man, or cut off another's head,
no one slays anyone at all — [the blade passes] within the interval between the seven [substances].
The soul (jīva) cannot be cut, cannot be split — eight-cornered, round as a ball,
five hundred yojanas [in extent]: who is able to cut the soul?
Just as a ball of thread, when thrown,
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.