[129] 9.
[The Elder Mahāmoggallāna asked:]
"Risen up out of a pit of dung, who are you, standing there in plain sight?
Without doubt you are a doer of evil deeds; why, pray, do you make this noise?"
[The petī replied:]
"Venerable sir, I am a petī (female peta), fallen into misery, belonging to the world of Yama (yamaloka);
having done an evil deed (pāpakamma), I have gone from here to the world of petas (petaloka)."
[The Elder asked:]
"Now what misdeed was done by body, by speech, or by mind?
Through the ripening of what kamma do you undergo this suffering (dukkha)?"
[The petī replied:]
"There was a resident monk (āvāsika) of mine — envious, stingy in regard to families,
attached to my house, a miser and a reviler.
Having listened to his word, I reviled the bhikkhus;
through the ripening of that kamma I have gone from here to the world of petas."
[The Elder asked:]
"He who was the frequenter of your family (kulūpaka) was an enemy in the guise of a friend:
with the breakup of the body, to what destination has that one of weak wisdom gone after death?"
[The petī replied:]
"I stand upon the head, upon the very crown, of that same doer of evil deeds;
and he, arrived in the realm beyond, has become none other than my attendant.
Whatever others void, venerable sir, that must be my food;
and whatever I myself void — upon that does he subsist."
The Story of the Dung-eating Peta (Gūthakhādakapetavatthu), the ninth.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.