[47] 9.
"O you clad in yellow garments, with yellow banner,
adorned with yellow ornaments,
your limbs anointed with yellow sandalwood,
wearing yellow lotuses;
with yellow palace and couch, with yellow seat, with yellow food,
with yellow parasol, yellow chariot, yellow horse, and yellow fan —
what deed (kamma) did you do, good lady,
formerly, when in human existence?
O devatā, being asked, declare:
of what deed is this the fruit?"
"There is, venerable sir, a creeper named kosātakī,
bitter, coveted by none.
Four of its flowers I brought as an offering toward the stūpa (thūpa),
dedicating them to the relics of the Teacher
with a mind of serene confidence.
I was not watching the path by which it [the cow] came,
my mind being fixed on that alone;
then a cow slew me,
my heart's aim not yet having reached the stūpa.
And had I heaped up that [merit] in full,
surely there would have been for me still more than this.
By that deed, O lord of devas,
Maghavā, elephant among devas,
having abandoned the human body,
I have come to companionship with you."
Having heard this, the overlord of the Thirty,
Maghavā, elephant among devas,
inspiring the devas of Tāvatiṃsa with confidence,
said this to Mātali:
"See, Mātali, this marvelous
and manifold fruit of deeds!
Even a slight gift that is given
becomes merit (puñña) of great fruit.
When the mind (citta) is full of confidence,
there is no offering (dakkhiṇā) reckoned small —
whether to the Tathāgata, the Fully Awakened One,
or else to a disciple of his.
Come, Mātali, let us too, more and more,
do honor to the relics (dhātu) of the Tathāgata;
happy is the heaping-up of merits.
Whether [the Tathāgata] yet remains or has attained final Nibbāna (nibbuta),
when the mind is equal, the fruit is equal;
for it is by reason of the mind's aspiration
that beings go to a good destination.
Truly for the benefit of many
do Tathāgatas arise:
having rendered service to them,
donors go to heaven (sagga)."
The Yellow Mansion (Pītavimāna), the ninth [is ended].
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.