[861] I shall make a simile for you, great king, for your own good;
for some of the wise here in the world understand the meaning by means of a simile.
Just as a merchants' ship, heavy-laden with cargo beyond measure,
taking on too great a load, sinks down in the ocean,
even so a person, heaping up evil (pāpa) little by little,
taking on too great a load, sinks down into hell (niraya).
Not yet, O lord of the earth, is the load of Alāta full;
and he goes on heaping up that evil by which he will go to a bad destination (duggati).
Merit (puñña) was done in the past, O lord of the earth, by Alāta himself;
the happiness that he obtains, sire, is the very outflow (nissanda) of that merit.
That merit of his is wearing away — that is why he is bent on what is without virtue;
forsaking the straight road, he runs along the wrong road.
Just as a balance held up for weighing, its scale-pan sunk low,
lifts up the balance-head when the burden is taken off,
even so a person, heaping up merit even little by little,
is bound for heaven — even as the slave Vījaka, delighting in what is good.
The suffering (dukkha) that the slave Vījaka sees in himself today —
it is evil he himself did in the past that he is now undergoing.
That evil of his is wearing away — that is why he delights in discipline (vinaya).
But do not take up with Kassapa and stray onto the wrong track!
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.