བསླབ་པ་ལྔའ་ཕན་ཡན་གྱ་མད 2

2

equal in ethical discipline, equal in generosity, and equal in wisdom, both of you have had this mutual experience in this life, and you will share this experience in other lives, too.”²⁸

Then he spoke the following verses:²⁹

“A man and woman like this,
Who speak to each other lovingly,
Who are both faithful, generous, and self-controlled,³⁰
And who live in accordance with the Dharma,

“Will have abundant wealth
And will be reborn in a good situation.
Their enemies will become unhappy,³¹
And when both are equal in ethical discipline,

“And have practiced the Dharma in this life
With equal virtue and good conduct,
They will next enjoy a deva world
Where they will delight in sensual pleasures.³²

“Therefore, one should guard the five precepts.³³

“These are (1) refraining from killing, (2) refraining from taking what has not been given, (3) refraining from sexual misconduct, (4) refraining from lying, and (5) refraining from drinking alcohol that leads to intoxication. These are the five precepts that one should guard.”

The monks then inquired about the benefits of the five disciplines: “How else, Venerable Bhagavān, should the karmic fruition of refraining from killing be understood? How should the karmic fruition of refraining from taking what has not been given be understood? How should the karmic fruition of refraining from sexual misconduct be understood? How should the karmic fruition of refraining from lying be understood? And how should the karmic fruition of refraining from drinking alcohol that leads to intoxication be understood?”

The Bhagavān responded to their questions so as to be well understood: “Monks, you should regard killing as being like a venomous snake. It is accompanied by many wrongdoings and leads to rebirth in the realm of ghosts, the animal realm, and the hell realms. After the destruction of the body, after death,³⁴ one will be born in the Reviving Hell. There, the guardians of the Reviving Hell