ལས་ཀྱ་རྣམ་པར་འགྱར་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་ཆས་ཀྱ་གཞང 14

14

assistants, relatives, and clan members;¹⁹⁹ one will have many possessions; and one’s treasury and granary will always be well filled. One will be happy and possess many mounts and carriages.²⁰⁰ Throughout, one is enjoying happiness, but later it diminishes and is exhausted. Having thus arrived at unhappiness, the person who has accumulated such an action consequently is powerful, wealthy, and happy at first; but later, weakened by hunger, becomes unhappy.

“What kind of action, when accumulated, leads a person to be unhappy at first, and happy in the future as a karmic result?²⁰¹ Suppose one makes an offering without faith at first, but later one’s mind grows faithful and one feels elated.²⁰² If one is reborn as a human, one will be born into a poor family. Food and possessions will be scarce. From a state of being distressed and without food and clothing, one will later become powerful, wealthy, and happy, and everything will increase. A person who has thus come to lack nothing²⁰³ is unhappy at first but becomes happy in the future.

“What kind of action, when accumulated, leads a person to be happy at first, and happy in the future? Suppose that one makes a lavish offering and gives it joyfully, and that because of giving, one’s own mind becomes happy, and one does not have regrets later. The karmic fruit for one such as this, if reborn as human, is that one will be born into a wealthy family and enjoy abundant wealth. After becoming an important person of high rank, one will have many ministers, assistants, relatives, and clan members; one will have plentiful possessions, and the granary will always be full. One will be profoundly happy and possess many mounts and carriages. Born in such a family, happiness of that kind will arise and increase.²⁰⁴ Therefore, a person, by accumulating such an action, will be happy at first, and in the future.

“What kind of action, when accumulated, leads a person to be unhappy at first, and unhappy in the future as a karmic result?²⁰⁵ Suppose one has abandoned one’s virtuous friend, no one at all has encouraged one to engage in generosity, and one also has not made any offerings to others on one’s own accord. If one such as this is reborn as a human, one will be poor and famished, lacking food and drink, lacking clothing, and therefore living in distress, or one will live without food, drink, or clothing. Also, in the future, due to those conditions one will not become happy or enjoy an increase in resources. One who has accumulated such an action will not be happy at first and will also be unhappy in the future.

“What kind of action, when accumulated, leads a person to be stingy although being wealthy as a karmic result? Suppose one is not at all magnanimous toward worthy recipients of offerings and offers only a small amount; through being parsimonious when giving, while nonetheless making it a habit, one will be born in a wealthy family. Although one will have at one’s disposal extensive wealth and many possessions, one will be stingy. A person who has accumulated such an action will, although wealthy, be very stingy.

“What kind of action leads a person to be wealthy and generous as a karmic result?²⁰⁶ Suppose one offers lavishly and has developed the habit of making very a large offering to a worthy recipient of offerings. If one is reborn as a human, one will be reborn into a wealthy family; one can lead a life of abundance in food and possessions,²⁰⁷ and one will be a generous person. The accumulation of such an action leads to being wealthy and generous.

“What kind of action leads a person to be poor and generous as a karmic result? Suppose one offers lavishly and has made it a habit to make a large offering to those who are not worthy recipients of offerings. If one is reborn as a human, one will be reborn into a poor family,