法苑珠林 26.13

26.13

Third, in the preta destiny, there is also cognition attained at birth that knows others' minds and so forth. How is this known to be so? In the past there was a woman possessed by a preta, emaciated and near death. A sorcerer asked the preta: 'Why are you now troubling this woman?' The preta then replied: 'In five hundred past lives this woman constantly took my life, and in five hundred past lives I also constantly took her life. Resentment has repaid resentment, and down to the present it has not ceased. If she can relinquish it, I too will relinquish it.' The sorcerer accordingly told that woman: 'If you spare your life, you should relinquish your resentful mind.' The woman replied: 'I have already relinquished it.' The preta examined the woman's mind and saw that she had not relinquished her resentment at all; fearing her life would not be preserved, she falsely claimed to have relinquished it. Thereupon the preta ended her life, left her, and departed.