Verses on Dhamma 2.7.p27

2.7.p27

Sā tato paṭṭhāya pana sayaṃmatamacchaṃ labhati vā, na vā. Alabhamānā katipāhaccayeneva sussitvā kālaṃ katvā tassa sīlassa phalena bārāṇasiyaṃ kumbhakārassa dhītā hutvā nibbatti. Athassā pannarasasoḷasavassuddesikakāle sakko ‘‘kuhiṃ nu kho sā nibbattā’’ti āvajjento disvā, ‘‘idāni mayā tattha gantuṃ vaṭṭatī’’ti eḷālukavaṇṇena paññāyamānehi sattahi ratanehi yānakaṃ pūretvā taṃ pājento bārāṇasiṃ pavisitvā, ‘‘ammatātā, eḷālukāni gaṇhatha gaṇhathā’’ti ugghosento vīthiṃ paṭipajji. Muggamāsādīni gahetvā āgate pana ‘‘mūlena na demī’’ti vatvā, ‘‘kathaṃ desī’’ti vutte, ‘‘sīlarakkhikāya itthiyā dammī’’ti āha. ‘‘Sīlaṃ nāma, sāmi, kīdisaṃ, kiṃ kāḷaṃ, udāhu nīlādivaṇṇa’’nti? ‘‘Tumhe ‘sīlaṃ kīdisa’ntipi na jānātha, kimeva naṃ rakkhissatha, sīlarakkhikāya pana dassāmī’’ti. ‘‘Sāmi, esā kumbhakārassa dhītā ‘sīlaṃ rakkhāmī’ti vicarati, etissā dehī’’ti. Sāpi naṃ ‘‘tena hi mayhaṃ dehi, sāmī’’ti āha. ‘‘Kāsi tva’’nti? ‘‘Ahaṃ avijahitapañcasīlā’’ti. ‘‘Tuyhamevetāni mayā ānītānī’’ti yānakaṃ pājento tassā gharaṃ gantvā aññehi anāhariyaṃ katvā eḷālukavaṇṇena devadattiyaṃ dhanaṃ datvā attānaṃ jānāpetvā, ‘‘idaṃ te jīvitavuttiyā dhanaṃ, pañcasīlāni akhaṇḍādīni katvā rakkhāhī’’ti vatvā pakkāmi.

Thenceforth she used for food either fish that had died a natural death or none at all. After only a few days had passed, she shriveled up and died, and solely as the fruit of her virtuous conduct was reborn at Benāres as the daughter of a potter. When she was about fifteen or sixteen years old, Sakka considered within himself, “Where has she been reborn?” Perceiving that she had been reborn at Benāres as the daughter of a potter, he said to himself, “I ought now to go to her.”

So filling a cart with the seven kinds of precious stones disguised as cucumbers, he drove into the city of Benāres. “Come, get cucumbers!” he cried, as he entered the street. But when people came to him with coins in their hands, he said, “I do not part with my cucumbers for a price.” “On what terms do you part with them, then?” the people asked him. “I give them to the woman that keeps the Precepts,” he replied. “Master, what do you mean by ‘precepts’? Are they black or brown or of some other color?” “You don’t even know what Precepts are; much less will you keep them. I will give my cucumbers to the woman who keeps the Precepts.”

“Master, there is a potter’s daughter who is always going about saying, ‘I keep the Precepts.’ Give them to her.” The potter’s daughter said to him, "Very well, master, give them to me." "Who are you?" "I am a maiden that has never failed to keep the Precepts." "For you alone have I brought these," said Sakka. And driving his cart to her house, he presented to her, in the guise of cucumbers, celestial treasure which cannot be taken away by others. And making his identity known to her, he said, "Here is wealth sufficient for you to live on. Keep the Five Precepts unbroken." So saying, he departed.