Verses on Dhamma 5.13.p2

5.13.p2

Purimanayeneva hi mahāmoggallānatthero lakkhaṇattherena saddhiṃ gijjhakūṭā orohanto aññatarasmiṃ padese sitaṃ pātvākāsi. Therena sitakāraṇaṃ puṭṭho ‘‘bhagavato santike maṃ puccheyyāsī’’ti vatvā piṇḍāya caritvā satthāraṃ upasaṅkamitvā vanditvā nisinnakāle puna puṭṭho āha – ‘‘ahaṃ, āvuso, ekaṃ petaṃ addasaṃ tigāvutappamāṇena attabhāvena, tassa saṭṭhi ayakūṭasahassāni ādittāni sampajjalitāni uparimatthake patitvā patitvā uṭṭhahanti sīsaṃ bhindanti, bhinnaṃ bhinnaṃ puna samuṭṭhahati, iminā attabhāvena mayā evarūpo attabhāvo na diṭṭhapubbo, ahaṃ taṃ disvā sitaṃ pātvākāsi’’nti. Petavatthusmiñhi –

For under the same circumstances as in the preceding story Elder Moggallāna the Great, while descending from Vulture Peak with Elder Lakkhaṇa, smiled on reaching a certain spot. When Elder Lakkhaṇa asked him why he smiled, he said, "Wait until we are in the presence of the Exalted One and then ask me." When Moggallāna the Great had completed his alms-pilgrimage, he approached the Teacher, saluted him, and sat down respectfully on one side. Thereupon his companion asked him the same question again. Moggallāna replied as follows, "Brother, I saw a ghost three-quarters of a league in height. Sixty thousand sledge-hammers, blazing and burning, rose and fell uninterruptedly on top of his head. Again and again they broke his skull, and again and again his skull sprang up again. When I saw him I smiled, for I thought to myself, 'In my present state of existence I never before saw such a being.'" In the Petavatthu occurs the following Stanza, together with many others, relating to this very ghost: