Near Sāvatthī. Then King Pasenadi Kosala went to the Blessed One in the middle of the day and, on arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was sitting there the Blessed One said to him, “Well now, great king, where are you coming from in the middle of the day?”
“Just now, lord, a money-lending householder died in Sāvatthī. I have come from conveying his heirless fortune to the royal palace: ten million in silver, to say nothing of the gold. But even though he was a money-lending householder, his enjoyment of food was like this: He ate broken rice & pickle brine. His enjoyment of clothing was like this: He wore three lengths of hempen cloth. His enjoyment of a vehicle was like this: He rode in a dilapidated little cart with an awning of leaves.”
“That’s the way it is, great king. That’s the way it is. Once in the past that money-lending householder provided alms for the Private Buddha named Tagarasikhi. Saying (to his servant), ‘Give alms to the contemplative,’ he got up from his seat and left. After giving, though, he felt regret: ‘It would have been better if my slaves or servants had eaten those alms.’ And he also murdered his brother’s only heir for the sake of his fortune. Now, the result of his action in having provided alms for the Private Buddha named Tagarasikhi was that he appeared seven times in a good destination, a heavenly world. And through the remaining result of that action he acted as moneylender seven times in this very same Sāvatthī. But the result of his action in feeling regret after giving (those) alms—‘It would have been better if my slaves or servants had eaten those alms’—was that his mind didn’t lend itself to the lavish enjoyment of food, didn’t lend itself to the lavish enjoyment of clothing, didn’t lend itself to the lavish enjoyment of a vehicle, didn’t lend itself to the lavish enjoyment of the five strings of sensuality. The result of his action in having murdered his brother’s only heir for the sake of his fortune was that he boiled in hell for many years, many hundreds of years, many thousands of years, many hundred-thousands of years. And through the remaining result of that action he has left this seventh heirless fortune to the royal treasury.
“Now, because of the wasting away of that money-lending householder’s old merit and his non-accumulation of new merit, he is today boiling in the Great Roruva hell.”
“So he has reappeared in the Great Roruva hell, lord?”
“Yes, great king. He has reappeared in the Great Roruva hell.”
That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-Gone, the Teacher, said further:
“Grain, wealth, silver, gold,
or whatever other belongings you have;
slaves, servants, errand-runners,
& any dependents:
You must go without taking
any of them;
you must leave
all of them
behind.What you do
with body, speech, or mind:
that is yours;
taking
that you go;
that’s
your follower,
like a shadow
that never leaves.Thus you should do what is fine
as a stash for the next life.
Acts of merit
are the support for beings
in their after-death world.”
Read this translation of Saṁyutta Nikāya 3.20 Aputtaka Sutta. Heirless (2)by Bhikkhu Ṭhanissaro on DhammaTalks.org. Or read a different translation on SuttaCentral.net, or SuttaFriends.org. Or listen on PaliAudio.com or SC-Voice.net. Or explore the Pali on DigitalPaliReader.online.
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