Dhammapada verse #136

愚夫造作諸惡業，卻不自知（有果報），癡人以自業感苦，宛如以火而自燒。

When the fool does evil deeds
their end he does not know,
such kamma burns the one unwise
as one who’s scorched by fire.

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【第136偈的故事】

有一次，大目犍連尊者與勒叉那尊者一起下山時，看見一隻人面蛇身餓鬼，大目犍連尊者以微笑表示他親眼看見這奇怪的眾生。回到祇樹給孤獨園時，大目犍連尊者當著佛陀的面，向勒叉那說有那麼一隻長長的、全身都在燃燒的人面蛇身餓鬼。佛陀也說他成為佛陀當天，也親眼看見這隻人面蛇身餓鬼。佛陀說很久很久以前迦葉佛在世時，這隻餓鬼是個殘忍的小偷，幾次放火燒燬一位富人的房子，甚至還趁迦葉佛外出化緣時，放火燒掉這位富人捐獻給迦葉佛的精舍。由於這些惡業，他必須長久受報。

　　「愚癡的人造惡業時，不知正在造惡業，但無法逃避業報。」佛陀說。

While residing at the Jētavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse, with reference to a boa constrictor pēta-ghost.

Once upon a time Venerable Moggallàna was descending from Vulture Peak with Venerable Lakkhana, when by Supernatural Vision he beheld a ghost twenty-five leagues long in the form of a boa-constrictor. Flames of fire proceeded from his head and descended on his extremities; flames of fire proceeded from his extremities and descended on his head; flames of fire proceeded from both sides of him and descended on his middle. When the Venerable beheld that ghost he smiled. When the Venerable Lakkhana asked him why he smiled, he replied, “Brother, it is not the proper time to answer that question; wait until we are in the presence of the Buddha, and then ask me.”

When, therefore, Venerable Moggallàna had completed his round for alms in Ràjagaha, and had come into the presence of the Buddha, Venerable Lakkhana repeated his question. Venerable Moggallàna replied as follows, “At that spot, brother, I saw a ghost, and his outward appearance was such and such. When I saw him, I thought to myself, ‘No such ghost as that did I ever see before.’ That is why I smiled.” Then said the Buddha, “Monks, my disciples indeed possess eyes and use them.” Continuing, he confirmed the statement of the Venerable and added, “I saw that very ghost as I sat on the Throne of Enlightenment. However, the thought came into my mind ‘If any refuse to believe my word, it may be to their detriment.’ Therefore I said nothing about it. But now that I have Moggallàna for my witness, I do say it.” When he had thus spoken, in response to a request of the monks, he explained what the ghost had done in a previous state of existence.

The story goes that in the dispensation of the Buddha Kassapa, a treasurer named Sumangala spread the ground with bricks of gold for a space of twenty usabhas (fathoms), expended an equal amount of treasure in building a monastery, and an equal amount in giving a festival in honour of the opening of the monastery. One day, very early in the morning, as he was on his way to pay his respects to the Buddha, he saw hidden in a certain rest house at the gate of the city a certain thief, his feet spattered with mud, his robe drawn over his head. The treasurer said to himself, “This man with feet all spattered with mud must be some night-prowler in hiding.” “Never mind, I know how to get even with you,” thought the thief. And conceiving a grudge against the treasurer, he burned his field seven times, cut off the feet of the cattle in his cattle-pen seven times, and burned his house seven times.

But, in spite of all this, he was unable to satisfy his grudge against the treasurer. So he made friends with the treasurer’s page and asked him, “What is your master the treasurer especially fond of?” “There is nothing he thinks more of than the perfumed chamber,” replied the page. “Very well,” thought the thief, “I will burn up the perfumed chamber and thus satisfy my grudge.” Accordingly, when the Buddha entered the city for alms he broke all the vessels used for drinking and eating and set fire to the perfumed chamber. When the treasurer heard the cry, “The perfumed chamber is on fire!” he immediately went there, but before he arrived at the perfumed chamber it had burned to the ground. The treasurer rebuilt the monastery and pardoned the thief for his crimes. The thief was reborn as the pēta-ghost.

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English source: "Treasury of Truth: Illustrated Dhammapada" by Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero
中文法句出處：《南傳法句經》 了參法師譯
中文故事出處：《法句經故事集》 達摩難陀長老著 周金言譯

Dhammapada verse #135

如牧人以杖，驅牛至牧場，如是老與死．驅逐眾生命。

As with force the cowherds drive
their cattle out to graze,
like this decay and death drive out
the life from all beings.

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【第135偈的故事】

有一次，一群舍衛城的女士到東園鹿子母講堂參加齋戒。該精舍的捐獻者是著名的毘舍佉，她詢問她們為什麼要來齋戒，年長的婦女說希望獲得生天的福報，中年婦女則回答說，希望獲得家庭的幸福，新婚少婦則祈求第一胎能生兒子，年輕小姐則希望找到如意郎君。

　　毘舍佉獲得她們的答案後，就引領她們至世尊處所，並報告她們的所求。

　　世尊說：「毘舍佉！五蘊不停的生、老、死、變化。人一旦出生，就會老，最後死亡。但人們卻不想從輪迴中解脫，仍然留戀輪迴。眾生很難理解，唯有克服世間的欲望才能得到真正的幸福。」

While residing at the Pubbàràma Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse, with reference to five hundred ladies.

Once, five hundred ladies from Sàvatthi came to the Pubbàràma Monastery to keep the Eight Precepts. The donor of the monastery, the well-renowned Visàkhà, asked different age groups of ladies why they had come to keep the fast-day. She got different answers from different age groups for they had come to the monastery for different reasons. The old ladies came to the monastery to keep the fast-day because they hoped to gain the riches and glories of celestial beings in their next existence; the middle-aged ladies had come to the monastery because they did not want to stay under the same roof with the mistresses of their respective husbands. The young married ladies had come because they wanted their first born to be a son, and the young unmarried ladies had come because they wanted to get married to good husbands.

Having had these answers, Visàkhà took all the ladies to the Buddha. When she told the Buddha about the various answers of the different age groups of ladies, the Buddha said, “Visàkhà! Birth, ageing and death are always actively working in beings; because one is born, one is subject to ageing and decay, and finally to death. Yet, they do not wish to strive for liberation from the round of existences (saüsàra); they still wish to linger in saüsàra.”

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English source: "Treasury of Truth: Illustrated Dhammapada" by Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero
中文法句出處：《南傳法句經》 了參法師譯
中文故事出處：《法句經故事集》 達摩難陀長老著 周金言譯

Dhammapada verse # 133 ~ 134

對人莫說粗惡語，汝所說者還說汝。憤怒之言實堪痛；互擊刀杖可傷汝。

Speak not harshly to other folk,
speaking so, they may retort.
Dukkha indeed is quarrelsome speech
and force for force may hurt you.


汝若自默然，如一破銅鑼，已得涅槃路；於汝無諍故。

If like a broken gong
never you reverberate,
quarrelling’s not part of you,
that Nibbana’s reached.

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【第133 ~ 134偈的故事】

自從出家以來，君達那的身旁總跟著一個女子幻像，其他的比丘都清楚看見這女子的幻像，但君達那自己卻無法目睹，所以茫然不知。每當君達那外出化緣時，人們總是供養兩匙的食物，並且說：「一份供養尊者，一份供養你的女伴。」人們也向憍薩羅國波斯匿王報告這件事情，並且請國王加以調查，國王就到比丘居留的精舍去。

　　君達那聽見喧嘩的聲音，便走了出來，站在門口，女子幻像也在離他不遠的地方出現。當他知道國王到來時，就返身進入房間等國王。國王進來後，女人幻像就不見了。國王問他有關女人幻像的事時，他回答說沒有這回事，國王為了要確定這件事的真假，就叫他離開房間。他遵照國王的話，離開房間，這時候，國王向外一看，就看到女人的幻像了。但是當他又進入房間時，女人幻像又不見了。國王因此判斷這女子幻像不是真實的，所以君達那是無辜的。國王因之向他致歉，並邀請他接受供養。其它比丘對國王的判斷感到困惑，他們對君達那說：「無行比丘！國王不指責你，反而邀請去供養，你完了！」

　　「你們才是無行比丘！你們才完了，因為你們與女子同進同出！」君達那反唇相譏地說。有人向佛陀報告事情的來龍去脈，佛陀就告誡君達那：
　　「比丘，你可曾親眼看見有女子和其他比丘一起出現，一如你所說的情形？你根本沒看見這種事，但他們卻親眼見到有女子和你一起出現。你不明白這是你過去世惡業的影響。現在我告訴你為什麼老是有一女子跟隨你出現。

　　過去世時，你是個天神，當時，有兩位比丘非常要好，但你卻喬裝成為女子，跟隨其中一位比丘，故意造成他們的誤會。因為犯下如此的惡業，今生才會有女子的幻像跟隨在你的身邊。比丘！以後不要再與人辯了，保持沉默，精進修行，趣向涅槃吧 ！」

While residing at the Jãtavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke these verses, with reference to Venerable Kunóadhàna.

From the day Kunóadhàna became a monk a certain female form accompanied him. The Venerable himself never saw her, but everybody else saw her. Indeed, whenever the Venerable made an alms-round in a village, the inhabitants would first give the Venerable a portion of alms saying, “Venerable, this is for you,” and then they would give the woman a second portion of alms, saying, “And this is for our female friend.”

The story goes that in the dispensation of the Buddha Kassapa there were two companion-monks who were as intimately associated with each other as though they had issued from the womb of the same mother. And in the dispensation of the Buddha Dãghàyu, year by year and month by month as the monks met together for the purpose of keeping fast-day, those same two monks would come forth from their lodging and say to each other, “Let us go to the hall of discipline together.” Now at that time a certain goddess, reborn in the heavenly world, seeing those two monks, thought, “These two monks are too much together; is there perhaps some way by which I can separate them?” No sooner had she thought this in her folly than one of the two monks said to his companion, “Brother, wait a moment; I must attend to the needs of nature.” As soon as she heard this, that goddess assumed the form of a woman and entered the thicket with the Venerable. When he came out, she followed close behind him, arranging with one hand her tuft of hair and with the other her undergarment. The Venerable himself could not see her, but when the monk who stood outside waiting for him turned and looked, he saw the woman come out, arranging her hair and her undergarment. As soon as the woman observed that the waiting monk had seen her, she disappeared. When the Venerable came up to the monk who was waiting for him, the latter said to him, “Brother, you have broken your vow of chastity.” “I have done no such thing, brother.” “Why, I just saw a young woman come out after you, doing this and that. Yet you say you have done nothing.” The Venerable acted as if he had been struck by a thunderbolt. He said, “Brother, do not ruin me. I have done no such thing.” Said the monk, “What I saw, I saw with my own eyes. Do you expect me to believe you?” And forthwith he broke off the tip of his staff and departed. Moreover, when he sat down in the hall of concession, he said, “I will not keep the fast-day in his company.” The Venerable said to the monks, “Brethren, there is not a fleck of dust even the size of an atom on my chastity.” But the monk repeated, “What I saw, I saw with my own eyes.” When the female spirit saw that the monk was unwilling to keep the fast-day with the Venerable, she thought to herself, “I have done a grievous wrong.” And straightaway she said to the monk, “Venerable, my noble elder has not really violated his vow of chastity. I did this merely to try him. Pray keep the fast-day with him as usual.” When the monk saw the female spirit poised in the air, and heard her speak those words, he believed her, and kept the fast-day with the Venerable. He was not, however, so kindly disposed to the Venerable as before. Such was the former deed of the female spirit.

Now at the end of their allotted term of life, the Venerables were reborn according to their good pleasure. The female spirit was reborn in the Avãci Hell, and after suffering torment there for a period of an interval between two Buddhas, was reborn in Sàvatthi in the dispensation of the present Buddha as a man. When he had grown up he retired from the world and decided to become a monk, subsequently making it his full profession. From the day he retired from the world, a phantom in female form appeared and followed him. Therefore they gave him the name Kunóadhàna. When the monks observed that he was followed about by a woman, they said to Anàthapiõóika, “Treasurer, drive this unchaste monk out of your monastery, for by reason of him reproach will fall upon all of the other monks.” “But, Venerables, is the Buddha not at the monastery?” “He is, lay disciple.” ‘Well then, the Buddha alone will know.” The monks went and said the same thing to Visàkhà, and she gave them the same answer.

The monks, getting no satisfaction from the two lay disciples, reported the matter to the king, saying, “Great king, Kunóadhàna goes about accompanied by a woman, and has thus cast reproach upon all the rest of the monks. Drive him out of your kingdom.” “But where is he, venerables?” “In the monastery, great king.” “In which lodging does he reside?” “In such and such.” “Very well, go your way. I will have him caught.” So in the evening the king went to the monastery, caused the Venerable’s lodging to be surrounded by his men, and himself stood facing the entrance to the Venerable’s cell.

The Venerable, hearing a loud noise, came out and stood facing the monastery. The king immediately saw that phantom woman standing behind him. When the Venerable observed that the king had come to his cell, he went up into the monastery again and sat down, but the king did not make obeisance to the Venerable. The king saw the woman no more. Although he looked inside the door and under the bed, still he did not see her. Finally he said to the monk, “Venerable, I saw a certain woman in this place; where is she?” “I see none, great king.” Then said the king, “I just saw her behind your back.” But the Venerable replied as before, “I see no woman, great king.” “Venerable, just step out here for a moment.” The monk came out and stood below, facing the monastery. Again that woman stood behind the Venerable. The king, seeing her, ascended once more to the upper floor. The Venerable observing that the king had gone, sat down. The king again looked everywhere, but for all that failed to see the woman. And again he asked the monk, “Venerable, where is that woman?” “I do not see her.” “Tell me the truth, Venerable. I just saw a woman standing behind your back.” “Yes, great king; that is what everybody says. Everybody says, ‘A woman follows you where ever you go,’ but I never see her.”

The king, suspecting it was a phantom, said to the Venerable, “Venerable, with much impurity following about you, no one will give even food. Therefore, visit my house regularly and I alone will furnish you with the four requisites." And, having given this invitation, he departed. The monks went and reported the matter to the Buddha. Then, the Buddha related to them the monk’s wicked deed in a previous birth as a female spirit and preached the Dhamma.

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English source: "Treasury of Truth: Illustrated Dhammapada" by Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero
中文法句出處：《南傳法句經》 了參法師譯
中文故事出處：《法句經故事集》 達摩難陀長老著 周金言譯

Dhammapada verse # 131 ~ 132

於求樂有情，刀杖加惱害，但求自己樂，後世樂難得。

Whoever harms with force
those desiring happiness,
as seeker after happiness
one gains no future joy.


於求樂有情，不加刀杖害，欲求自己樂，後世樂可得。

Whoever does not harm with force
those desiring happiness,
as seeker after happiness, one then gains future joy.

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【第131~132偈的故事】

佛陀有一次在舍衛城化緣時，遇見幾個年輕人用棍子鞭打一條蛇。佛陀問他們為什麼要打這條蛇，他們說害怕蛇會咬他們，所以先發制人。

　　「如果不願意別人傷害你們，你們就不該傷害別人(註)；如果傷害別人，甚至在未來世也得不到幸福。」佛陀教誨這些年輕人。

　　這些人聽完佛陀的教誨之後，理解到恨意的害處，他們也因此專心思考佛陀的教誨，不久之後，他們都證得初果。

備註：眾生平等，因此真正的佛教徒應該慈悲對待所有眾生，而沒有分別心。

While residing at the Jētavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke these verses, with reference to a number of youths.

Once, the Buddha was out on an alms-round at Sàvatthi when he came across a number of youths beating a snake with sticks. When questioned, the youths answered that they were beating the snake because they were afraid that the snake might bite them. To them the Buddha said, “If you do not want to be harmed, you should also not harm others: if you harm others, you will not find happiness in your next existence.”

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English source: "Treasury of Truth: Illustrated Dhammapada" by Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero
中文法句出處：《南傳法句經》 了參法師譯
中文故事出處：《法句經故事集》 達摩難陀長老著 周金言譯