THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
1570
advice fell on deaf ears. Undaunted, he suggested to the hunter to refrain from killing at
least during night time and instead to engage himself in the meritorious act of observing
precepts. The hunter finally gave in to his friend's persistent persuasion, and abandoning all
acts of preparations for killing during night time, he spent his time observing precepts.
After his death, the hunter gained rebirth near RÈjagaha as a Vemanika
peta
, who was
subjected to great suffering during the day, but lived a happy life at night enjoying fully the
pleasures of the senses.
The Venerable NÈrada Thera, encountering this peta in the course of his wanderings,
enquired of him as to what kind of meritorious acts he had performed in his previous lives.
The
peta
recounted his life as a hunter, how he earned his living by killing; how his friend,
who was established in the Triple Refuge, counselled him to give up his wrong mode of
living; how he refused his friend's good advice at first but finally succumbed to his
persuasion half-heartedly by giving up hunting at night time and devoting to good deed of
observing precepts. For his cruel misdeeds in the day time, he was suffering intensely
during the day while at night he lived the blissful, sensuous life of devas.
The second peta story is similar. But it concerns a wealthy sportsman who hunted deer,
day and night, as a pastime for sheer enjoyment, not for livelihood. He also paid no heed to
a friend of his who proffered him good advice for his benefit. Ultimately, he was won over
by an
arahat
, who came on an alms-round to his friend's house, who instructed him to
devote at least the night time to meritorious acts instead of full-time pursuit after sport. He
suffered the same fate after death as the hunter of the previous story.
We learn from these two stories that we reap the benefit of meritorious deeds even if
they were performed only for the short period of night time. Accordingly, we should make
an endeavour to observe the precepts for whatever time we could afford however short it
may be.
(6) Sapariyanta-sÊla and Apariyanta-sÊla.
(a) Sapariyanta-sÊla is morality, the observance of which is brought to an end before a
stipulated time for some reason such as being coaxed or tempted with an offer of
wealth or servants and attendants to break the observance or being threatened with
destruction of one's life and limb or of one's relatives to do so. In this type of
sÊla
it should be noted that although its observance is brought to an end through outside
interference, nevertheless, merit has been already gained, commensurate with one's
precepts.
SÊla
observed before is not rendered fruitless by its termination.
(b) Apariyanta-sÊla is morality, the observance of which is not cut short by any outside
influence but is maintained till completion of the intended period.
(7) Lokiya-sÊla and Lokuttara-sÊla
(a) Lokiya-sÊla is morality subject to (or accompanied by) mental intoxicants (
Èsavas
)
such as sensual desire, desire for future existence, wrong view and ignorance.
(b) Lokuttara-sÊla is morality not subject to (or not accompanied by) the mental
intoxicants.
Lokiya-sÊla
is conducive to happy future rebirths (as a human being or a deva) and is a
prerequisite for escape from the cycle of rebirths.
Lokuttara-sÊla
brings about escape from
saÑsÈra
; it is also an object for contemplation with Reflective Knowledge
(
PaccavekkhanÈ-ÒÈÓa
).
Morality in Groups of Threes
(1) (a) HÊna-sÊla, (b) Majjhima-sÊla, and (c) PaÓÊta-sÊla.
When the four elements, viz. will (
chanda
), energy (
vÊriya
), consciousness (
citta
)
and investigative knowledge (
vimamsa
), (a) with which precepts are observed are
of inferior quality, it is HÊna-sÊla; (b) when they are of medium quality, it is
Majjhima-sÊla; (c) when they are of superior quality, it is Panita-sÊla.