27. People, being addicted to this liquor, grow accustomed to ill-behaviour, and will consequently fall into the precipices of dreadful hells or come to the state of beasts or to the attenuated condition of pretâs. Who then, forsooth, should make up his mind even to look at this liquor ?
28. 'And, be the result of drinking intoxicating liquors ever so trifling, still that vice destroys the good conduct and the good understanding of those who pass through human existence. Moreover it leads afterwards to the residence in the tremendous hell Avîki, burning with flaming fire, or in the world of spectres[1], or in the bodies of vile beasts.
29. `In short, drinking this destroys every virtue. It deadens good conduct (sîla), forcibly kills good reputation, banishes shame, and defiles the mind. How should you allow yourself to drink intoxicating liquors henceforward, O king ?'
By these persuasive words of Sakra and his strong arguments the king became aware of the sinfulness of drinking intoxicating liquors. He cast off the desire of taking them, and addressing his interlocutor said:
30. ‘As an affectionate father would deign to speak to his son, or a teacher to his pupil in reward for his discipline and attachment, or a Muni who knows the difference between the good and the evil modes of life, such an import is conveyed in the well-said words thou hast spoken to me out of benevolence. For this reason I will endeavour to honour thee, as is due, by a deed.
'In return for thy well-said sentences Thy Reverence will at least deign to accept from us this honour.
31. 'I give thee five excellent villages, a hundred female slaves, five hundred cows, and these ten chariots with the best horses harnessed to them. As a speaker of wholesome words thou art a Guru to me.
- ↑ The world of spectres'=pitriloke. In Buddhist terminology the pitarah are a synonym of pretâh, considered to be a class of spectres and ghosts. 'In appearance they are extremely attenuated, like a dry leaf.' Spence Hardy, Manual, p. 48.
L 2
