A pauper is reborn in Tāvatiṁsa (SA-2.51)

Thus have I heard, once, the Buddha was staying in Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove of Kalandaka.

At that time in Rājagaha there was a pauper. Extremely poor and pitiable, he nevertheless had pure faith in the teachings of the Buddha, could keep the precepts purely, recite the sutras a little, and even make some small offerings. Upon the breaking up of his body, after his death, he was reborn in Tāvatiṁsa, the most wonderful of all places, as the karmic result of these four things. As anewborn deva he was endowed with three superior things. First, he was of superior beauty. Second, he was of superior glory. Third, he was endowed with superior life-span. When the other devas saw this, they all admired him. They went to Sakka and said to him: “There is a newborn deva, who is superior to us other devas in three ways.” Sakka said: “I saw this newborn deva in his former existence. Formally, as a human being, he was poor and deprived, extremely wretched. However, he straightforwardly held faith in the three jewels, kept the precepts purely, and even made some small donations. Now he is born into this Tāvatiṁsa heaven.”

Then Sakka spoke this verse:

“If a person has pure faith in the three jewels, /
if his mind is stable and unwavering,
if he keeps the precepts he has undertaken, not breaking them: /
know that this person should not be called poor.

He should be called wise and long-lived. /
Through venerating the unsurpassable three jewels,
He will be reborn in heaven and attain great bliss. /
Therefore one should train in this way.”

When the devas heard this verse, they were happy, received it in faith, paid their respects and returned to their palaces.

Translation by Marcus Bingenheimer, 2005–8 (minor revisions 2009). First version published in Buddhist Studies Review vol. 23.1 (2006). The translations used here were revised by the translator and published in his Studies in Āgama Literature—with Special Reference to the Shorter Chinese Saṁyuktāgama, Dharma Drum Buddhist College, 2010.

Translated from the Taishō text of the CBETA-Database (Version Feb. 2006). All sutta titles added by the translator.

This series of translations were part of the project “A Digital Comparative Edition of the Bieyi za ahan jing” conducted at the Chung-hwa Institute for Buddhist Studies (中華佛學研究所) and the Dharma Drum Buddhist College (法鼓佛教研修學院), funded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (蔣經國國際學術交流基金會). The full project, including parallel Chinese, Pali, and Sanskrit texts, is available online here.

Used with kind permission of the translator.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.