DON'T DO EVEN A SLIGHT WRONG Akataṁ dukkataṁ seyyo, pacchā tapati dukkataṁ, katañ-ca sukataṁ seyyo, yaṁ katvā nānutappati. An evil deed is better not done: a misdeed torments one hereafter. Better it is to do a good deed, after doing which one does not grieve. Story Once, a woman with a very strong sense of jealousy lived with her husband in Savatthi. She found that her husband was having an affair with her maid. So one day, she tied up the girl with strong ropes, cut off her ears and nose, and shut her up in a room. After doing that, she asked her husband to accompany her to the Jetavana monastery. Soon after they left, some relatives of the maid arrived at their house and found the maid tied up and locked up in a room. They broke into the room, untied her and took her to the monastery. They arrived at the monastery while the Buddha was expounding the Dhamma. The girl related to the Buddha what her mistress had done to her, how she had been beaten, and how her nose and ears had been cut off. She stood in the midst of the crowd for all to see how she had been mistreated. So the Buddha said, "Do no evil, thinking that people will not know about it. An evil deed done in secret, when discovered, will bring much pain and sorrow; but a good deed may be done secretly, for it can only bring happiness and not sorrow." Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
At the end of the discourse the couple attained Sotapatti Fruition.
  |
