The Tham Vessantara-jAtaka - Khamkoo

The fifth section, the Vinaya, gives a brief history of the Vinaya and a summary
of the four pArajika rules: how they came into existence one by one, following the
wrong doings of the monks. Although there are some mistakes in recounting the
historical formation of the Vinaya rules, the inclusion of the Vinaya in the Th. VJ is
significant. It shows how the laity are educated about the Vinaya and how the tradition
considers the Vinaya to be very important for the Buddha-sAsana.
The sixth section, the Abhidhamma, is the contents from the DhammasaNgaBi.
They include the 22 triads (tika-mAtikA), 100 Dyads (duka-mAtikA) and 40 suttantikamAtikA.
This chapter is all in PALi and no explanation is given.
The seventh section, Pathama Malai, Phra Malai Kao, the first section of Phra
Malai text, is a text about Phra Malai’s visiting hells and reporting them back to people.
It is believed to have been composed in Sri Lannka. It concerns a Sri Lankan Arahat
monk named Phra MAleyya Thera. Through practicing, he can fly up into the sky and
dive into water. He visits hells and sees many beings suffering from various kinds of
tortures due to their past actions. Upon seeing them, he asks the caretaker of hell the
reasons they were suffering in hells. He is told that these ladies and gentlemen had
committed various kinds of sins while they are in human world. So, they are reborn as
hell beings and suffer here. He is requested to help them to get out of hells. Then he
returns to the human world and narrates what he has seen to human beings and asks
them not to do bad deeds but to do meritorious actions, listen to the teachings and to
transfer merit to departed relatives. This text teaches people to avoid engaging in bad
deeds and to perform good ones.
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