ABHIDHAMMA IN DAILY LIFE - Abhidhamma.com

the fines were made to serve as sweepers in the palace. Among them was a beautiful girl with
whom the king fell in love. Therefore, she was given the name Samadevi and kept in the palace
as the king's personal maid. Her relatives were pardoned from punishment and were looked after
by royal decree. This is an instance of collective enjoying of benefits, due to the good kamma of
one member. Some may assert here that members of that group must also have good kamma
results of their own. However, their past kamma had only very feeble effects, which cannot have
fructified without the good results of Sumavati's past kamma.
7.2.9 The Indirect Consequences of Unwholesome Kamma
Example -= Sometimes past unwholesome deed may bring evil effects to other people indirectly.
In the time of Kassapa Buddha, an Arahat came to put up at a monastery presided by an abbot.
The wealthy donor of the monastery was devoted to the visiting Arahat and paid great respects
but the abbot became very jealous. The donor invited both the abbot and the Arahat for morning
meal and the abbot, out of sheer envy, went alone to the donor's house. He purposely struck the
monastery bell with his fingertips so as not to awake the Arahat. He even told the donor that the
guest was so fond of sleep that he could not wake him up.
However, the donor saw into the abbot's thought and gave him a bowl of food for the Arahat.
The abbot threw away the food on the roadside out of jealousy. He thought that if the guest
received such good food, then he (the guest) would remain forever at his monastery.
However, the guest, being an Arahat, knew the abbot's mind and departed through air - by his
supernatural power before he arrived. When the abbot did not find his guest he then felt remorse,
anxiety and sorrow. He had done great injustice to the monk due to his extreme selfishness. As
he suffered great remorse physically and mentally he soon passed away only to be reborn in hell.
After suffering in hell, he had five hundred rebirths as a demon, another five hundred as a dog;
and in all these existences he never was well fed.
In the time of Gotama the Buddha he was conceived in the womb of a poor woman in a fishing
village. As his past evil was so strong, the whole village suffered from increasing poverty. Then
,the village suffered seven great fires and penalized seven times by the king.
Finally the villagers found out by means of successive elimination process found the household
of the unborn child that brought the ill luck. Therefore, they drove the family away. The mother
looked after the boy for some years and then abandoned him, and left him a begging bowl.
At the age of seven, while begging for food, he met the Venerable Shariputra who ordained him
a novice - samanera. He became a monk in due course by the name of Losaka Tissa. Then he
practiced samatha (concentration) and vipassana (insight) diligently until he became an Arahat
because of observance of Síla as an abbot in his past life.
However, his past misdeed was so severe that they had to suffer even as an Arahat. He never got
enough alms-food. Seeing his plight, his teacher Venerable Shariputra accompanied him in his
alms round. However, in his company the Venerable Shariputra himself did not get alms-food so
Page 69 A Gift of Dhamma Maung Paw, California