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.He made his way to a seaport city.He waslonely, miserable and penniless.It just so hap-pened that there was a kind generous rich mer-chant living in the city.He heard the story of Mit-tavinda s misfortunes.Since they had no childrenof their own, he and his wife adopted Mittavinda. 187For better or worse they treated him exactly astheir own son.His new mother and father were very reli-gious.They always tried to do wholesome things.But Mittavinda still had not learned his lesson.Hedid not accept any religion, so he often did un-wholesome things.Some time after his father s death, hismother decided to try and help him enter the reli-gious life.She said, There is this world and thereis the one to come.If you do bad things, you willsuffer painful results in both worlds. But foolish Mittavinda replied, I will dowhatever I enjoy doing and become happier andhappier.There is no point considering whetherwhat I do is wholesome or unwholesome.I don tcare about such things! On the next full moon holy day, Mittav-inda s mother advised him to go to the temple andlisten all night long to the wise words of themonks.He said, I wouldn t waste my time! Soshe said, When you return I will give you a thou-sand gold coins. Mittavinda thought that with enoughmoney he could enjoy himself constantly and behappy all the time.So he went to the temple.Buthe sat in a corner, paid no attention, and fellasleep for the night.Early the next morning hewent home to collect his reward. 188Meanwhile his mother thought he wouldappreciate wise teachings.Then he would bringthe oldest monk home with him.So she prepareddelicious food for the expected guest.When shesaw him returning alone, she said, Oh my son,why didn t you ask the senior monk to comehome with you for breakfast? He said, I did not go to the temple to listento a monk or to bring him home with me.I wentonly to get your thousand gold coins! His disap-pointed mother said, Never mind the money.Since there is so much delicious food prepared only eat and sleep! He replied, Until you giveme the money, I refuse to eat! So she gave himthe thousand gold coins.Only then did he gobbleup the food until all he could do was fall asleep.Mittavinda did not think a thousand goldcoins were enough for him to constantly enjoyhimself.So he used the money to start a business,and before long he became very rich.One day hecame home and said, Mother, I now have120,000 gold coins.But I am not yet satisfied.Therefore I will go abroad on the next ship andmake even more money! She replied, Oh my son, why do you wantto go abroad? The ocean is dangerous and it isvery risky doing business in a strange land.I have80,000 gold coins right here in the house.That isenough for you.Please don t go, my only son! 189Then she held him to keep him from leav-ing.But Mittavinda was crazy with greed.So hepushed his mother s hand away and slapped herface.She fell to the floor.She was so hurt andshocked that she yelled at him, Be gone forever!You are nothing but a curse! Without lookingback, Mittavinda rushed to the harbour and set sailon the first departing ship. 190[Chapter 3.Pleasure]After seven days on the Indian Ocean, allthe winds and currents stopped completely.Theship was stuck! After being dead in the water forseven days, all on board were terrified they woulddie.So they drew straws to find out who wasthe cause of their bad luck and frightening misfor-tune.Seven times the short straw was drawn byMittavinda!They forced him onto a tiny bamboo raft,and set him adrift on the open seas.They shouted, Be gone forever! You are nothing but a curse! And suddenly a strong wind sent the ship on itsway.But once again Mittavinda s life wasspared.This was a result of his wholesome actionsas a monk, so many births ago.No matter howlong it takes, actions cause results.Sometimes an action causes more than oneresult, some pleasant and some unpleasant.It issaid there are Asuras who live through such mixedresults in an unusual way.Asuras are unfortunate ugly gods.Some ofthem are lucky enough to change their form into 191beautiful young dancing girl goddesses.These arecalled Apsaras.They enjoy the greatest pleasures for sevendays.But then they must go to a hell world andsuffer torments as hungry ghosts for seven days.Again they become Apsara goddesses back andforth, back and forth until both kinds of resultsare finished.While floating on the tiny bamboo raft, itjust so happened that Mittavinda came to a lovelyGlass Palace.There he met four very pretty Ap-saras.They enjoyed their time together, filled withheavenly pleasures, for seven days
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