At Sāvatthī. Seated to one side, that mendicant said to the Buddha: “Sir, what is the cause, what is the reason why some spontaneously-born dragons keep the sabbath, having transformed their bodies?” “Mendicant, it’s when some spontaneously-born dragons think:
PL
Sāvatthinidānaṁ. Ekamantaṁ nisinno kho so bhikkhu bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “ko nu kho, bhante, hetu, ko paccayo, yena m’idhekacce opapātikā nāgā uposathaṁ upavasanti vossaṭṭhakāyā ca bhavantī”ti? “Idha, bhikkhu, ekaccānaṁ opapātikānaṁ nāgānaṁ evaṁ hoti:
EN
‘In the past we did both kinds of deeds by body, speech, and mind. When the body broke up, after death, we were reborn in the company of the spontaneously-born dragons. If today we do good things by body, speech, and mind, when the body breaks up, after death, we may be reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.
Come, let us do good things by way of body, speech, and mind.’ This is the cause, this is the reason why some spontaneously-born dragons keep the sabbath, having transformed their bodies.”
At Sāvatthī. Seated to one side, that mendicant said to the Buddha: “Sir, what is the cause, what is the reason why some spontaneously-born dragons keep the sabbath, having transformed their bodies?” “Mendicant, it’s when some spontaneously-born dragons think:
PL
Sāvatthinidānaṁ. Ekamantaṁ nisinno kho so bhikkhu bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “ko nu kho, bhante, hetu, ko paccayo, yena m’idhekacce opapātikā nāgā uposathaṁ upavasanti vossaṭṭhakāyā ca bhavantī”ti? “Idha, bhikkhu, ekaccānaṁ opapātikānaṁ nāgānaṁ evaṁ hoti:
EN
‘In the past we did both kinds of deeds by body, speech, and mind. When the body broke up, after death, we were reborn in the company of the spontaneously-born dragons. If today we do good things by body, speech, and mind, when the body breaks up, after death, we may be reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.
Come, let us do good things by way of body, speech, and mind.’ This is the cause, this is the reason why some spontaneously-born dragons keep the sabbath, having transformed their bodies.”
Sutraya