This manuscript pertains to the teaching of proper behaviours for household laypeople. They are supposed to earn from a legal career without harming others by selling the following five kinds of products: weapons, human, animals, intoxicants, and poisons. The negative karma [of selling the five things] results in punishment in the hells, as the case of what Phra Nārada witnessed. He went to the hells and saw a giant live in a beautiful castle but eat his own body. Phra Nārada asked the giant about his karma. He explained that the beautiful castle was rewarded through his meritorious habits of merit-making and listening to the Dhamma, but the regularity of feeding of his own body resulted from killing and selling animals.
Colophon:
သၵ်ၵရတ် ပီမိုင်း လႆယဝ်ႉ ႁိင်းႃသွင်ပၵ်သိပ်းၵဝ်တုဝ် မိၺ်မိုဝ်လိုၼ်ႁႃမႂ်ၶိုၼ်သိပ်းပႆသွင်ၶံ ပုၵ်တႁူး ၶိင် ၵင်ဝၼ်းၶိုၼ် ႁဝ်တ်ံ ၵိႁိၸႃရိတ ယဝ်ႉယႃ ၶွတ်ယွတ် ႁွတ်တီ ပုင်ထွႆ ၵွႆတၼ်း ၵံးႃ ၵွၼ်ယဝ်ႉ သူ ႟ သူ ေၼႃ်။
I have finished copying this manuscript in Cūḷasakarāja 1219, on the twelfth day of the waxing moon of the fifth [lunar] month, early morning. Now I finished the writing [of this manuscript].
Remark: This date corresponds to 1219 Caitra2 12.
Other notes:
The front cover and the back cover are decorated with black lacquer and gilded with gold leaves. The manuscript is severely damaged by insects.
(The inner flyleaf)
I put my hands together and kneel to pay homage to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. May the sponsor [of this manuscript] and I be happy, be glad, and have opportunities to make merit and observe the Buddhist precepts. May we listen to the Teachings of the future Buddha and escape mud or the Cycle of Rebirths.
This manuscript was copied from the original version written by Nāi Còng Takā Pingñā at the residence of Phrā Takā Mòng, Bān Nā Pong, Müang Pāi, in Cūḷasakarāja 1219 (BE 2401), and sponsored by Nāi Phrā Takā Mòng and his wife from Bān Nā Pong, Müang Pāi.