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. 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 living in a beautiful castle but eating 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 eating 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 ၼေႃ်း။
In Cūḷasakarāja 1219, on the twelfth day of the waxing moon of the fifth [lunar] month, corresponding to Wednesday, in early morning, I finished copying the Khihicārīt manuscript. I stop [the copying] now.
Remark: The date corresponds to Friday, 26 March 1858 (1219 Caitra2 12).
Other notes:
The front cover and the back cover are decorated with black lacquer and cinnabar. The manuscript is in a good physical condition.
(The inner flyleaf)
I put my hands together and kneel down to pay homage to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. May the sponsor [of this manuscript] and I be physically and mentally happy. May we be glad to make merit, donate, and observe precepts. May we be reborn in the same era as the future Buddha. May we listen to his Dhamma, become his disciples, and reach Nibbāna.
This manuscript was copied from the original version written by Nāi Khing Còng Takā Ping Yā for Nāi Phrā Takā Mòng, inhabiting Bān Nā Pong, Müang Pāi, in Cūḷasakarāja 1219.
Remark: Corresponding to AD 1857/58.
Note: Some parts of the text correspond to Migaluddaka-petavatthu.