While residing at the Veluvana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse with reference to Uttarà, a female lay-disciple. Uttarà was the daughter of a farm labourer named Pu¤¤a and his wife. Punna worked for a rich man named Sumana, in Ràjagaha. One day, Punna and his wife offered alms-food to Venerable Sàriputta soon after his arising from sustained deep mental absorption (nirodha samàpatti), and as a result of that good deed they suddenly became very rich.
Punna came upon gold in the field he was ploughing, and the king officially declared him a royal banker. On one occasion, the family of Punna offered alms-food to the Buddha and the monks for seven days, and on the seventh day, after hearing the Buddha’s discourse, all the three members of the family attained sotàpatti fruition. Later, Uttarà, the daughter of Punna, married the son of the rich man Sumana. That family being non-Buddhist, Uttarà did not feel happy in her husband’s home. So, she told her father, “My father, why have you put me in this cage? Here, I do not see any monk and I have no chance to offer anything to any monk.” Her father felt sorry for her and sent her fifteen thousand in cash. With this money, after getting permission from her husband, Uttarà engaged a courtesan to look to the needs of her husband. So it was arranged that Sirimà, a well-known and very beautiful courtesan, was to take her place as a wife for fifteen days.
During that time, Uttarà offered alms-food to the Buddha and the monks. On the fi fteenth day, as she was busy preparing food in the kitchen, her husband saw her from the bedroom window and smiled, and then muttered to himself, “How foolish she is! She does not know how to enjoy herself. She is tiring herself out with this alms-giving ceremony!” Sirimà saw him smile, and forgetting that she was only a paid substitute wife felt very jealous of Uttarà. Being unable to control herself, Sirimà went into the kitchen and got a ladleful of boiling butter with the intention of pouring it over the head of Uttarà. Uttarà saw her coming, but she bore no ill will towards Sirimà. She reflected that because Sirimà had stood in for her, she had been able to listen to the dhamma, make offerings of alms-food for fifteen days, and perform other acts of charity. Thus she was quite thankful to Sirimà. Suddenly, she realized that Sirimà had come very close to her and was going to pour boiling-hot butter over her; so she made this asseveration: “If I bear any ill will towards Sirimà may this boiling-hot butter burn me; if I have no ill will towards her may it not burn me.” The boiling-hot butter did not harm her a bit.
Sirimà then expressed her wish to see the Buddha. So it was arranged that Sirimà should offer alms-food to the Buddha and the monks on the following day at the house of Uttarà. After the meal, the Buddha was told everything that had happened between Sirimà and Uttarà. Sirimà then owned up that she had done wrong to Uttarà and entreated the Buddha that she should be forgiven, for otherwise Uttarà would not forgive her. The Buddha then asked Uttarà how she felt in her mind when Sirimà poured boiling butter on her head, and Uttarà answered, “Venerable, because I owed so much to Sirimà I had resolved not to lose my temper, not to bear any ill will towards her. I sent forth my love towards her.”
The Buddha then said, “Well done, well done, Uttarà! By not bearing any ill will you have been able to conquer one who
has done you wrong through hate. By not abusing, you should conquer one who is a miser; by speaking the truth you should conquer one who tells lies.”
