Dhammanusari

On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling among the Bhagga people, near Sumsumaragiri, in the Deer Park of the Bhesakala Grove. One morning the Blessed One dressed, took his upper robe and bowl, and went to the dwelling of the householder Nakulapita. Having arrived there, he sat down on the seat prepared for him.

Then the householder Nakulapita and the housewife Nakulamata approached the Blessed One and, after paying homage to him, sat down to one side. So seated, the householder Nakulapita said to the Blessed One:

“Lord, ever since the young housewife Nakulamata was brought home to me when I too was still young, I am not aware of having wronged her even in my thoughts, still less in my deeds. Lord, our wish is to be in one another’s sight so long as this life lasts and in the future life as well.”

Then Nakulamata the housewife addressed the Blessed One thus:

“Lord, ever since I was taken to the home of my young husband Nakulapita, while being a young girl myself, I am not aware of having wronged him even in my thoughts, still less in my deeds. Lord, our wish is to be in one another’s sight so long as this life lasts and in the future life as well.”

Then the Blessed One spoke thus:

“If, householders, both wife and husband wish to be in one another’s sight so long as this life lasts and in the future life as well, they should have the same faith, the same virtue, the same generosity, the same wisdom; then they will be in one another’s sight so long as this life lasts and in the future life as well.”

Numerical Discourses of the Buddha
An anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikāya
Selected and translated from the Pāli by Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi

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