At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery.
Then, late at night, several glorious deities of the host of the fault-finders, lighting up the entire Jeta’s Grove, went up to the Buddha, and stood in the air.
Standing in the air, one deity recited this verse in the Buddha’s presence:
“Someone who pretends
to be other than they really are,
is like a cheating gambler
who enjoys what was gained by theft.
You should only say what you would do;
you shouldn’t say what you wouldn’t do.
The wise will recognize
one who talks without doing.”
“Not just by speaking,
nor solely by listening,
are you able to progress
on this hard path,
by which the attentive practicing absorption
are released from Māra’s bonds.
The attentive certainly don’t act like that,
for they understand the way of the world.
The attentive are quenched by understanding,
they’ve crossed over clinging to the world.”
Then those deities landed on the ground, bowed with their heads at the Buddha’s feet and said,
“We have made a mistake, sir. It was foolish, stupid, and unskillful of us to presume to attack the Buddha!
Please, sir, accept our mistake for what it is, so we will restrain ourselves in future.”
At that, the Buddha smiled.
Then those deities, becoming even more fault-finding, flew up in the air.
One deity recited this verse in the Buddha’s presence:
“If you don’t give your pardon
when a mistake is confessed,
with hidden anger and heavy hate,
you’re stuck in your enmity.”
“Suppose no mistake were found,
and no-one here had gone astray:
if enmities were not settled,
how could that be skilful?”
“Who makes no mistakes?
Who doesn’t go astray?
Who doesn’t fall into confusion?
Who is attentive, ever mindful?”
“The Realized One, the Buddha,
sympathetic for all beings:
that’s who makes no mistakes,
and that’s who doesn’t go astray.
He doesn’t fall into confusion,
for he’s attentive, ever mindful.
If you don’t give your pardon
when a mistake is confessed,
with hidden anger and heavy hate,
you’re stuck in your enmity.
I don’t approve of such enmity,
and so I pardon your mistake.”