Ja 155 The Story about (the Bodhisatta’s Father) Bhagga
(Bhaggajātaka)
In the present the monks are disturbed by the superstitions of the people who cry out: ‘Long life,’ when someone sneezes. The Buddha tells how this custom came to be in the olden days when, as the Bodhisatta he explained to his father Bhagga that a Yakkha could not eat anyone who gave this or a similar blessing upon sneezing.
1. Jīva vassasataṁ Bhagga, aparāni ca vīsatiṁ,
Mā maṁ Pisācā khādantu, jīva tvaṁ sarado satan-ti.
Live for a hundred years, Bhagga, and for a further twenty years, may no Pisācas eat me up, may you live a hundred seasons.
In this connection, Bhagga, he calls his father by name.
And for a further twenty years means and may you live for a further twenty years.
May you live a hundred seasons means may you live for more than one hundred and twenty years. Counting one hundred seasons there is one hundred years, together with the previous twenty here is more than one hundred and twenty, this is the intention.
2. Tvam-pi vassasataṁ jīvaṁ, aparāni ca vīsatiṁ,
Visaṁ Pisācā khādantu, jīva tvaṁ sarado satan-ti.
May you live for a hundred years, and for a further twenty years, may the Pisācas eat poison, may you live a hundred seasons.
In this connection, may the Pisācas eat poison, may the Pisācas eat deadly poison.