Once upon a time, there was a teacher named Sunetta. He was a religious founder and was free of desire for sensual pleasures. He had many hundreds of disciples. He taught them a Dhamma for rebirth in the company of Divinity. Those who totally understood Sunetta’s teachings were—when their body broke up, after death—reborn in a good place, the company of Divinity. Of those who didn’t totally understand Sunetta’s teachings, some—when their body broke up, after death—were reborn in the company of the gods who control what is created by others. Some were reborn in the company of the gods who love to create, some with the joyful gods, some with the gods of Yama, some with the gods of the thirty-three, and some with the gods of the four great kings. Some were reborn in the company of well-to-do aristocrats or brahmins or householders.

Then the teacher Sunetta thought: ‘It’s not proper for me to be reborn in the next life in exactly the same place as my disciples. Why don’t I further develop love?’