“Then King Yama says: ‘Good man, did it never occur to you—an intelligent and mature man—“Those who do evil actions have such tortures of various kinds inflicted on them here and now; [182] so what in the hereafter? Surely I had better do good by body, speech, and mind”?’ He says: ‘I was unable, venerable sir, I was negligent.’ Then King Yama says: ‘Good man, through negligence you have failed to do good by body, speech, and mind. Certainly they will deal with you according to your negligence. But this evil action of yours was not done by your mother…or by gods: this evil action was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience its result.’
8. “Then, after pressing and questioning and cross-questioning him about the fourth divine messenger, King Yama presses and questions and cross-questions him about the fifth divine messenger: ‘Good man, did you not see the fifth divine messenger to appear in the world?’ He says: ‘I did not, venerable sir.’ Then King Yama says: ‘Good man, have you never seen in the world a man—or a woman—one-day dead, two-days dead, three-days dead, bloated, livid, and oozing with matter?’ He says: ‘I have, venerable sir.’
“Then King Yama says: ‘Good man, did it never occur to you—an intelligent and mature man—“I too am subject to death, I am not exempt from death: surely I had better do good by body, speech, and mind”?’ He says: ‘I was unable, venerable sir, I was negligent.’ Then King Yama says: ‘Good man, through negligence you have failed to do good by body, speech, and mind. Certainly they will deal with you according to your negligence. But this evil action of yours was not done by your mother…or by gods: this evil action was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience its result.’
9. “Then, after pressing and questioning and cross-questioning him about the fifth divine messenger, King Yama is silent.
10. “Now the wardens of hell [183] torture him with the fivefold transfixing.1208 They drive a red-hot iron stake through one hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through one foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake in the middle through his breast. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
11. “Next the wardens of hell throw him down and pare him with axes. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
12. “Next the wardens of hell set him with his feet up and his head down and pare him with adzes. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
13. “Next the wardens of hell harness him to a chariot and drive him back and forth across ground that is burning, blazing, and glowing. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
14. “Next the wardens of hell make him climb up and down a great mound of coals that are burning, blazing, and glowing. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
15. “Next the wardens of hell take him feet up and head down and plunge him into a red-hot metal cauldron that is burning, blazing, and glowing. He is cooked there in a swirl of froth. And as he is being cooked there in a swirl of froth, he is swept now up, now down, and now across. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
16. “Next the wardens of hell throw him into the Great Hell. Now as to that Great Hell, bhikkhus:It has four corners and is built
With four doors, one set in each side,
Walled up with iron all around
And shut in with an iron roof.
Its floor as well is made of iron
And heated till it glows with fire.
The range is a full hundred leagues
Which it covers all-pervasively.
17. “Now the flames that surge out from the Great Hell’s eastern wall dash against its western wall. The flames that surge out from its western wall dash against [184] its eastern wall. The flames that surge out from its northern wall dash against its southern wall. The flames that surge out from its southern wall dash against its northern wall. The flames that dash out from the bottom dash against the top. And the flames that surge out from the top dash against the bottom. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
18. “Some time or other, bhikkhus, at the end of a long period, there comes an occasion when the Great Hell’s eastern door is opened. He runs towards it, treading quickly. As he does so, his outer skin burns, his inner skin burns, his flesh burns, his sinews burn, his bones turn to smoke; and it is the same when his foot is uplifted. When at long last he reaches the door, then it is shut. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
“Some time or other, at the end of a long period, there comes an occasion when the Great Hell’s western door is opened… when its northern door is opened…when its southern door is opened. He runs towards it, treading quickly…When at long last he reaches the door, then it is shut. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
19. “Some time or other, bhikkhus, at the end of a long period, there comes an occasion when the Great Hell’s eastern door is opened. He runs towards it, treading quickly. As he does so, his outer skin burns, his inner skin burns, his flesh burns, his sinews burn, his bones turn to smoke; and it is the same when his foot is uplifted. He comes out by that door.
20. “Immediately next to the Great Hell [185] is the vast Hell of Excrement. He falls into that. In that Hell of Excrement needle-mouthed creatures bore through his outer skin and bore through his inner skin and bore through his flesh and bore through his sinews and bore through his bones and devour his marrow. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
21. “Immediately next to the Hell of Excrement is the vast Hell of Hot Embers. He falls into that. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
22. “Immediately next to the Hell of Hot Embers is the vast Wood of Simbali Trees, a league high, bristling with thorns sixteen finger-breadths long, burning, blazing, and glowing. They make him climb up and down those trees. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
23. “Immediately next to the Wood of Simbali Trees is a vast Wood of Sword-leaf Trees. He goes into that. The leaves, stirred by the wind, cut his hands and cut his feet and cut his hands and feet; they cut his ears and cut his nose and cut his ears and nose. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
24. “Immediately next to the Wood of Sword-leaf Trees is a great river of caustic water. He falls into that. There he is swept along the stream and against the stream and both along and against the stream. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
25. “Next the wardens of hell pull him out with a hook, [186] and setting him on the ground, they ask him: ‘Good man, what do you want?’ He says: ‘I am hungry, venerable sirs.’ Then the wardens of hell prise open his mouth with red-hot iron tongs, burning, blazing, and glowing, and they throw into his mouth a red-hot metal ball, burning, blazing, and glowing. It burns his lips, it burns his mouth, it burns his throat, it burns his stomach, and it passes out below carrying with it his intestines and mesentery. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not di
e so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
26. “Next the wardens of hell ask him: ‘Good man, what do you want?’ He says: ‘I am thirsty, venerable sirs.’ Then the wardens of hell prise open his mouth with red-hot iron tongs, burning, blazing, and glowing, and they pour into his mouth molten copper, burning, blazing, and glowing. It burns his lips, it burns his mouth, it burns his throat, it burns his stomach, and it passes out below carrying with it his intestines and mesentery. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result.
27. “Then the wardens of hell throw him back again into the Great Hell.
28. “It has happened that King Yama thought: ‘Those in the world who do evil unwholesome actions indeed have all these many kinds of tortures inflicted on them. Oh, that I might attain the human state, that a Tathāgata, accomplished and fully enlightened, might appear in the world, that I might wait on that Blessed One, that the Blessed One might teach me the Dhamma, and that I might come to understand that Blessed One’s Dhamma!’
29. “Bhikkhus, I tell you this not as something I heard from another recluse or brahmin. I tell you this as something that I have actually known, seen, and discovered by myself.” [187]
30. That is what the Blessed One said. When the Sublime One had said that, the Teacher said further:“Though warned by the divine messengers,
Full many are the negligent,
And people may sorrow long indeed
Once gone down to the lower world.
But when by the divine messengers
Good people here in this life are warned,
They do not dwell in negligence
But practise well the noble Dhamma.
Clinging they look upon with fear
For it produces birth and death;
And by not clinging they are freed
In the destruction of birth and death.
They dwell in bliss for they are safe
And reach Nibbāna here and now.
They are beyond all fear and hate;
They have escaped all suffering.”
4
The Division of Expositions
(Vibhangavagga)
Bhaddekaratta Sutta
A Single Excellent Night
1. THUS HAVE I HEARD.1209 On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. There he addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Bhikkhus.”—“Venerable sir,” they replied. The Blessed One said this:
2. “Bhikkhus, I shall teach you the summary and exposition of ‘One Who Has Had a Single Excellent Night.’1210 Listen and attend closely to what I shall say.”—“Yes, venerable sir,” the bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this:3. “Let not a person revive the past
Or on the future build his hopes;1211
For the past has been left behind
And the future has not been reached.
Instead with insight let him see
Each presently arisen state;1212
Let him know that and be sure of it,
Invincibly, unshakeably.1213
Today the effort must be made;
Tomorrow Death may come, who knows?
No bargain with Mortality
Can keep him and his hordes away,
But one who dwells thus ardently,
Relentlessly, by day, by night—
It is he, the Peaceful Sage has said,1214
Who has had a single excellent night. [188]
4. “How, bhikkhus, does one revive the past? One nurtures delight there thinking, ‘I had such material form in the past.’1215 One nurtures delight there thinking, ‘I had such feeling in the past,’…‘I had such perception in the past,’…‘I had such formations in the past,’…‘I had such consciousness in the past.’ That is how one revives the past.
5. “And how, bhikkhus, does one not revive the past? One does not nurture delight there thinking, ‘I had such material form in the past.’1216 One does not nurture delight there thinking, ‘I had such feeling in the past,’…‘I had such perception in the past,’…‘I had such formations in the past,’…‘I had such consciousness in the past.’ That is how one does not revive the past.
6. “And how, bhikkhus, does one build up hope upon the future? One nurtures delight there thinking, ‘May I have such material form in the future!’1217 One nurtures delight there thinking, ‘May I have such feeling in the future!’…‘May I have such perception in the future!’…‘May I have such formations in the future!’…‘May I have such consciousness in the future!’ That is how one builds up hope upon the future.
7. “And how, bhikkhus, does one not build up hope upon the future? One does not nurture delight there thinking, ‘May I have such material form in the future!’ One does not nurture delight there thinking, ‘May I have such feeling in the future!’…‘May I have such perception in the future!’…‘May I have such formations in the future!’…‘May I have such consciousness in the future!’ That is how one does not build up hope upon the future.
8. “And how, bhikkhus, is one vanquished in regard to presently arisen states?1218 Here, bhikkhus, an untaught ordinary person, who has no regard for noble ones and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, who has no regard for true men and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, regards material form as self, or self as possessed of material form, or material form as in self, or self as in material form. He regards feeling as self…perception as self…formations as self [189]…consciousness as self, or self as possessed of consciousness, or consciousness as in self, or self as in consciousness. That is how one is vanquished in regard to presently arisen states.
9. “And how, bhikkhus, is one invincible in regard to presently arisen states? Here, bhikkhus, a well-taught noble disciple, who has regard for noble ones and is skilled and disciplined in their Dhamma, who has regard for true men and is skilled and disciplined in their Dhamma, does not regard material form as self, or self as possessed of material form, or material form as in self, or self as in material form. He does not regard feeling as self…perception as self…formations as self…consciousness as self, or self as possessed of consciousness, or consciousness as in self, or self as in consciousness. That is how one is invincible in regard to presently arisen states.
10. “Let not a person revive the past…Who has had a single excellent night.
11. “So it was with reference to this that it was said: ‘Bhikkhus, I shall teach you the summary and exposition of “One Who Has Had a Single Excellent Night.”’”
That is what the Blessed One said. The bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One’s words.
Ānandabhaddekaratta Sutta
Ānanda and
A Single Excellent Night
1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park.
2. Now on that occasion the venerable Ānanda was instructing, urging, rousing, and gladdening [190] the bhikkhus with talk on the Dhamma in the assembly hall. He was reciting the summary and exposition of “One Who Has Had a Single Excellent Night.”
Then, in the evening, the Blessed One rose from meditation and went to the assembly hall. He sat down on a seat made ready and asked the bhikkhus: “Bhikkhus, who has been instructing, urging, rousing, and gladdening the bhikkhus with talk on the Dhamma in the assembly hall? Who has been reciting the summary and exposition of ‘One Who Has Had a Single Excellent Night’?”
“It was the venerable Ānanda, venerable sir.”
Then the Blessed One asked the venerable Ānanda: “Ānanda, how were you instructing, urging, rousing, and gladdening the bhikkhus with talk on the Dhamma, and reciting the summary and exposition of ‘One Who Has Had a Single Excellent Night’?”
3–10. “I was doing so thus, venerable sir: [191]‘Let not a person revive the past…
(Repeat the whole of the last sutt
a, §§3–10 up to:)
Who has had a single excellent night.’
11. “I was instructing, urging, rousing, and gladdening the bhikkhus with talk on the Dhamma thus, and reciting the summary and exposition of ‘One Who Has Had a Single Excellent Night’ thus.”
“Good, good, Ānanda! It is good that you were instructing, urging, rousing, and gladdening the bhikkhus with talk on the Dhamma thus, and reciting the summary and exposition of ‘One Who Has Had a Single Excellent Night’ thus:12–19. “Let not a person revive the past…
(Repeat the whole of the last sutta, §§3–10 up to:)
Who has had a single excellent night.”
That is what the Blessed One said. The venerable Ānanda was satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One’s words.
Mahākaccānabhaddekaratta Sutta
Mahā Kaccāna and
A Single Excellent Night
[192] 1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Rājagaha in the Park of the Hot Springs. Then, when it was near dawn, the venerable Samiddhi went to the hot springs to bathe his limbs. After bathing he came up out of the water and stood dressed in one robe, drying his limbs. Then, when the night was well advanced, a certain deity of beautiful appearance who illuminated the whole of the Hot Springs, approached the venerable Samiddhi. Standing at one side, the deity said to him:
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