Dream of Premonition
The night before Buddha's enlightenment. five dreams appeared to him.
First dream: The Great Earth was Prince Siddhartha's couch; Himalaya, king of mountains, was his pillow; his left hand lay in the Eastern Ocean, his right hand lay in
the Western Ocean, his feet lay in the Southern Ocean.
This is foretelling his discovery of the supreme full enlightenment.
Second dream: A creeper grew up out of his navel and stood touching the clouds.
This is foretelling his discovery of the Nobel Eightfold Path.
Third dream: White grubs with black heads crawled from his feet to his knees and covered them.
This is foretelling that many white-clothed laymen would go
for refuge to the Perfect One during his life.
Fourth dream: Four birds of different colours came from the four quarters, and, as they alighted at his feet, they all became white.
This is foretelling that the four casts, the Warrior nobles, the Brahman priests, the Burgesses, and the Plebeians would realize the supreme
deliverance when the Law and the Discipline had been proclaimed by the Perfect One.
Fifth dream: The prince walked upon a huge mountain of dirt without being fouled by the dirt.
This is foretelling that although the Perfect One would get the requisites of robes, alms food, abode, and medicine, yet he would use them without
greed or delusion or clinging, perceiving their dangers and understanding their purpose.
Analysis of Dependent Origination
Ref. Vibhanga (The Book of Analysis)
Because of ignorance activities arise;
Because of activities consciousness arises;
Because of consciousness mind and matter arise;
Because of mind and matter arise six basis arise;
Because of six basis arise contact arises
Because of contact feeling arises
Because of feeling craving arise;
Because of craving attachment arise;
Because of attachment becoming arise;
Because of becoming birth arise;
Because of birth ageing-death-sorrow-lamentation-pain(physical)-mental pain-despair arise.
This is the arising of this whole mass of suffering
What is ignorance (Avija)?
Absence of knowledge of suffering, absence of knowledge of the cause of suffering, absence of knowledge of the cessation of suffering, absence of
knowledge of the way leading to the cessation of suffering. This is called ignorance. In summary, absence of the knowledge of the Four Noble Truth.
What is 'because of ignorance activities arise'?
Activity producing good (resultant), activity producing bad (resultant), activity producing unshakeable (resultant), bodily activity, verbal activity, mental activity.
What is activity producing good (resultant)?
Good volition characteristic of the plane of desire, characteristic of the plane of form, occasioned by giving, occasioned by morality, occasioned by meditation.
This is called activity producing good (resultant).
What is activity producing bad (resultant)?
Bad volition characteristic of the plane of desire. This is called activity producing bad (resultant).
What is activity producing unshakeable (resultant)?
Good volition characteristic of formless plane. This is called activity producing unshakeable (resultant).
What is bodily activity?
Bodily volition is bodily activity; verbal volition is verbal activity; mental volition is mental activity. These are called 'because of ignorance activities arise'.
What is 'because of activities consciousness arises'?
Eyes consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, mind consciousness. These are called 'because of activities consciousness arises'.
What is 'because of consciousness mind and matter arise'?
There is mind; there is matter.
Therein what is mind?
The aggregate of feeling, aggregate of perception, aggregate of mental concomitants. This is called mind.
Therein what is matter?
The four great essentials and the material qualities derived from the four great essentials. This is called matter. Thus is this mind and this matter.
This is called 'because of consciousness mind and matter arise'.
What is 'because of mind and matter six basis arise'?
Eye base, ear base, nose base, tongue base, body base, mind base. This is called 'because of mind and matter six basis arise'.
What is 'because of six basis contact arises'?
Eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, mind contact. This is called 'because of six basis contact arises'.
What is 'because of contact feeling arises'?
Feeling born of eye contact, feeling born of ear contact, feeling born of nose contact, feeling born of tongue contact, feeling born of body contact,
feeling born of mind contact This is called 'because of contact feeling arises'.
What is 'because of feeling craving arises'?
Craving for visible (objects), craving for audible (objects), craving for odorous (objects), craving for sapid (objects), craving for tangible (objects),
craving for ideational (objects). This is called 'because of feeling craving arises'.
What is 'because of craving attachment arises'?
The attachment of desire, the attachment of wrong view, the attachment of (wrong) habits and practices, the attachment of soul-theory.
This is called 'because of craving attachment arises'.
What is 'because of attachment becoming arises'?
Becoming by way of twofold division: Is action-becoming; is resultant-becoming.
Therein what is action-becoming?
Activity producing good (resultant), activity producing bad (resultant), activity producing unshakeable (resultant). This is called action-becoming.
Also all action leading to becoming is action-becoming.
What is resultant-becoming?
Becoming (in the plane of) desire, becoming (in the plane of) form, becoming (in the) formless (plane), perception-becoming, non-perception-becoming, neither perception nor non-perception-becoming,
single aggregate becoming, four aggregate becoming, five aggregate becoming. This is called resultant-becoming. This is called 'because of attachment becoming arises'.
What is 'because of becoming birth arises'?
That which for this or that being in this or that category of beings is birth, genesis, entry, full existence, the appearance of the aggregates,
the acquiring of the bases. This is called 'because of becoming birth arises'.
What is 'because of birth ageing and death arises'?
There is aging; there is death.
Therein what is ageing?
That which for his or that being in this or that category of beings is ageing, decrepitude, broken teeth, grey hair, wrinkled skin,
the dwindling of life, decay of the controlling faculties. This is called ageing.
Therein what is death?
That which for this or that being from this or that category of beings is decease, passing away, breaking up, disappearance, dying, death,
the completion of the life-span, the breaking up of the aggregates, the laying down of the body, the destruction of the controlling faculties of
vital principle. This is called death. Thus is this ageing and this death. This is called 'because of birth ageing and death arises'.
What is sorrow?
(That which) To one afflicted by misfortune through relatives or to one afflicted by misfortune through wealth or to one afflicted by misfortune through
disease or to one afflicted by misfortune through (corrupted) morality or to one afflicted by misfortune through wrong view or to one possessed of one
misfortune or another or to one afflicted by one painful thing or another is sorrow, being sorry, the state of being sorry, inner sorrow, deep sorrow,
burning of the mind, mental pain, the arrow of sorrow. This is called sorrow.
What is lamentation?
(That which) To one afflicted by misfortune through relatives or to one afflicted by misfortune through wealth or to one afflicted by misfortune
through disease or to one afflicted by misfortune through (corrupted) morality or to one afflicted by misfortune through wrong view or to one
possessed of one misfortune or another or to one afflicted by one painful thing or another is crying, lamentation, the act of lamentation, (sorrowful)
talk, senseless talk, wailing, sorrowful murmuring, the act of sorrowful murmuring, the state of sorrowful murmuring. This is called lamentation.
What is pain?
That which is bodily uneasiness, bodily pain, uneasy painful experience born of bodily contact, uneasy painful feeling born of bodily contact. This is called pain.
What is mental pain?
That which is mental uneasiness, mental pain, uneasy painful experience born of mental contact, uneasy painful feeling born of mental contact. This is called mental pain.
What is despair?
(That which) To one afflicted by misfortune through relatives or to one afflicted by misfortune through wealth or to one afflicted by misfortune through
disease or to one afflicted by misfortune through (corrupted) morality or to one afflicted by misfortune through wrong view or to one possessed of one
misfortune or another or to one afflicted by one painful thing or another is despondency, despair, the state of despondency, the state of despair.
This is called despair.
'Thus is the arising of this whole mass of suffering' means: Thus is the combination, the assemblage, the collocation, the appearance of this whole mass of suffering.
Therefore this is called 'thus is the arising of this whole mass of suffering'.
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One of the requirements,
among many others, at the time when a Buddha is enlightened, is the highest point or peak advancement of philosophy in India
because every Buddha will compete with all the highest philosophers or philosophies at that time and proof that a Buddha's Philosophy or Teachings is the supreme,
there is no other alternative Teachings that can match of the Buddha's. By definition, 'Philosophy' means 'love of wisdom'. Some of the essential words of Philosophical
thinking are 'why?', 'what?, etc, which are inquiring terminologies. Philosophers always 'search and research', question and 'question the question'. These activities
can only be practiced in a free society.
At the time of Buddha, thousands of ascetics renounced the world in search of truth, went homelessness deep into the forest,
going through deep meditation, questioning what is existence? what is mind? what is knowledge? what is wisdom? They were more than philosophical thinkers, because
philosophical thinking alone cannot solve fundamental problems. They were high level mediators, as meditation sharpen, train and purify mind to gain enlightenment and
discover the truth, from and with experience, not just philosophical thinking - the major difference between Eastern and Western Philosophies. Read more at the following link.
History of Pre-Buddhistic Indian Philosophy By Dr. B.M. Barua Dwonload here
What are other requirements?
The defeat of Mara by Prince Siddhartha
Every Bodhisattva must defeat Mara (Devaputtamara) before enlightenment. When Mara's attempt to unseat prince Siddhartha from the throne, where every Buddha enlightened,
failed he attacked the price, but the prince reached out his right hand to touch the ground to bear witness to his past deeds of ten perfections. The earth shook and Mara and his
followers fled to their heavens.
There are two things, may be more, significant: the truth and the only truth, the laws of kamma, prevails, and a Buddha's kamic power, gained from ten perfections,
is limitless, can overcome any evil power trying to obstruct enlightenment.
Definition of Mara
Khandha-mara
Five aggregates (Rupa (Form), Vedana (feeling), Saññā (Perception), Sankhara (Mental Formation), Citta (Viññāña)) are also known as mara.
Kilesa-mara
Kilesa-mara means defilements, which is tahana, the cause of wandering in samsara.
Abhisankhaara-mara
Kamma effects (moral and immoral actions) leading to conditioned existence.
Maccu-mara
Maccu-mara means death (by which we can say re-born because death in one existence means re-born in another existence - oppose to nirvana end of death)
Devaputtamara
The King of the sensual realm is the ruler of Paranimitra-Vasavatti heaven, which is the highest heaven in the kamma-vasara-deva-loka, sensual sphere. He is a very
powerful deity and obstruct whoever tries to gain enlightenment or attain liberation from delusion. In other words, he attempts to prevent whoever tries to become a Buddha,
or to gain arahatship. He enjoys the delusion holds over the world. Mara's obstruction to Buddha's enlightenment is not personal. A Buddha's
enlightenment will throw light upon darkness of delusion, which Mara considers personal
attack on him, and his success of holding over the world with delusion will be threatened. Just before Buddha's enlightenment Mara accompanied by his daughters tried
alternately to tempt and frighten the prince, but to no avail. Mara's destructive attempt takes place at every Buddha's enlightenment.
Every Buddha conquer all these Maras.
Mara changed his mind
About three hundred years after Buddha passed away, at the end of third Buddhist council, during the time of King Asoka, Mara told an arahat, who detained him during
the whole period of the council, that Buddha was the best person, Buddha never hated him and he also wanted to be a Buddha. Of course, every Buddha never hate anybody.
There were seven companions who were born on the same day and at the same time as prince Siddhartha.
| 1. |
Prince Siddhartha's wife Princess Yasodharā |
| 2. |
Venerable Ananda |
| 3. |
Prince Siddhartha's charioteer Channa |
| 4. |
Bodhi tree under which prince Siddhartha enlightened |
| 5. |
Kanthaka is the horse on which the prince left the palace. Kanthaka was looking at the prince as
far as he could see as the prince was entering into the deep forest. When the prince was out of sight
walking into the forest, Kanthaka died of deep sorrow and was re-born in heaven. After Buddha's enlightenment,
he came down on earth many times to listen Buddha's preaching. |
| 6. |
Minister Kaludayi, who was sent by Prince's father King Suddhodana to invite the Buddha to the Palace. |
| 7. |
Four big pots of gold appeared in the palace, which were the effect of Buddha's previous lives' kamma. But, when the Prince renounced the world, they disappeared. |
What is Buddhist Philosophy?
Western Philosophy approximately around hundred years after Buddha
The origin of Western philosophy is the ancient Greek Philosophy. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are some of the most famous top on the list. All great thinkers,
philosophers, question, find answer to that question by means of debating, expressing their opposing viewpoints, until finally reaching a meaningful and realistic
conclusion, acceptable to the majority. This process is equally true to find a solution of a problem in any open and free society. In politics, that is what
democracy is all about, to protect from tyranny, who oppress freedom of thinking.
Socrates thinking is 'how to think', pursue thought and explore ideas in a systematic and disciplined methodology, to summarise in brief. His way of questioning
has also been used in psychotherapy, convincing the patient why something happened, explaining the situation to change to a positive viewpoint. These technique is
also used in counselling.
Socrates believed: VIRTUE IS A KIND OF WISDOM¹ and VIRTUE IS THE BEST REQUIREMENT OF THE HUMAN SOUL². He questioned: Is it true that If SOMETHING IS GOOD OR RIGHT
BECAUSE IT IS COMMANDED BY GOD. Or DO GOD GUIDE SOMETHING GOOD OR RIGHT BECAUSE IT IS GOOD OR RIGHT?³ These are kind of questions that made the authorities angry
and Socrates was tried in court, charged of impiety and corruption of young people, finally putting him to death. What a destructive behaviour of God believers?
Before he died, he expressed what is every philosopher's quest: "The unexamined life is not worth living." (Buddhism gives the answer what life is and much more).
Commentator's Note:
¹Does wisdom depends on virtue or virtue depends on wisdom or they are mutually distinct? ²Or, Does soul exist? If soul does not exist, what virtue is good for? ³What if God does not exist, what are the basis of good or right?
These answers can be found in Buddhism.
Buddhist Philosophy
Buddhism highly encourage inquisitive questions. The law of kamma, cause and effect, perfectly fits into the definition of philosophy - why? Anicca (impermanent),
Dukkha (disappointing nature/no true happiness), Anatta (no-atta, soul, ego) are realities that can be confirmed by one's own experience, not just thinking of a philosopher. What Buddha said came from
His own experience. In that sense, Buddhism is philosophy which can be self-experienced to clear doubt and realise by human and devas. It explains how samsara is prolonged and the process samsara
can be shortened and attain Nibbana with one's own experience.
Voidness or Sunyata is the fundamental dhamma (nature) of the whole teaching, devoid of a permanent and eternal substance. One good example is watching on a
TV screen. It is just an illusion, nothing is going on there on the screen. What we experience everyday is illusion (avija). Buddha's teaching is the
Philosophy of Ultimate Reality which can be experienced and proven by means of practicing.
Examination of Person (Puggala)
Does a person exist? Or, Does a person doesn't exist?
If a person exist, in what sense a person exist?
A person exist in the sense of Samuti Saccha (Conventional truth), which is the view (micchaditthi) under influence of Avija (illusion).
If a person doesn't exist, in what sense a person doesn't exist?
A person doesn't exist in the sense of Paramatha Saccha (Ultimate truth) which is the insight view (Sammaditthi), understanding with panna (wisdom).
Buddhism distinguishes altogether twelve classes of intelligent beings or puggala - four of the average ordinary class (puthujjanā) and eight of the elect class (ariyā)
Ref. Puggala-Paññatti (Designation of Human Types)
| puthujjanā
|
one who has not attained any of the four ariyā state (door to hell is wide open).
ariyā state are: Sotāpanna (lowest level, door to hell is closed, will be reborn at most seven times in the future),
Sakridāgāmi (once returner), anagami (never return to human world) and arahat (never born again).
|
| ariyā |
one who has attained at least one or all four of the ariyā states.
It is prohibited to tell anyone who has achieved any of the ariyā state to protect from bogus claim.
|
Examination of Ethical Goodness
Ref. Katha-Vatthu (Points of Controversy or Subject of Discourse)
| Puggalavādin |
One who believes in the existence of a personal entity, soul, or perduring immortal essence in man.
|
| Therāvadin |
The early conservative Theravada Buddhist monk. |
| Is known |
is approached and got at by the understanding, is cognised.
|
| Real |
not taken as an effect of magic or mirage, actual.
|
| Ultimate |
highest sense, not taken from tradition, or hearsay.
|
| Known |
as one of the fifty-seven ultimates of our conscious experience (five aggregates, twelve sense-organs and objects, eighteen elements, twenty-two controlling powers).
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Therāvadins and Puggalavādins question concerning each other's position.
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Puggalavādin
Are ethically good and bad actions known [to exist]?
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Therāvadin
Yes
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Are there such things as ethically good or bad actions? Sceptical views in the age of the Nikāyas
denied the inherent goodness and badness of conduct - denied their happy and painful results.
My Comment:
Karma is the creator of the doer, the cause or condition of the existence. Karmic power follows every being, like shade follows everyone who is walking under the sun.
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Puggalavādin
Are both the doer of ethically good and bad deeds, and he who causes them to be done known [to exist]?
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Therāvadin
Nay, that cannot truly be said (not as a persisting, identical, personal entity).
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What is the Doctrine?
Who is the Buddha?
The Monk Order
What is the Practice?
What is achieved?
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Visit to Hell
Venerable Mahā-Maudgalyānana, left-hand disciple of the Buddha, often went on a visit to hell. Why he visited to these dreadful places?
To tell true stories of the effects of evil kamma so that human on earth can understand the effect of their evil behaviour and learn to do good, saving
mankind from going to hell.
There in the eight great hells, each with its sixteen secondary hells, he saw beings enduring thousands of different hellish torments.
The following materials are extracted from THE MAHAVASTU VOLUME I
The Hell named Sañjīva
In this hell, people had their feet upwards and heads downwards, whilst they were destroyed with hatchets and knives. Others, again, instigated by malevolence, assailed one another with claws of iron, and in their hands appeared sharp sword-blades with which they rent one another. Yet they do not die as long as their evil karmas are not exhausted.
As the maturing of what karma are beings reborn there?
Those who in this world are enemies and rivals, are vindictive, are haters of their fields, houses or tilth, are warring kings, thieves, or soldiers, and those who die
nursing hostile thoughts of one another, have rebirth in this hell as the maturing of such karma.
As the maturing of what karma do nails or rods of iron grow on their hands?
Since in this world they have put weapons of war in men's hands, urging them with these weapons to smite such and such a village, city, town, man, or beast, so, as the maturing of such karma, iron rods and daggers grow on their hands.
Why is this hell called Sañjīva?
To the denizens of this hell the thought occurs. "We shall survive only to experience Kālasūtra (Survival (sañjīvam) is existence in Kālasūtra).
That is why this hell is called Sañjīva.
The Hell named Kālasūtra
In the great hell Kālasūtra, Venerable Mahā-Maudgalyānana saw beings with their limbs lashed with black wire, beaten and maimed and cut piece-meal with hatchets and saws.
But their bodies, although beaten and mauled, grow again to undergo the same hideous torments. And thus they do not die, because they are upheld by karma.
This hell, and so on up to "armed" and "aflame." Here the warders of hell drive its inmates from under a verdant tree, and by means of the measuring rule of black wire cut
them into eight, six, or four parts. They go on to cleave the bodies of some from heel to neck, like a sugar-cane. They go on to cleave the bodies of others from neck to heel,
like a sugar-cane. In this state the inmates suffer agonies beyond measure, but they do not die as long as their evil karma in not exhausted.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn here?
Those who in this world cause slaves to be shackled with fetters and chains and force them to work, ordering the hands and feed of many to be pierced, and the nose,
flesh, sinews, arms and back of many others to be slit five times or ten, are reborn here as the maturing of such karma.
But this, again, is no more than a principal cause of rebirth here. Those reborn here reap the fruit of still other wicked and sinful deeds. The warders of this hell
beat and jeer at the inmates, who implore them, saying, "Kill us."
In their many thousands of pieces of burning, flaming and blazing cloth fly through the air, and as
they come near them the denizens of hell cry out, "Lo, they are on us."
The pieces of cloth come on and envelope the limbs of each one of them, burning their outer and
inner skins, their flesh and their sinews, so that the whole of them is on fire.
Thus their torn skin and their flesh and blood are burnt away. In this state they suffer
agonies beyond measure, but they do not die as long as their evil karma is not worked out to its end.
Again, this is only a principal cause of rebirth there. Those reborn there reap the fruit of still other wicked and sinful deeds.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn here?
Those who in this world have repeatedly caused human beings to be slain, and those mendicants, eunuchs, criminals and sinners who become recluses and usurp the monk's
robe and girdle, have rebirth here as a maturing of such karma.
Again, this is only a principal cause of rebirth there, for those reborn there reap the fruit of still other wicked and sinful deeds. Some have their skin torn into
shreds from heel to neck, others from neck to heel, and others from neck to hip. In this state they suffer agonies beyond measure.
Those who in this world cause the "hay-band" and the "bark-robe" (methods of torture) to be prepared are reborn there as a maturing of such karma.
The volume of blinding smoke that is everywhere in this hell, acrid, pungent and terrifying, pierces outer and inner skin, flesh, sinew and bone, penetrates the very marrow of bones.
All bodies become numbed and exhausted.
Then they reel about for many a hundred yojanas, trampling on one another and stumbling. In this state they suffer agonies beyond measure,
but they do not die as long as their evil karma is not worked out to the end.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn here?
Those who in this world smoke the openings of the dens, burrows, enclosures, and traps of sāhikas (name of animal), monkeys, rats, and cats, and the holes of serpents,
guarding the exits, or who suffocate bees with smoke, have rebirth there as the maturing of such karma.
Again, beings are reborn there as a maturing of various other wicked and sinful deeds, for what has just been said is only a principal cause of rebirth there. Those
reborn there, and so on.
Why is this hell called Kālasūtra?
The warders of this hell drive the denizens from under a verdant tree and cut them by means of the measuring line of black wire. That is why this hell is named Kālasūtra,
namely from what is done there.
The Hell named Sanghāta
This hell is situated between two mountains, is made of fiery, flaming and blazing iron, and is several hundred yojanas in extent. The armed warders of this hell
show the way to the doomed, who in terror enter in between the mountains.
In front of them fire appears, and in their terror they turn back. But behind them, too, fire appears, and the mountains converge to meet each other, and as they
do so the doomed shout, "Look at the mountains coming on us! See them come!" The mountains meet and crush them as so much sugar-cane.
Again, the mountains rise up into the air, and the doomed pass beneath them. When many thousands have done so, the mountains subside so that they are crushed
as sugar-cane is crushed, and their blood flows in streams.
They are left heaps of bone refuse, without flesh, but held together by their sinews. In this state they suffer agonies, but they do not die as long as their
evil karma is not worked out to the end.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn there?
Those who in this world cause worms to be crushed, or the earth to be dug up, or just as happens to beings in the sword-leafed forest, who flog living creatures
with clubs having the leaves still on them, or who crush with their finger-nails nits, lice, and sānkuśas (name of insect), are reborn there as a maturing of this karma.
This, again, is only a principal cause of rebirth there. Those reborn there reap the fruit of still other sinful and wicked deeds. They are kept a heap of bones for five
hundred years in iron pots that burn, blaze and flame, and under a veritable shower of burning, blazing and flaming iron pestles. In this state they undergo intense sufferings.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn there?
Those who in this world stab living creatures with daggers, or fell them with bludgeons, and those who destroy living creatures by grinding them in mortars with red-hot pestles,
are reborn there as a maturing of this karma.
Why this hell is called Sanghāta?
People in this hell endure being herded together. That is why this hell is called Sanghāta.
The Hell named Raurava
Thousands of beings in this hell are confined each in a narrow cell, where they are denied the exercise of the four postures (walking, standing, sitting, lying-down).
Fire blazes in their hands.
While the fire burns they cry out. As often as this fire goes out they become silent. In this state they suffer agonies beyond measure.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn there?
Those who in this world enslave beings who are without protection or refuge, those who set houses and forests on fire, those who light a fire at the openings of
the dens, borrows, enclosures, and traps of sāhikas (name of animal), monkeys, rats, cats, and the holes of serpents, guarding the exits; those who destroy bees with
he betel-leaf or with fire, have rebirth there as a maturing of such karma. This again in only a principal cause of rebirth there. Those reborn there reap the fruit
of still other wicked and sinful deeds.
The Hell named Māha-Raurava
This hell is a mass of burning, blazing and flaming iron, and is many hundred yojanas in extent. The warders of this hell, with hammers in their hands, point the way to the doomed.
In terror some of these start running, others try to escape, others do not try to escape. Some retreat wheresoever they can, others do not retreat. Others again go along obediently
as well as they can.
Then the warders of hell ask them, "why, now, do you go along just because we bade you?" And they assail them so that they are broken and shattered like curd-pots.
Those who run, as well as those who do not, in this state suffer racking and acute pains.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn there?
Those who in this world have prisons made from which the light of moon and sun is shut out, and put men in them, leaving them there with the words,
"Here you shall not see the moon and sun," have rebirth there as a maturing of such karma.
As a maturing of what karma are the heads of these beings crushed?
Those who in this world have crushed the heads of living creatures such as snakes, centipedes, and scorpions, have their own heads crushed as the maturing of such karma.
Why is this hell called Raurava?
In this hell the inmates cry "Mother, father!" but they cannot find their parents. Hence it is named Raurava.
The hell Tapana
Many thousands of beings are confined here. (Vultures) drive them from under a verdant tree and devour them. When they have lost their flesh and are become mere
skeletons held together by sinews, they swoon in their agony and collapse.
But in order that their karma come to maturity, a cool wind blows on them, and their skin, flesh and blood grow again. When they are in this condition the warders of
hell drive them in before them.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn there?
Those who in this world build door-less enclosures with slippery and unscaleable walls, where living beings are cut up with hunting knives, have rebirth there as
a maturing of such karma.
As a maturing of what karma are beings devoured there?
Those who in this world have caused living beings to be devoured by lions, tigers, panthers, bears and hyenas are themselves devoured as a maturing of such karma.
As a maturing of what karma does a cool wind blow on them?
Those who in this world scatter grain as bait for deer, buffaloes, hogs and wild cocks, saying, "We shall kill them for their fat flesh," are blown on by the cool
wind as a maturing of such karma.
Why is this hell called Tapana?
The denizens of it are burnt, hence the name Tapana for this hell, which is surrounded on all sides by spits of red-hot iron. There the denizens are impaled and roasted,
some on one-pronged spits, others on two-pronged spits, and so on up to ten.
When one side is roasted, the other side is exposed. Indeed, some of them, as a maturing of
particularly wicked and sinful deeds, turn round of their own accord. In this state they suffer agonies beyond measure.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn there?
Those who in this world have caused living sheep to be fixed on a spit have rebirth there as a maturing of such karma. This again is only a principal of rebirth there.
Those reborn there reap the fruit of yet other sinful and wicked deeds.
The Hell named Avīci
Why is Avīci so called?
Flames from its eastern walls beat against the western; from the western wall they beat against the eastern. Flames from the southern wall beat against the northern;
from the northern wall they beat against the southern. Flames leaping up from the ground beat against the roof, and from the roof they beat against the ground.
The whole of this hell is beset with flames, and the many thousands denizens of it burn fiercely like firewood.
In this state they suffer painful, violent, severe and bitter agonies, but they do not die until their evil karma is worked out to the end.
Thus, their suffering is determined in accordance with what they have stored up by their conduct in the past when they lived as humans.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn there?
Again, this is only a principal cause of rebirth there. Beings reborn there reap the fruit of yet other sinful and wicked deeds.
As a maturing of what karma are beings reborn there?
Those who kill their mother or father, or Arhan, or show malevolence to a Tathāgata or shed his blood, have rebirth there as a maturing of all such wrong courses of
conduct.
Beings are also reborn there as a maturing of various other sinful and wicked deeds.
This hell is called Avīci for this reason.
The denizens of it suffer bitter, violent, and severe agonies, nor, as in the other hells do the warders set the terror-stricken
denizens to various tasks, nor does a cool wind blow here as in the other places. Here, then, in the great hell Avīci they suffer painful, violent, severe and bitter
agonies. That is why this great hell is named Avīci.
Here ends the sūtra of the Mahāvastu-Avadāna called the "Chapter on Hells."
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