The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [206]
19. “So, Evil One, when those bhikkhus had been thus advised and instructed by the Blessed One Kakusandha, accomplished and fully enlightened, then, gone to the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty hut, they abided contemplating foulness in the body, perceiving repulsiveness in nutriment, perceiving disenchantment with all the world, contemplating impermanence in all formations.
20. “Then, when it was morning, the Blessed One Kakusandha, accomplished and fully enlightened, dressed, and taking his bowl and outer robe, he went into the village for alms with the venerable Vidhura as his attendant.
21. “Then the Māra Dūsī took possession of a certain boy, and picking up a stone, he struck the venerable Vidhura on the head with it and cut his head. With blood running from his cut head, [337] the venerable Vidhura followed close behind the Blessed One Kakusandha, accomplished and fully enlightened. Then the Blessed One Kakusandha, accomplished and fully enlightened, turned around and looked at him with the elephant look: ‘This Māra Dūsī knows no bounds.’ And with that look, Evil One, the Māra Dūsī fell from that place and reappeared in the Great Hell.529
22. “Now, Evil One, there are three names for the Great Hell: the hell of the six bases for contact, the hell of the impalement with stakes, and the hell to be felt for oneself.530 Then, Evil One, the wardens of hell came up to me and said: ‘Good sir, when stake meets stake in your heart, then you will know: “I have been roasting in hell for a thousand years.”’
23. “For many a year, Evil One, for many a century, for many a millennium, I roasted in that Great Hell. For ten millennia I roasted in the auxiliary of that Great Hell, experiencing the feeling called that of emergence from ripening.531 My body had the same form as a human body, Evil One, but my head had the form of a fish’s head.
24. “What can hell be well compared to
Wherein Dūsī roasted, assailant
Of Vidhura the disciple
And the brahmin Kakusandha?532
Stakes of steel, even a hundred,
Each one suffered separately;
These can hell be well compared to
Wherein Dūsī roasted, assailant
Of Vidhura the disciple
And the brahmin Kakusandha.
Dark One, you have much to suffer
By assaulting such a bhikkhu,
An Enlightened One’s disciple
Who directly knows this fact.
25. “In the middle of the ocean
There are mansions aeon-lasting,
Sapphire-shining, fiery-gleaming
With a clear translucent lustre,
Where iridescent sea-nymphs dance
In complex, intricate rhythms.
Dark One, you have much to suffer…
Who directly knows this fact.
26. “I am one who, when exhorted
By the Enlightened One in person,
Shook Migāra’s Mother’s Palace
With his toe, the Order watching.533
Dark One, you have much to suffer…
Who directly knows this fact.
27. “I am one who, wielding firmly
Strength of supernormal powers,
Shook all Vejayanta Palace
With his toe to incite the gods:534 [338]
Dark One, you have much to suffer…
Who directly knows this fact.
28. “I am one who, in that palace,
Posed to Sakka this question:
‘Do you know then, friend, deliverance
In craving’s utter destruction?’
Whereupon Sakka then answered
Truly to the question asked him:535
Dark One, you have much to suffer…
Who directly knows this fact.
29. “I am one who thought of posing
Brahmā this question
In Sudhamma Hall in heaven:
‘Is there still found in you, friend,
The wrong view you once accepted?
Do you see the radiance
Surpassing that in the Brahmā-world?’
Brahmā then answered my question
Truthfully and in due sequence:
‘There is found in me no longer,
Sir, the wrong view that once I held;
Indeed I see the radiance
Surpassing that in the Brahmā-world.
Today how could I maintain
That I am permanent and eternal?’:536
Dark One, you have much to suffer…
Who directly knows this fact.
30. “I am one who, by liberation,
Has touched the peak of Mount Sineru,
Visited the Pubbavidehans’ grove
And