The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [486]
4. “Again, when a robber culprit is caught, a fool sees kings having many kinds of torture inflicted on him:1198 [164] having him flogged with whips, beaten with canes, beaten with clubs; having his hands cut off, his feet cut off, his hands and feet cut off; his ears cut off, his nose cut off, his ears and nose cut off; having him subjected to the ‘porridge pot,’ to the ‘polished-shell shave,’ to the ‘Rāhu’s mouth,’ to the ‘fiery wreath,’ to the ‘flaming hand,’ to the ‘blades of grass,’ to the ‘bark dress,’ to the ‘antelope,’ to the ‘meat hooks,’ to the ‘coins,’ to the ‘lye pickling, ’ to the ‘pivoting pin,’ to the ‘rolled-up palliasse’; and having him splashed with boiling oil, and having him thrown to be devoured by dogs, and having him impaled alive on stakes, and having his head cut off with a sword. Then the fool thinks thus: ‘Because of such evil actions as those, when a robber culprit is caught, kings have many kinds of tortures inflicted on him: they have him flogged with whips…and have his head cut off with a sword. Those things are found in me, and I am seen engaging in those things.’ This is the second kind of pain and grief that a fool feels here and now.
5. “Again, when a fool is on his chair or on his bed or resting on the ground, then the evil actions that he did in the past—his bodily, verbal, and mental misconduct—cover him, overspread him, and envelop him. Just as the shadow of a great mountain peak in the evening covers, overspreads, and envelops the earth, so too, when a fool is on his chair or on his bed or resting on the ground, [165] then the evil actions that he did in the past—his bodily, verbal, and mental misconduct—cover him, overspread him, and envelop him. Then the fool thinks: ‘I have not done what is good, I have not done what is wholesome, I have not made myself a shelter from anguish. I have done what is evil, I have done what is cruel, I have done what is wicked. When I pass away, I shall go to the destination of those who have not done what is good…who have done what is wicked.’ He sorrows, grieves, and laments, he weeps beating his breast and becomes distraught. This is the third kind of pain and grief that a fool feels here and now.
6. “A fool who has given himself over to misconduct of body, speech, and mind, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappears in a state of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, even in hell.
(HELL)
7. “Were it rightly speaking to be said of anything: ‘That is utterly unwished for, utterly undesired, utterly disagreeable,’ it is of hell that, rightly speaking, this should be said, so much so that it is hard to find a simile for the suffering in hell.”
When this was said, a bhikkhu asked the Blessed One: “But, venerable sir, can a simile be given?”
8. “It can, bhikkhu,” the Blessed One said.1199 “Bhikkhus, suppose men caught a robber culprit and presented him to the king, saying: ‘Sire, here is a robber culprit. Order what punishment you will for him.’ Then the king said: ‘Go and strike this man in the morning with a hundred spears.’ And they struck him in the morning with a hundred spears. Then at noon the king asked: ‘How is that man?’—‘Sire, he is still alive.’ Then the king said: ‘Go and strike that man at noon with a hundred spears.’ And they struck him at noon with a hundred spears. Then in the evening the king asked: ‘How is that man?’—‘Sire, he is still alive.’ Then the king said: ‘Go and strike that man in the evening with a hundred spears.’ And they struck him in the evening with a hundred spears. [166] What do you think, bhikkhus? Would that man experience pain and grief because of being struck with the three hundred spears?”
“Venerable sir, that man