The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [487]
9. Then, taking a small stone the size of his hand, the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus: “What do you think, bhikkhus? Which is the greater, this small stone that I have taken, the size of my hand, or Himalaya, the king of mountains?”
“Venerable sir, the small stone that the Blessed One has taken, the size of his hand, does not count beside Himalaya, the king of mountains; it is not even a fraction, there is no comparison.”
“So too, bhikkhus, the pain and grief that the man would experience because of being struck with the three hundred spears does not count beside the suffering of hell; it is not even a fraction, there is no comparison.
10. “Now the wardens of hell torture him with the fivefold transfixing. 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. [167] 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 and 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. “Bhikkhus, I could tell you in many ways about hell.1200 So much so that it is hard to finish describing the suffering in hell.
(THE ANIMAL KINGDOM)
18. “Bhikkhus, there are animals that feed on grass. They eat by cropping fresh or dried grass with their teeth. And what animals feed on grass? Horses, cattle, donkeys, goats, and deer, and any other such animals. A fool who formerly delighted in tastes here and did evil actions here, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappears in the company of animals that feed on grass.
19. “There are animals that feed on dung. They smell dung from a distance and run to it, thinking: ‘We can eat, we can eat!’ Just as brahmins run to the smell of a sacrifice, thinking: ‘We can eat here, we can eat here!’ so too these animals that feed on dung [168] smell dung from a distance and run to it, thinking: ‘We can eat here, we can eat here!’ And what animals feed on dung? Fowls, pigs, dogs, and jackals, and any other such animals. A fool who formerly delighted in tastes here and did evil actions here, on the dissolution