The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [488]
20. “There are animals that are born, age, and die in darkness. And what animals are born, age, and die in darkness? Moths, maggots, and earthworms, 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 are born, age, and die in darkness.
21. “There are animals that are born, age, and die in water. And what animals are born, age, and die in water? Fish, turtles, and crocodiles, 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 are born, age, and die in water.
22. “There are animals that are born, age, and die in filth. And what animals are born, age, and die in filth? Those animals that are born, age, and die in a rotten fish or in a rotten corpse or in rotten porridge or in a cesspit or in a sewer. [169] 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 are born, age, and die in filth.
23. “Bhikkhus, I could tell you in many ways about the animal kingdom, so much so that it is hard to finish describing the suffering in the animal kingdom.
24. “Suppose a man threw into the sea a yoke with one hole in it, and the east wind carried it to the west, and the west wind carried it to the east, and the north wind carried it to the south, and the south wind carried it to the north. Suppose there were a blind turtle that came up once at the end of each century. What do you think, bhikkhus? Would that blind turtle put his neck into that yoke with one hole in it?”
“He might, venerable sir, sometime or other at the end of a long period.”
“Bhikkhus, the blind turtle would sooner put his neck into that yoke with a single hole in it than a fool, once gone to perdition, would take to regain the human state, I say. Why is that? Because there is no practising of the Dhamma there, no practising of what is righteous, no doing of what is wholesome, no performance of merit. There mutual devouring prevails, and the slaughter of the weak.
25. “If, sometime or other, at the end of a long period, that fool comes back to the human state, it is into a low family that he is reborn—into a family of outcasts or hunters or bamboo-workers or cartwrights or scavengers—one that is poor with little to eat and drink, surviving with difficulty, where he scarcely finds food and clothing; and he is ugly, unsightly, and misshapen, sickly, blind, cripple-handed, lame, or paralysed; he gets no food, drink, clothes, [170] vehicles, garlands, scents and unguents, bed, lodging, and light; he misconducts himself in body, speech, and mind, and having done that, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a state of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, even in hell.
26. “Bhikkhus, suppose a gambler at the very first unlucky throw loses his child and his wife and all his property and furthermore goes into bondage himself, yet an unlucky throw such as that is negligible; it is a far more unlucky throw when a fool who misconducts himself in body, speech, and mind, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappears in a state of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, even in hell. This is the complete perfection of the fool’s grade.1201
(THE WISE MAN)
27. “Bhikkhus, there are these three characteristics of a wise man, signs of a wise man, attributes of a wise man. What three? Here a wise man is one who thinks good thoughts, speaks good words, and does good deeds. If a wise man were not so, how would the wise know him thus: ‘This person is a wise man, a true man’? But because a wise man is one who thinks good thoughts, speaks good words, and does good deeds, the wise know him thus: ‘This person is a wise man, a true man.’
28. “A wise man