The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [508]
16. “Therein, Ānanda, when a recluse or brahmin says: ‘Indeed, there are no good actions, there is no result of good conduct, ’ I do not grant him this. When he says: ‘I saw a person here who abstained from killing living beings…and held right view, and I see that on the dissolution of the body, after death, he has reappeared in a state of deprivation…even in hell,’ I grant him this. But when he says: ‘On the dissolution of the body, after death, everyone who abstains from killing living beings…and holds right view reappears in a state of deprivation…even in hell,’ I do not grant him this. And when he says: [214] ‘Those who know thus know rightly; those who think otherwise are mistaken,’ I also do not grant him this. And when he obstinately adheres to what he himself has known, seen, and discovered, insisting: ‘Only this is true, anything else is wrong,’ I also do not grant him this. Why is that? Because, Ānanda, the Tathāgata’s knowledge of the great exposition of action is otherwise.
17. “Therein, Ānanda,1230 as to the person here who kills living beings…and holds wrong view, and on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappears in a state of deprivation…even in hell: either earlier he did an evil action to be felt as painful, or later he did an evil action to be felt as painful, or at the time of death he acquired and undertook wrong view.1231 Because of that, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he has reappeared in a state of deprivation…even in hell. And since he has here killed living beings…and held wrong view, he will experience the result of that either here and now, or in his next rebirth, or in some subsequent existence.1232
18. “Therein, Ānanda, as to the person here who kills living beings…and holds wrong view, and on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappears in a happy destination, even in the heavenly world: either earlier he did a good action to be felt as pleasant, or later he did a good action to be felt as pleasant, or at the time of death he acquired and undertook right view.1233 Because of that, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he has reappeared in a happy destination, even in the heavenly world. But since he has here killed living beings…and held wrong view, he will experience the result of that either here and now, or in his next rebirth, or in some subsequent existence.
19. “Therein, Ānanda, as to the person here who abstains from killing living beings…and holds right view, and on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappears in a happy destination, even in the heavenly world: either earlier he did a good action to be felt as pleasant, or later he did a good action to be felt as pleasant, or at the time of death he acquired and undertook right view. Because of that, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he has reappeared in a happy destination, even in the heavenly world. And since he has here abstained from killing living beings [215]…and held right view, he will experience the result of that either here and now, or in his next rebirth, or in some subsequent existence.
20. “Therein, Ānanda, as to the person here who abstains from killing living beings…and holds right view, and on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappears in a state of deprivation…even in hell: either earlier he did an evil action to be felt as painful, or later he did an evil action to be felt as painful, or at the time of death he acquired and undertook wrong view. Because of that, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he has reappeared in a state