Heaven's Warning Messengers

[178] [255]

[1][pts][ntbb][than][upal] THUS have I heard:

Once when the Lord was staying at Sāvatthī in Jeta's grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's pleasaunce,
the Lord addressed the Almsmen: -

Just as if there were two houses with doors,
and a man with eyes to see
were to stand between them
and see men going in and out
and passing to and fro,
- just in the same way
do I see, with the Eye Celestial
which far surpasses the human eye,
creatures in act of passing hence
and of re-appearing elsewhere, -
creatures lowly or debonair,
fair or foul to view,
happy or unhappy;
and I am aware that they fare
according to their past.

Here are creatures given to good
in act word and thought,
who did not decry the Noble Ones,
who had a right outlook
and became what results from such a right outlook; -
these at the body's dissolution after death
appear either in states of bliss in heaven
[179] or as human beings.

Here again are creatures given to evil
in act word and thought,
who decry the Noble Ones,
have a wrong outlook
and become what results from such a wrong outlook; -
[256] these at the body's dissolution after death
appear either as ghosts
or as animals
or in the misery and woe of purgatory.

Him do the wardens of purgatory
haul by the arms before King Yama, saying -

This man, sire,
lacked filial and religious piety
and flouted his clan elders;
appoint him his punishment.

Him does King Yama examine
and question
and press
regarding the first messenger of the gods,
asking the man whether in his human life
he did not see that messenger appearing.

On the man's saying he had not seen him,
Yama says: -

My man, did you never in your human life
see a tiny new-born babe
that can only lie on its back in its own filth?

Yes, sir; I did.

Did you never,
being a man of intelligence and years,
bethink you
that you too were,
and still continued to be,
subject to birth,
and that you should conduct yourself aright
in act word and thought?

I could not have done it;
I could not muster up the resolution to do so.

Through lack of resolution, my man,
you have failed to conduct yourself aright
in act word and thought.

Yes, my man;
they will deal with you
according to your lack of resolution.

Your misdeeds were not committed
by your parents,
[180] or by your brothers and sisters,
or by your friends or kinsfolk,
or by recluses and brahmins,
or by the gods;
they were committed by none but yourself;
and it is you yourself
who will reap the fruits thereof.

Passing now to the second messenger of the gods,
Yama questions the man
as to his having seen this second messenger.

On the man's replying
that he had not seen him,
Yama says: -

My man, did you never in your life on earth
see an old woman or man
of eighty
or ninety
or a hundred, -
bent double
and propping their bowed frames with a staff
as they totter along,
decrepid,
with youth gone,
with teeth gone,
with hair grey
or scanty
or none left,
all wrinkled and blotchy?

[257] Yes, sir; I did.

Did you never,
being a man of intelligence and years,
bethink you that you too were,
and still continued to be,
subject to old-age,
and that you should conduct yourself aright
in act word and thought?

I could not have done it ... reap the fruits thereof.

Passing now to the third messenger of the gods,
Yama questions [181] the man
as to his having seen this third messenger.

On the man's replying
that he had not seen him,
Yama says: -

My man, did you never in your human life
see a woman or a man
ill and in pain,
very ill indeed,
lying in their own excreta,
needing others to lift them up
and lay them down?

Yes, sir; I did.

Did you never,
being a man of intelligence and years,
bethink you that you too were,
and still continued to be,
subject to disease,
and that you should conduct yourself aright
in act word and thought?

I could not have done it ... reap the fruits thereof.

Passing now to the fourth messenger of the gods,
Yama questions the man
as to his having seen the fourth messenger.

On the man's replying that he had not seen him,
Yama says: -

My man, did you never in your human life
see how, when a guilty robber is arrested,
he is punished by the authorities in divers ways, -
by flogging ... (etc. as in Sutta No. 13) ...
are impaled alive
or are beheaded?

Yes, sir; I did.

Did you never,
being a man of intelligence and years,
bethink you that,
according to report,
all evildoers are thus punished in divers ways,
here and now,
and why not [182] hereafter? -
and accordingly conduct yourself aright
in act word and thought?

I could not nave done it ... reap the fruits thereof.

Passing next to the fifth messenger of the gods,
Yama questions the man as to his having seen the fifth messenger.

On the man's replying that he had not [258] seen him,
Yama says: -

My man, did you never in your human life
see the corpse of a woman or of a man
bloated and blackened and festering?

Yes, sir; I did.

Did you never,
being a man of intelligence and years,
bethink you that you too were,
and still continued to be,
subject to death,
and that you should conduct yourself aright
in act word and deed?

I could not have done it ... reap the fruits thereof.

Having examined,
questioned
and pressed the man
regarding the fifth messenger of the gods,
King Yama says no more.

Him do the wardens of purgatory
subject to the fivefold trussing, -
[188] they drive a red-hot peg through each hand and each foot,
and a fifth through his chest.

Severe and acute pain is his,
but death comes not to him
before he has worked off all his evil-doing.

When he is pegged down those wardens trim him with axes.