English
15. Explanation of the Discourse on Self-Punishment Now, the explanation of the Discourse on Self-Punishment will be given: 170. See the people, who are quarrelsome, from whom fear has arisen due to self-punishment; I will declare the urgency, as it has been realized by me. "From whom fear has arisen due to self-punishment." "Punishment" means three kinds of punishment: bodily punishment, verbal punishment, mental punishment. Three kinds of bodily misconduct are bodily punishment; four kinds of verbal misconduct are verbal punishment; three kinds of mental misconduct are mental punishment. "Fear" means two kinds of fear: fear in this present life and fear in the next life. What is fear in this present life? Here, some person commits bodily misconduct, commits verbal misconduct, commits mental misconduct. He even kills living beings, takes what is not given, breaks into houses, plunders, commits highway robbery, stands on the highway, goes to another's wife, and speaks lies. Then they seize him and show him to the king: "This, O King, is a thief, a wrongdoer. Inflict upon him whatever punishment you wish." Then the king rebukes him. Due to that rebuke, he experiences fear, suffering, and distress. From where does this fear, suffering, and distress come to him? It has arisen, originated, come into being, manifested, appeared from his self-punishment. Even with this, the king is not satisfied. Then the king has him bound with a rope, or with a cord, or with chains, or with a cane, or with a creeper, or by enclosing him, or by surrounding him, or by confining him to a village, or to a town, or to a city, or to a state, or to a country. He even makes him say, "You are not allowed to leave here." Due to that binding, he experiences suffering and distress. From where does this fear, suffering, and distress come to him? It has arisen, originated, come into being, manifested, appeared from his self-punishment. Even with this, Still the king is not pleased. The king has his wealth confiscated – a hundred, or a thousand, or a hundred thousand. He, due to the loss of wealth, experiences suffering and sorrow. From where does this fear, suffering, and sorrow come to him? Born, arisen, produced, manifested, appeared from taking up the rod himself. Even with this, the king is not pleased. The king has him subjected to various tortures – he is flogged with whips, he is flogged with canes, he is flogged with half-rods, his hand is cut off, his foot is cut off, his hand and foot are cut off, his ear is cut off, his nose is cut off, his ear and nose are cut off, he is made into a 'porridge-pot', he is made into a 'conch-shaven', he is made into 'Rahu's mouth', he is made into a 'garland of flames', he is made into a 'hand-torch', he is made into a 'goat-leaf', he is made into a 'bark-garment', he is made into a 'deer', he is made into 'fish-hook flesh', he is made into a 'coin-shred', he is made into an 'alkaline-bath', he is made into a 'rolling-pin', he is made into a 'straw-mat', he is drenched with hot oil, he is fed to dogs, he is impaled alive on a stake, his head is cut off with a sword. He, due to these tortures, experiences suffering and sorrow. From where does this fear, suffering, and sorrow come to him? Born, arisen, produced, manifested, appeared from taking up the rod himself. The king is master of these four punishments. He, by his own actions, with the breaking up of the body, after death, reappears in a state of loss, a bad destination, a downfall, in hell. There, the hell-guards inflict upon him a torture called the fivefold binding – they drive a red-hot iron stake through one hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the second hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through one foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the second foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the middle of his chest. He there experiences painful, sharp, bitter feelings; and he does not die until that evil action is exhausted. This fear, suffe... suffering, sorrow, from where is it for him? Born from self-inflicted harm, arisen, produced, manifested, appeared. Then the guardians of hell, having laid him down, cut him with axes. He there experiences painful, sharp, bitter feelings; and he does not die until that evil deed is exhausted. Then the guardians of hell, having seized him with feet up, and head down, cut him with adzes. Then the guardians of hell, having yoked him to a chariot, drive him back and forth on the blazing, burning, glowing ground... ...Then the guardians of hell make him climb up and down a great mountain of coals, blazing, burning, glowing... ...Then the guardians of hell, having seized him with feet up, and head down, throw him into a heated iron pot, blazing, burning, glowing. He there boils, bubbling foam. Boiling there, bubbling foam, sometimes he goes up, sometimes he goes down, sometimes he goes sideways. He there experiences painful, sharp, bitter feelings; and he does not die until that evil deed is exhausted. This fear, suffering, sorrow, from where is it for him? Born from self-inflicted harm, arisen, produced, manifested, appeared. Then the guardians of hell throw him into the Great Hell. And that Great Hell is indeed – Four-cornered, with four doors, divided into measured parts; Surrounded by an iron wall, enclosed by iron. Its ground is made of iron, ablaze, filled with fire; Spreading all around for a hundred leagues, it stands always. Horrible, tormenting the miserly, flaming, hard to approach; With hair-raising forms, terrible, frightening, painful. From the eastern wall, a mass of flames arises; Burning those who did evil deeds, it strikes against the western wall. And from the western wall From the eastern wall, a mass of flames arises; burning evil deeds, it is repelled by the west. From the northern wall, a mass of flames arises; burning evil deeds, it is repelled by the south. From the southern wall, a mass of flames arises; burning evil deeds, it is repelled by the north. Arising from below, a terrifying mass of flames; burning evil deeds, it is repelled by the roof. Arising from the roof, a terrifying mass of flames; burning evil deeds, it is repelled by the ground. Like a heated iron door, glowing and blazing; so is Avīci hell, seen from below and above. There, beings, very cruel, doers of great evil; having done utterly wicked deeds, are burned and do not die. The body of those hell-dwellers is like a blazing fire; see the firmness of their deeds, it becomes neither ash nor soot. They run to the east, then they run to the west; they run to the north, then they run to the south. Whichever direction they run, that door is closed; they are unable to escape, those beings seeking liberation. They cannot escape from there, due to the condition of their deeds; for their many evil deeds are not yet fully ripened. From where does this fear, suffering, and sorrow arise for him? It is born, arisen, produced, manifested, appeared from self-inflicted violence. And from where are the sufferings of hell, the sufferings of the animal realm, the sufferings of the realm of hungry ghosts, and the sufferings of human beings born, arisen, produced, manifested, appeared? They are born, arisen, produced, manifested, appeared from self-inflicted violence—from self-inflicted violence, fear is born. "See the people engaged in strife." People means Khattiyas, Brahmins, Vessas, Suddas, householders Monastics and laypeople, devas and humans, see, look at, observe, contemplate, examine the quarrelsome people, the contentious people, the hostile people, the antagonistic people, the struck people, the struck-back people, the assaulted people, the assaulted-back people— see the quarrelsome people. I will declare the urgency. Urgency, agitation, terror, fear, oppression, affliction, calamity, danger. I will declare, I will make known, I will explain, I will teach, I will make clear, I will establish, I will reveal, I will analyze, I will make manifest, I will proclaim— I will declare the urgency. As I have been agitated. As I myself have been agitated, stirred, brought to urgency— as I have been agitated. Therefore, the Blessed One said: "From taking up the rod, fear has arisen; See the quarrelsome people. I will declare the urgency, As I have been agitated." 171. Seeing the people agitated, Like fish in a little water; Seeing them hostile to each other, Fear came upon me. Seeing the people agitated. "People" means living beings. People agitated by craving, agitated by views, agitated by defilements, agitated by misconduct, agitated by exertion, agitated by results, agitated, stained by lust, agitated, corrupted by hatred, agitated, deluded by ignorance, agitated, bound by conceit, agitated, grasped by views, agitated, scattered by restlessness, agitated, unsettled by doubt, agitated, entrenched by latent tendencies, agitated by gain, agitated by loss, agitated by fame, agitated by disrepute, agitated by praise, agitated by blame, agitated by pleasure, agitated by pain, agitated by birth, agitated by old age, agitated by sickness, agitated by death, agitated by sorrow, lamentation, pain, Struggling with dejection and despair, struggling with the suffering of hell, struggling with the suffering of the animal realm, struggling with the suffering of the hungry ghost realm, struggling with human suffering, with suffering rooted in conception, with suffering rooted in gestation, with suffering rooted in birth, with suffering connected to being born, with suffering of dependence after birth, with suffering from self-infliction, with suffering from others' infliction, with the suffering of pain, with the suffering of conditioned existence, with the suffering of change, with the suffering of eye disease, with ear disease, with nose disease, with tongue disease, with body disease, with head disease, with ear disease, with mouth disease, with tooth disease, with cough,