English
a skinless sheep's body was the sign, just as before. He became a skinless ghost. In the story of the sword-haired one, that pig-butcher, for a long time, killed pigs fattened on feed with a sword, and earned his living for a long time. Therefore, his state of having a raised sword was the sign. Therefore, he became a sword-haired ghost. In the story of the spear-haired one, that hunter, taking a deer and a spear, went to the forest. He pierced with a spear and killed the deer that came near that deer. His state of piercing with a spear was the sign. Therefore, he became a spear-haired ghost. In the story of the arrow-haired one, the executioner was a man who tormented royal offenders with many tortures, and finally killed them by piercing them with an arrow. He would pierce, knowing that if pierced in a certain place, they would die. For him, having earned his living in this way, and having been born in hell, then by the remaining karma, at the time of his rebirth here, the state of being pierced by arrows was the sign. Therefore, he became an arrow-haired ghost. In the story of the needle-haired one, the charioteer was a horse-tamer. Godamaka is also mentioned in the Kurunda commentary. For him, the state of piercing with a goad-needle was the sign. Therefore, he became a needle-haired ghost. In the story of the second needle-haired one, the informer was a slanderer. He indeed caused people to be divided from each other. And in the royal court, by informing again and again, "This one has this, this one did this," he brought them to ruin and destruction. Therefore, just as he caused people to be divided by informing, so that he might experience the suffering of being pierced by needles, his karma itself became the sign, and he became a needle-haired ghost. In the story of the one with heavy testicles, the village chief was a judge. Due to the nature of his karma, he had testicles the size of a pot, as large as a great jar. For since he, having taken bribes in secret, hidden places, and making manifest faults with false judgments, made owners non-owners... He did it. Therefore, his secret organ became manifest. Because, imposing punishment, he laid an unbearable burden on others, therefore, his secret organ became an unbearable burden. Because, in the place where one should be upright, standing there, he was crooked, therefore, in his secret organ, there was an uneven position. In the case of the adulterer, that being, touching another's protected, guarded, owned contact, delighting his mind with the pleasure of defilement, the pleasure of sensuality, by the similarity of karma, was born there to experience suffering, touching the contact of excrement. The case of the wicked brahmin is well-known. 230. In the case of the skinless woman, because a woman is not mistress of her own contact, and she, stealing that contact belonging to her husband, aroused delight in others, therefore, by the similarity of karma, having lost pleasant contact, to experience painful contact, she was reborn as a skinless woman. In the case of the deformed woman, "maṅguli" means deformed, ugly to see, repulsive. She, it is said, doing the work of a soothsayer, the work of a yakkhinī's servant, saying, "By doing such and such a ritual offering, such and such prosperity will be yours," taking perfumes, flowers, and so on, from the people by deception, made the people adopt wrong views, false views. Therefore, by the similarity of karma, because of stealing perfumes and flowers, she was foul-smelling; and because of making (people) adopt wrong views, she was ugly to see, deformed, repulsive. In the case of the 'Okilinī' woman, 'uppakka' (swollen), 'okilinī' (dripping), 'okirinī' (covered). She, it is said, lying on a heap of embers, writhing and rolling, is cooked. Therefore, she is swollen, her body cooked by fierce fire; and she is 'okilinī' with a wet body, drops oozing from her body. And she is 'okirinī', covered with embers. Indeed, below her are embers the color of kiṃsuka flowers, and on both sides, and from the sky above her, embers fall. Therefore it is said – "swollen, dripping, covered with embers." She, overcome by jealousy, threw a pan of embers at her co-wife. It is said that a certain dancer of the King of Kalinga, having placed a pan of embers nearby, wiped water from her body and fanned herself with her hand. The king also spoke with her and showed signs of satisfaction. The chief queen, unable to bear this, and overcome by jealousy, took that pan of embers after the king had just left, and threw the embers over her. Having done that deed, she was reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts to experience a similar result. In the story of the executioner, he, by the king's command, having cut off the heads of thieves for a long time, was reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts as a headless trunk. In the story of the monk, a "bad monk" means a wicked monk. It is said that he, having consumed the four requisites given by the people out of faith, and being unrestrained in body and speech, lived a broken life, indulging in mental games. After that, having suffered in hell for one Buddha-interval, he was reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts with a body similar to a monk. The same conclusion applies to the stories of nuns, female trainees, male novices, and female novices. 231. In the story of Tapodā, "Acchodaka" means clear water. "Sītodaka" means cold water. "Sātodaka" means sweet water. "Setaka" means pure, without moss, algae, or mud. "Suppatittha" means endowed with beautiful banks. "Ramaṇīya" means delightful, pleasure-generating. "Cakkamattāni" means the size of chariot wheels. "Kuthitā sandati" means it flows, having become heated there. "Yatāyaṃ bhikkhave" means "from where, O monks, this..." "So daho" means that lake. "But from where does this flow?" It is said that beneath Vebhāra mountain, there is a five-hundred-yojana-long Nāga abode of the earth-dwelling Nāgas, resembling a divine realm, with a jeweled floor, and endowed with parks and gardens; there, in the Nāgas' playground, is that water-lake, from which this Tapodā flows. "It comes from between two great hells" means that, having encircled Rājagaha city, there is a great realm of hungry ghosts, and there, between two great iron cauldrons... Between the two rivers this Tapodā comes, therefore it flows hot. In the story of the battle, Nandī moves, the drum of victory sounds. “O King, by the Licchavīs!” The elder, it is said, sitting in his day-quarters and night-quarters, reflecting, “The Licchavīs are skilled, practiced in archery, and the King fights with them,” saw with divine eye the King defeated, fleeing. Then, addressing the monks, he said, “O monks, your supporter, the King, has been routed by the Licchavīs.” “It is true, monks, what Moggallāna says!” Reflecting at the time of defeat, he spoke what he had seen, and it was true. 232. In the story of the Nāga-cave, “by Sappinikā,” means by one named thus. “Imperturbable concentration,” means the imperturbable, unmoving concentration of the fourth jhāna, free from bodily and verbal agitation. “Of the Nāgas,” means of the elephants. “Entering and coming out,” means entering, plunging in, and then coming out again. They, it is said, descend into deep water, bathe and drink there, take water with their trunks, and splashing each other, they come out. Thus it is said, “entering and coming out.” “Making a koñca sound,” means standing on the riverbank, putting their trunks into their mouths, and making a koñca sound. “I heard the sound,” means I heard that koñca sound. “This concentration exists, monks, but it is not pure.” This concentration exists for Moggallāna, but it is not pure. The elder, it is said, on the seventh day after ordination, the day he attained arahantship, not having fully mastered the eight attainments in the five ways, and not having thoroughly purified the defilements that hinder concentration, made only a mere sign of reflection, entering, determination, emergence, and review, and having attained the fourth jhāna, he sat. Emerging from the jhāna factors, he heard the sound of the elephants and thought, “I heard it while in concentration.” Therefore it was said: “This concentration exists, monks; but it is not pure.” In the story of Sobhita, “I” , friend, I recollect five hundred aeons with a single advertence, he said. Otherwise, it would not be extraordinary for noble disciples to recollect their past existences in sequence, with various advertences, and the monks would not complain. But because he said, “I recollect with a single advertence,” therefore the monks complained. There is, monks, that birth of Sobhita, and that is indeed only one birth, meaning that Sobhita said, “I recollect a birth.” There is that birth of Sobhita, and that is indeed only one, the immediately preceding one, not recollected out of sequence, this is the intention. How then did he recollect this? He, it is said, above five hundred aeons, having gone forth in a heretical sect, and having produced the attainment of non-percipient beings, and not having fallen from jhana, died and was reborn in the realm of non-percipient beings. Having remained there for the full lifespan, at the end he was reborn in the human world, and having gone forth in the Dispensation, he realized the three knowledges. As he recollected past existences, he saw his rebirth in this existence, and from there, in the third existence, he saw only death. Then, being unable to recollect the non-mental existence between the two, he inferred by reasoning: “Surely I was reborn in the realm of non-percipient beings.” By inferring thus, he did a difficult thing, like piercing the tip of a hair split a hundredfold with another tip, or showing a footprint in the sky. Therefore, the Blessed One placed him at the foremost in this very matter: “Among my disciples, monks, who recollect past existences, the foremost is Sobhita.”