[303] "Even though the worthy Kassapa says this, still in this matter I hold this view: 'Thus indeed, there is no other world, there are no spontaneously reborn beings (opapātikā sattā), there is no fruit or result of deeds well done and ill done.'"
"But, chieftain, is there a method (pariyāya) by which you hold this view: 'Thus indeed, there is no other world, there are no spontaneously reborn beings, there is no fruit or result of deeds well done and ill done'?"
"There is, worthy Kassapa."
"How so, chieftain?"
"Here, worthy Kassapa, I have friends and companions, relatives and kinsmen who kill living creatures, take what is not given, engage in sexual misconduct, speak falsely, speak divisively, speak harshly, indulge in idle chatter, are covetous, of malevolent mind, and of wrong view. Some time later they become sick, suffering, gravely ill. When I know, 'Now these people will not recover from this illness,' I go to them and say: 'Sirs, there are some ascetics and brahmins who hold this doctrine, this view: "Those who kill living creatures, take what is not given, engage in sexual misconduct, speak falsely, speak divisively, speak harshly, indulge in idle chatter, are covetous, of malevolent mind, and of wrong view—with the breaking up of the body, after death, they are reborn in a state of deprivation (apāya), a bad destination (duggati), the lower world (vinipāta), hell (niraya)." You, sirs, kill living creatures, take what is not given, engage in sexual misconduct, speak falsely, speak divisively, speak harshly, indulge in idle chatter, are covetous, of malevolent mind, and of wrong view. If the word of those ascetics and brahmins is true, then with the breaking up of the body, after death, you will be reborn in a state of deprivation, a bad destination, the lower world, hell. If, sirs, with the breaking up of the body, after death, you should be reborn in a state of deprivation, a bad destination, the lower world, hell, then come and tell me: "Thus indeed, there is another world, there are spontaneously reborn beings, there is fruit and result of deeds well done and ill done." You, sirs, are trustworthy and reliable to me; whatever is seen by you will be just as if I had seen it myself.' Having agreed, saying, 'Very well,' they neither come and tell me, nor do they send a messenger. This too, worthy Kassapa, is the method by which I hold this view: 'Thus indeed, there is no other world, there are no spontaneously reborn beings, there is no fruit or result of deeds well done and ill done.'"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.