[475] 36. "Bhikkhus, there are these three divine messengers (devadūta). What three? Here, bhikkhus, someone engages in misconduct by body, engages in misconduct by speech, engages in misconduct by mind. Having engaged in misconduct by body, having engaged in misconduct by speech, having engaged in misconduct by mind, with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in a state of loss, a bad destination, the nether world, hell (niraya). Then, bhikkhus, the wardens of hell, seizing him by both arms, show him to King Yama: 'This man, your majesty, did not honour his mother, did not honour his father, did not honour ascetics, did not honour brahmins, and did not pay respect to the elders of his family. Let your majesty impose punishment upon him.'
Then, bhikkhus, King Yama questions, cross-examines, and presses him concerning the first divine messenger: 'Good man, did you not see the first divine messenger that appeared among human beings?' He says: 'I did not see him, venerable sir.' Then, bhikkhus, King Yama says to him: 'Good man, did you not see among human beings a woman or a man, eighty, ninety, or a hundred years of age, worn out with age, crooked as a rafter, bent, leaning on a stick, going along trembling, ailing, youth gone, with broken teeth, with grey and scanty hair, bald-headed, wrinkled, the limbs all blotched?' He says: 'I saw, venerable sir.' Then, bhikkhus, King Yama says to him: 'Good man, did it never occur to you, an intelligent and mature person: "I too am subject to aging; I have not passed beyond aging. Come now, let me do good by body, speech, and mind"?' He says: 'I was not able, venerable sir; I was heedless, venerable sir.' Then, bhikkhus, King Yama says to him: 'Good man, through heedlessness you failed to do good by body, speech, and mind. Truly, good man, they will deal with you in a way that befits your heedlessness. But that evil deed was not done by your mother, not done by your father, not done by your brother, not done by your sister, not done by friends and companions, not done by relatives and kinsmen, not done by deities, not done by ascetics and brahmins; that evil deed was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience its result.'
Then, bhikkhus, King Yama, having questioned, cross-examined, and pressed him concerning the first divine messenger, questions, cross-examines, and presses him concerning the second divine messenger: 'Good man, did you not see the second divine messenger that appeared among human beings?' He says: 'I did not see him, venerable sir.' Then, bhikkhus, King Yama says to him: 'Good man, did you not see among human beings a woman or a man, afflicted, suffering, gravely ill, lying fouled in his own urine and excrement, lifted up by others and laid down by others?' He says: 'I saw, venerable sir.' Then, bhikkhus, King Yama says to him: 'Good man, did it never occur to you, an intelligent and mature person: "I too am subject to illness; I have not passed beyond illness. Come now, let me do good by body, speech, and mind"?' He says: 'I was not able, venerable sir; I was heedless, venerable sir.' Then, bhikkhus, King Yama says to him: 'Good man, through heedlessness you failed to do good by body, speech, and mind. Truly, good man, they will deal with you in a way that befits your heedlessness. But that evil deed was not done by your mother, not done by your father, not done by your brother, not done by your sister, not done by friends and companions, not done by relatives and kinsmen, not done by deities, not done by ascetics and brahmins; that evil deed was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience its result.'
Then, bhikkhus, King Yama, having questioned, cross-examined, and pressed him concerning the second divine messenger, questions, cross-examines, and presses him concerning the third divine messenger: 'Good man, did you not see the third divine messenger that appeared among human beings?' He says: 'I did not see him, venerable sir.' Then, bhikkhus, King Yama says to him: 'Good man, did you not see among human beings a woman or a man, one day dead, two days dead, or three days dead, bloated, livid, and festering?' He says: 'I saw, venerable sir.' Then, bhikkhus, King Yama says to him: 'Good man, did it never occur to you, an intelligent and mature person: "I too am subject to death; I have not passed beyond death. Come now, let me do good by body, speech, and mind"?' He says: 'I was not able, venerable sir; I was heedless, venerable sir.' Then, bhikkhus, King Yama says to him: 'Good man, through heedlessness you failed to do good by body, speech, and mind. Truly, good man, they will deal with you in a way that befits your heedlessness. But that evil deed was not done by your mother, not done by your father, not done by your brother, not done by your sister, not done by friends and companions, not done by relatives and kinsmen, not done by deities, not done by ascetics and brahmins; that evil deed was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience its result.' Then, bhikkhus, King Yama, having questioned, cross-examined, and pressed him concerning the third divine messenger, falls silent.
Then, bhikkhus, the wardens of hell inflict upon him the torture called the fivefold transfixing: 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. There he feels painful, racking, sharp, bitter feelings; yet he does not die so long as that evil deed is not exhausted. Then, bhikkhus, the wardens of hell lay him down and pare him with axes. There he feels painful, racking, sharp, bitter feelings; yet he does not die so long as that evil deed is not exhausted. Then, bhikkhus, the wardens of hell, setting him feet up and head down, pare him with adzes … Then, bhikkhus, the wardens of hell, harnessing him to a chariot, drive him back and forth over ground that is burning, blazing, and glowing … Then, bhikkhus, the wardens of hell make him climb up and climb down a great mountain of burning coals, burning, blazing, and glowing … Then, bhikkhus, the wardens of hell, taking him feet up and head down, plunge him into a red-hot copper cauldron, burning, blazing, and glowing. There he is boiled in a swirl of foam; and as he is boiled there in a swirl of foam, he is swept now upwards, now downwards, now across. There he feels painful, racking, sharp, bitter feelings; yet he does not die so long as that evil deed is not exhausted. Then, bhikkhus, the wardens of hell throw him into the Great Hell. Now, bhikkhus, that Great Hell:
Has four corners and four doors,
divided and measured into portions,
Encircled by a rampart of iron,
roofed over with iron;
Its floor is made of iron,
glowing, charged with fire,
Pervading a hundred yojanas
all around, it stands for all time.
Once in the past, bhikkhus, it occurred to King Yama: 'Those in the world, it seems, who do evil deeds are subjected to various tortures such as these. Oh, that I might obtain the human state, and that a Tathāgata, an Arahant, a Fully Self-Enlightened One, might arise in the world, and that I might attend upon that Blessed One, and that that Blessed One might teach me the Dhamma, and that I might come to understand that Blessed One's Dhamma!' Now, bhikkhus, I do not say this having heard it from another ascetic or brahmin; rather, bhikkhus, I say only what has been known by myself, seen by myself, and discovered by myself.
Those persons who, though warned by the divine messengers,
remain heedless,
Sorrow for a long time,
having gone to an inferior state.
But those good persons here, at peace, who,
warned by the divine messengers,
Are never at any time heedless
with regard to the noble Dhamma—
Having seen the peril in clinging,
the source of birth and death,
They are liberated through non-clinging
in the destruction of birth and death.
They have attained security, they are happy,
quenched in this very life;
Passed beyond all enmity and peril,
they have overcome all suffering."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.