[234] Then the brahmin Sikhāmoggallāna approached the Blessed One; having approached, he exchanged greetings with the Blessed One, and when the courteous and memorable talk was concluded, he sat down to one side. Sitting to one side, the brahmin Sikhāmoggallāna said to the Blessed One: "Master Gotama, in days past, some days ago, the young brahmin Soṇakāyana approached me; having approached, he said to me: 'The ascetic Gotama prescribes the non-doing of all actions (kamma); but in prescribing the non-doing of all actions he asserts the annihilation of the world. This world, sir, has action as its reality; it persists by the undertaking of action.'"
"Brahmin, I do not recall even seeing the young brahmin Soṇakāyana—how then could there have been such a conversation? Brahmin, there are these four kinds of action, which I have realized for myself by direct knowledge and made known. What four? There is, brahmin, action that is dark with dark result; there is, brahmin, action that is bright with bright result; there is, brahmin, action that is dark and bright with dark and bright result; there is, brahmin, action that is neither dark nor bright, with neither-dark-nor-bright result, that leads to the destruction of action.
"And what, brahmin, is action that is dark with dark result? Here, brahmin, someone generates an afflictive bodily formation, generates an afflictive verbal formation, generates an afflictive mental formation. Having generated an afflictive bodily formation, having generated an afflictive verbal formation, having generated an afflictive mental formation, he is reborn in an afflictive world. When he has been reborn in an afflictive world, afflictive contacts touch him. Touched by afflictive contacts, he experiences an afflictive feeling (vedanā), exclusively painful, as in the case of the beings in hell. This, brahmin, is called action that is dark with dark result.
"And what, brahmin, is action that is bright with bright result? Here, brahmin, someone generates a non-afflictive bodily formation, generates a non-afflictive verbal formation, generates a non-afflictive mental formation. Having generated a non-afflictive bodily formation, having generated a non-afflictive verbal formation, having generated a non-afflictive mental formation, he is reborn in a non-afflictive world. When he has been reborn in a non-afflictive world, non-afflictive contacts touch him. Touched by non-afflictive contacts, he experiences a non-afflictive feeling, exclusively pleasant, as in the case of the Subhakiṇha devas. This, brahmin, is called action that is bright with bright result.
"And what, brahmin, is action that is dark and bright with dark and bright result? Here, brahmin, someone generates a bodily formation that is both afflictive and non-afflictive, generates a verbal formation that is both afflictive and non-afflictive, generates a mental formation that is both afflictive and non-afflictive. Having generated a bodily formation that is both afflictive and non-afflictive, having generated a verbal formation that is both afflictive and non-afflictive, having generated a mental formation that is both afflictive and non-afflictive, he is reborn in a world that is both afflictive and non-afflictive. When he has been reborn in a world that is both afflictive and non-afflictive, contacts both afflictive and non-afflictive touch him. Touched by contacts both afflictive and non-afflictive, he experiences a feeling both afflictive and non-afflictive, mingled pleasure and pain, as in the case of human beings, some devas, and some beings in the lower worlds. This, brahmin, is called action that is dark and bright with dark and bright result.
"And what, brahmin, is action that is neither dark nor bright, with neither-dark-nor-bright result, that leads to the destruction of action? Therein, brahmin, the volition for the abandoning of that action that is dark with dark result, the volition for the abandoning of that action that is bright with bright result, and the volition for the abandoning of that action that is dark and bright with dark and bright result: this, brahmin, is called action that is neither dark nor bright, with neither-dark-nor-bright result, that leads to the destruction of action. These, brahmin, are the four kinds of action which I have realized for myself by direct knowledge and made known."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.