ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 13.2

13.2

There he saw one whose flesh was nothing but chunks of meat piled as high as a shrine hall. When he sat on the ground, needle-beaked creatures stood and jabbed him from all sides, intent on eating him, but when he rose up toward the sky, his entire body burst into flames. This caused him dreadful suffering and extreme, excruciating, unbearable agony.

Venerable Mahā­maudgalyāyana thought, “What action did this being take that ripened into such dreadful suffering?” When he examined that being’s past lives, he saw that after going forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa, he had acted as steward for the monks. But then he took all the donations for the saṅgha, the donations to the stūpa, their regular support, and the donations for the saṅgha of the four directions and used them himself, gave some to his relatives, and incinerated some out of anger. These were the actions that ripened into his meeting with such suffering.

Venerable Mahā­maudgalyāyana thought, “Though indeed I can see his past actions clearly, still I shall ask the Blessed One about this, so that many might become disillusioned with saṃsāra.” He disappeared from the seashore and traveled to Śrāvastī, where the Blessed One sat teaching the Dharma amid a company of hundreds. Then Venerable Mahā­maudgalyāyana thought, “Now is the time to request the Blessed One to explain about that anguished spirit.” He approached the Blessed One, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and took a seat at one side.

Once he had taken a seat at one side, Venerable Mahā­maudgalyāyana inquired of the Blessed One, “Lord, it is my custom to wander from time to time