ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 14.19

14.19

spears rained down?”

The Blessed One replied, “It is because he was so hateful toward Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana.”

The Tired Man

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, it was Venerable Maudgalyāyana’s custom to wander from time to time among the hell beings, to wander among the anguished spirits, to wander among the animals, to wander among the humans, and to wander among the gods.

When he returned, he would relate to people how the hell beings suffer through being cut up, hacked apart, beaten, roasted, and so on. When he returned, he would also relate to people how the anguished spirits suffer through hunger, thirst, being burned, being incinerated, being cooked, and so on; how animals suffer as they eat one another; how human beings suffer through striving, anger, and exhaustion; and how the gods suffer through dying, falling, disintegrating, and decaying. Those who heard him were filled with sorrow, and from this sorrow they went on to achieve great things.

One day Venerable Mahā­maudgalyāyana prepared himself to wander among the hell beings, disappeared from Śrāvastī, and traveled to the Hell of Ceaseless Agony. There he saw a being with a body so large it filled many yojanas, and, due to that being’s past actions, human beings appeared and tore his tongue from his mouth. There were iron spikes on the molten iron that drenched the floor, which was on fire, burning all over, and covered in flames, and these too were on fire, burning all over, and covered in flames—they were nothing but a single, searing flame. On his tongue drove five hundred yokes of oxen, and they too were all on fire, burning all over, and covered in flames—they were nothing but a single, searing flame. These yokes of oxen, which also arose due to his past actions, had hooves like the edge of a razor that were on fire, burning all over, and covered in flames—they were nothing but a single, searing flame.