ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 14.21

14.21

beaten, roasted, and so on. When I return I 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. Because of this, the people who hear me are filled with sorrow, and from this sorrow they go on to achieve great things.

“Lord, I wanted to wander among the hell beings, so I disappeared from Śrāvastī and traveled to the Hell of Ceaseless Agony. There, Lord, I saw a being with a body so large it filled many yojanas, and due to his 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, on fire, burning all over, and covered in flames—they were nothing but a single, searing flame. They caused him infernal torment, for no matter what direction they trod, they cut and hacked at him all over. This caused him dreadful suffering and extreme, excruciating, unbearable agony.

“Lord, what action did this anguished spirit take that ripened into his meeting with such suffering?”

“Maudgalyāyana,” the Blessed One explained,