ཚ་འཕ་བ་ཇ་ལྟར་འགྱར་བ་ཞས་པའ་མད 2

2

to ask the Blessed One what benefit¹⁶ and good would ensue if, in such a fashion, offerings, food,¹⁷ and honors to the deceased were presented according to the brahmins’ formulae. He approached the Blessed One, prostrated, and asked, “Blessed One, would you allow me to ask some questions about what it is like for sentient beings to die?”

The Blessed One replied, “O Great King, ask whatever you wish. It will be explained to the Great King’s satisfaction.”

The Great King Śuddhodana then asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, regarding the rebirths of beings who pass from this world to the next, are gods reborn as gods? Likewise, are humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell-beings also reborn consistently as their own kind, respectively, as humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell-beings? Or is it the case, Blessed One, that when gods pass from this life, they are reborn as humans and other kinds of beings? Likewise, are humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell-beings reborn as other kinds of beings, such as gods and so forth, as well?

“Or, Blessed One, when they pass from this life do sentient beings become utterly nonexistent, becoming like the ashes of a fire that has died out, and not taking any rebirth at all?

“Blessed One, is it really as the worldly say it is? Do all sentient beings live on after their deaths, befriending their kin¹⁸ in a beginningless lineage including fathers, grand­fathers, great-grandfathers, and more, not taking rebirth in a future life but living just as they do in this life?

“Blessed One, do those who are wealthy and proud in this life go on to be wealthy and proud in the hereafter too,