諸經要集 14.19

14.19

Furthermore, the Ekottarika-āgama says: The Buddha addressed the bhikṣus: “Suppose a person acts as a thief, stealing the property of another, and is seized by the owner, bound, and delivered to the king to punish his crime of theft. The king then dispatches men to shut him in prison; or to cut off his hands and feet; or to sever his ears and nose; or to flay his skin; or to extract his sinews; or to hang him upside down; or at times to saw him apart; or to roast him with fire; or at times to boil him in hot water; or to wrap his head with raw hide; or furthermore to pour molten copper over his body; or to pierce his loins with a long stake; or to have fierce elephants trample him to death; or to open his abdomen and extract the innards to stuff with grass; or at times to bind his hands behind him, beat the ominous drum, lead him to the marketplace, and beneath the standard sever his head; or furthermore to dismember his form joint by joint; or to hack him with knives; or at times to shoot him with arrows. In these various ways they cruelly kill him. Because of the cause and condition of this evil karma of stealing, after his life ends he is born in hell: blazing fires incinerate his body; molten copper is poured into his mouth; cauldrons of boiling liquid, braziers of coals, mountains of knives, and forests of swords; hot embers and ordure; grinding mills and crushing pestles. He undergoes various such sufferings, grievous and venomously harmful, painful beyond calculation, with no time of release for hundreds of thousands of myriad years. When his punishment in hell is ended, he is born among the animals—as an elephant, horse, ox, sheep, camel, donkey, dog, and so forth—for hundreds of thousands of years, to repay the labor of others. When his punishment as an animal is ended, he is born among the hungry ghosts, where the anguish of hunger and thirst cannot be fully told: from the beginning he never hears the name of soup or water, undergoing such suffering for hundreds of thousands of years. When his punishment in the evil destinies is ended, he comes forth to be born among humans. If born among humans, he receives two kinds of retribution: first, he is impoverished, his clothes not covering his body, and food not filling his mouth; second, he is constantly despoiled and plundered by kings, thieves, fires, floods, and evil robbers.”