Dighanikaya 22.373_36

22.373_36

Subrahmāpi devaputto accharāsahassaparivuto saggasampattiṃ anubhoti. Tattha pañcasatā accharāyo rukkhato pupphāni ocinantiyo cavitvā niraye uppannā. So ‘‘kiṃ imā cirāyantī’’ti upadhārento tāsaṃ niraye nibbattanabhāvaṃ ñatvā ‘‘kittakaṃ nu kho mama āyū’’ti upaparikkhanto attano āyuparikkhayaṃ viditvā cavitvā tattheva niraye nibbattanabhāvaṃ disvā bhīto ativiya domanassajāto hutvā ‘‘imaṃ me domanassaṃ satthā vinayissati, na añño’’ti avasesā pañcasatā accharāyo gahetvā bhagavantaṃ upasaṅkamitvā pañhaṃ pucchi –

The devaputta Subrahmā too, surrounded by a thousand celestial nymphs, was experiencing heavenly splendor. There, five hundred celestial nymphs, plucking flowers from a tree, passed away and were reborn in hell. Wondering, "Why are they tarrying so long?", he reflected and recognized their rebirth in hell. Inquiring, "How much indeed is my remaining life?", he noticed the exhaustion of his own life span and saw that, having passed away, he would be reborn in that very same hell. Terrified and overcome with intense grief, thinking, "The Teacher will dispel this grief of mine, no one else," he took the remaining five hundred celestial nymphs, approached the Blessed One, and asked a question: