Sutta Nipāta 3-10: Kokāliyasutta

So it was heard by me:

At one time Bhagavat dwelt at Sāvatthī, in Jetavana, in the park of Anāthapiṇḍika. Then the Bhikkhu Kokāliya approached Bhagavat, and after having approached and saluted Bhagavat he sat down apart; sitting down apart the Bhikkhu Kokāliya said this to Bhagavat: “O thou venerable one, Sāriputta and Moggallāna have evil desires, they have fallen into the power of evil desires.’

When this had been said, Bhagavat spoke to the Bhikkhu Kokāliya as follows: ’(Do) not (say) so, Kokāliya; (do) not (say) so, Kokāliya; appease, O Kokāliya, (thy) mind in regard to Sāriputta and Moggallāna: Sāriputta and Moggallāna are amiable.’

A second time the Bhikkhu Kokāliya said this to Bhagavat: ‘Although thou, O venerable Bhagavat, (appearest) to me (to be) faithful and trustworthy, yet Sāriputta and Moggallāna have evil desires, they have fallen into the power of evil desires.’

A second time Bhagavat said this to the Bhikkhu Kokāliya: ’(Do) not (say) so, Kokāliya; (do) not (say) so, Kokāliya; appease, O Kokāliya, (thy) mind in regard to Sāriputta and Moggallāna: Sāriputta and Moggallāna are amiable.’

A third time the Bhikkhu Kokāliya said this to Bhagavat: ‘Although thou, O venerable Bhagavat, (appearest) to me (to be) faithful and trustworthy, yet Sāriputta and Moggallāna have evil desires, Sāriputta and Moggallāna have fallen into the power of evil desires.’

A third time Bhagavat said this to the Bhikkhu Kokāliya: ’(Do) not (say) so, Kokāliya; (do) not (say) so, Kokāliya; appease, O Kokāliya, (thy) mind in regard to Sāriputta and Moggallāna: Sāriputta and Moggallāna are amiable.’

Then the Bhikkhu Kokāliya, after having risen from his seat and saluted Bhagavat and walked round him towards the right, went away; and when he had been gone a short time, all his body was struck with boils as large as mustard seeds; after being only as large as mustard seeds, they became as large as kidney beans; after being only as large as kidney beans, they became as large as chick peas; after being only as large as chick peas, they became as large as a Kolaṭṭhi egg (?); after being only as large as a Kolaṭṭhi egg, they became as large as the jujube fruit; after being only as large as the jujube fruit, they became as large as the fruit of the emblic myrobalan; after being only as large as the fruit of the emblic myrobalan, they became as large as the unripe beluva fruit; after being only as large as the unripe beluva fruit, they became as large as a billi fruit (?); after being as large as a billi fruit, they broke, and matter and blood flowed out. Then the Bhikkhu Kokāliya died of that disease, and when he had died the Bhikkhu Kokāliya went to the Paduma hell, having shown a hostile mind against Sāriputta and Moggallāna. Then when the night had passed Brahman Sahampati of a beautiful appearance, having lit up all Jetavana, approached Bhagavat, and having approached and saluted Bhagavat, he stood apart, and standing apart Brahman Sahampati said this to Bhagavat: ‘O thou venerable one, Kokāliya, the Bhikkhu, is dead and after death, O thou venerable one, the Bhikkhu Kokāliya is gone to the Paduma hell, having shown a hostile mind against Sāriputta and Moggallāna.’

This said Brahman Sahampati, and after saying this and saluting Bhagavat, and walking round him towards the right, he disappeared there.

Then Bhagavat, after the expiration of that night, addressed the Bhikkhus thus: ‘Last night, O Bhikkhus, when the night had (nearly) passed, Brahman Sahampati of a beautiful appearance, having lit up all Jetavana, approached Bhagavat, and having approached and saluted Bhagavat, he stood apart, and standing apart Brahman Sahampati said this to Bhagavat: “O thou venerable one, Kokāliya, the Bhikkhu, is dead; and after death, O thou venerable one, the Bhikkhu Kokāliya is gone to the Paduma hell, having shown a hostile mind against Sāriputta and Moggallāna.” This said Brahman Sahampati, O Bhikkhus, and having said this and saluted me, and walked round me towards the right, he disappeared there.’

When this had been said, a Bhikkhu asked Bhagavat: ‘How long is the rate of life, O venerable one, in the Paduma hell?’

‘Long, O Bhikkhu, is the rate of life in the Paduma hell, it is not easy to calculate either (by saying) so many years or so many hundreds of years or so many thousands of years or so many hundred thousands of years.’

‘But it is possible, I suppose, to make a comparison, O thou venerable one?’

‘It is possible, O Bhikkhu;’ so saying, Bhagavat spoke (as follows): ‘Even as, O Bhikkhu, (if there were) a Kosala load of sesamum seed containing twenty khāris, and a man after the lapse of every hundred years were to take from it one sesamum seed at a time, then that Kosala load of sesamum seed, containing twenty khāris, would, O Bhikkhu, sooner by this means dwindle away and be used up than one Abbuda hell; and even as are twenty Abbuda hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Nirabbuda hell; and even as are twenty Nirabbuda hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Ababa hell; and even as are twenty Ababa hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Ahaha hell; and even as are twenty Ahaha hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Aṭaṭa hell; and even as are twenty Aṭaṭa hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Kumuda hell; and even as are twenty Kumuda hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Sogandhika hell; and even as are twenty Sogandhika hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Uppalaka hell; and even as are twenty Uppalaka hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Puṇḍarīka hell; and even as are twenty Puṇḍarīka hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Paduma hell; and to the Paduma hell, O Bhikkhu, the Bhikkhu Kokāliya is gone, having shown a hostile mind against Sāriputta and Moggallāna.’ This said Bhagavat, and having said this Sugata, the Master, furthermore spoke as follows:

1. ‘To (every) man that is born, an axe is born in his mouth, by which the fool cuts himself, when speaking bad language. (657)

2. ‘He who praises him who is to be blamed or blames him who as to be praised, gathers up sin in his mouth, and through that (sin) he will not find any joy. (658)

3. ‘Trifling is the sin that (consists in) losing riches by dice; this is a greater sin that corrupts the mind against Sugatas. (659)

4. ‘Out of the one hundred thousand Nirabbudas (he goes) to thirty-six, and to five Abbudas; because he blames an Ariya he goes to hell, having employed his speech and mind badly. (660)

5. ‘He who speaks falsely goes to hell, or he who having done something says, “I have not done it;” both these after death become equal, in another world (they are both) men guilty of a mean deed. (661)

6. ‘He who offends an offenceless man, a pure man, free from sin, such a fool the evil (deed) reverts against, like fine dust thrown against the wind. (662)

7. ‘He who is given to the quality of covetousness, such a one censures others in his speech, (being himself) unbelieving, stingy, wanting in affability, niggardly, given to backbiting. (663)

8. ‘O thou foul-mouthed, false, ignoble, blasting, wicked, evil-doing, low, sinful, base-born man, do not be garrulous in this world, (else) thou wilt be an inhabitant of hell. (664)

9. ‘Thou spreadest pollution to the misfortune (of others), thou revilest the just, committing sin (yourself), and having done many evil deeds thou wilt go to the pool (of hell) for a long time. (665)

110. ‘For one’s deeds are not lost, they will surely come (back to you), (their) master will meet with them, the fool who commits sin will feel the pain in himself in the other world. (666)

11. ‘To the place where one is struck with iron rods, to the iron stake with sharp edges he goes; then there is (for him) food as appropriate, resembling a red-hot ball of iron. (667)

12. ‘For those who have anything to say (there) do not say fine things, they do not approach (with pleasing faces); they do not find refuge (from their sufferings), they lie on spread embers, they enter a blazing pyre. (668)

13. ‘Covering (them) with a net they kill (them) there with iron hammers; they go to dense darkness, for that is spread out like the body of the earth. (669)

14. ‘Then (they enter) an iron pot, they enter a blazing pyre, for they are boiled in those (iron pots) for a long time, jumping up and down in the pyre. (670)

15. ‘Then he who commits sin is surely boiled in a mixture of matter and blood; whatever quarter he inhabits, he becomes rotten there from coming in contact (with matter and blood). (671)

16. ‘He who commits sin will surely be boiled in the water, the dwelling-place of worms; there it is not (possible) to get to the shore, for the jars (are) exactly alike. (?) (672)

17. ‘Again they enter the sharp Asipattavana with mangled limbs; having seized the tongue with a hook, the different watchmen (of hell) kill (them). (673)

18. ‘Then they enter Vetaraṇī, that is difficult to cross and has got streams of razors with sharp edges; there the fools fall in, the evil-doers after having done evil. (674)

19. ‘There black, mottled flocks of ravens eat them who are weeping, and dogs, jackals, great vultures, falcons, crows tear (them). (675)

20. ‘Miserable indeed is the life here (in hell) which the man sees that commits sin. Therefore should a man in this world for the rest of his life be strenuous, and not indolent. (676)

21. ‘Those loads of sesamum seed which are carried in Paduma hell have been counted by the wise, they are (several) nahutas and five koṭis, and twelve hundred koṭis besides. (677)

22. ‘As long as hells are called painful in this world, so long people will have to live there for a long time; therefore amongst those who have pure, amiable, and good qualities one should always guard speech and mind.’ (678)

Kokāliyasutta is ended.