Toh 73 — King Udayana of Vatsa’s Questions

Udayanavatsarājaparipṛcchā

The Noble Episode

King Udayana of Vatsa’s Questions

F.204.b Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Sarasvatī grove in Kauśāmbī with a great assembly of some five hundred monks and numerous bodhisattva great beings. At that time, Queen Anupamā, daughter of Mākandika, was overcome with jealousy and envy toward Queen Śyāmāvatī.

Queen Anupamā, daughter of Mākandika, addressed King Udayana of Vatsa: “Your Majesty, five hundred women, including Queen Śyāmāvatī, have committed dishonorable acts with Gautama the mendicant. I humbly request Your Majesty to act as you see fit with regard to this situation.”

With these lies, Queen Anupamā, daughter of Mākandika, sowed her discord. Rage, aggression, and wrath toward the Blessed One and the assembly of disciples welled up in King Udayana of Vatsa. Miserable and overcome with a wrathful fury, he drew his bow and shot a razor-sharp arrow at Queen Śyāmāvatī with murderous intent.

In that instant, Queen Śyāmāvatī called out, “Homage to the Blessed One, the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha!” She prostrated herself to the Blessed One, praised him, and entered into meditative absorption on loving-kindness. F.205.a Through the power of the Buddha, the razor-sharp arrow turned back and burst into flames directly above King Udayana of Vatsa’s head. As it burned and blazed, it became a single flame, sometimes moving about and sometimes standing still. Then, moving toward King Udayana of Vatsa, the arrow remained on his right side without touching his body.

King Udayana of Vatsa shot two or three more arrows with the same result before Queen Śyāmāvatī said to him, “Great King, in this situation, if you were to prostrate to the Thus-Gone One, you too would find well-being.”

Full of terror and fear, King Udayana of Vatsa became weak, and his hair stood on end. Falling to the ground, he spoke these verses to Queen Śyāmāvatī:

“Are you a goddess or a gandharvī?

Are you a piśācī or a rākṣasī?

How is it that I should consider you?

Answer my question thus.

“There is no woman anywhere

Who is not harmed by weapons.

I have never heard of nor seen,

Nor known of someone like that.

“I am mighty and diligent

And skilled in the art of archery;

There is no doubting my arrow

For never has it missed.

“Whether it be monkeys or birds,

No matter if it be men or targets,

Wherever I shoot my arrow,

Never yet has it missed its mark.

“And yet today, this arrow that I shot

Returned back as if counteracted,

And—without any physical harm—

It came to rest right in front of me.

“Having heeded the words of others,

I desired to bring about your death,

Yet now I go to you for protection.

Please protect me, pitiful being that I am.

“Henceforth^[1] I will not act in this manner.

Please be patient with miserable beings,

Recollect your past love for me, and

Delight therein, curbing your wrath.”

Queen Śyāmāvatī responded in verse to King Udayana of Vatsa: F.205.b

“I am neither goddess nor gandharvī,

Nor am I a piśācī or rākṣasī.

I am the queen Śyāmāvatī,

A disciple of the Lord of the World.

“Out of affection for Your Majesty,

I rested my mind in meditative absorption.

Let your mind now develop faith

In the sovereign master, the Lord of the World.

“He has taught that one should not kill

Any man or woman who has cultivated

Loving-kindness for billions of eons,

And who abides in loving-kindness.

“He who is unharmed by women,

And who knows the true nature of things,

As one knows ripe grain by its golden color,

It is in his teaching that I find joy.

“All the lords of the world

Have taught that women are loathsome;

Those who avoid gazing upon women

Are exalted by the lords of the world.

“Buddhas, pratyekabuddhas,

Bodhisattvas, and disciples

Do not indulge in women

For it is but a foolish pursuit.

“To indulge in women

Is taught to be Māra’s noose.

Attachment to negative deeds

Is a path to distress and destruction.^[2]

“The unwise who cling to women,

Perform acts of wickedness,

And seek to reject wisdom

Will be led to the lower realms.

“The wise who wish for liberation

Do not keep company with women.

They do not jump into

The pit of smokeless fire.

“Since they talk so attractively,

And snare you with only a look,

Then send you to the unbearable hells,

Heed not the words of women!

“I am not possessed of anger –—

My mind is, instead, full of faith.

Let your mind, too, have faith

In the sovereign master, the Lord of the World.

“O Great King, be on your way

And gaze upon the supreme human,

Being mindful and paying heed

To the Dharma that he teaches.” F.206.a

Inspired by Queen Śyāmāvatī, King Udayana of Vatsa, surrounded by a great assembly of people and his royal power and wealth, went to meet the Blessed One with great speed and haste. He saw the Blessed One, elegant and beautiful. The Blessed One’s sense faculties and mind were calmed, and he was completely controlled. He had perfected the most sublime tranquility meditations and the most sublime meditative concentrations. He rose above the crowd like a golden sacrificial post resplendent with glory. The Blessed One’s body was brilliant, vibrant, and beautifully adorned with the thirty-two marks of a great being. Surrounded by an assembly of monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, and bodhisattvas, the Blessed One was venerated by gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, and non-humans. Having seen that, the king approached the Blessed One and bowed at his feet.

Addressing the Blessed One, he said, “Blessed One, I have witnessed wonders the likes of which I have never seen before. Will the Blessed One grant me the opportunity to make a request?”

The Blessed One replied to King Udayana of Vatsa, “Great King, make a request as you wish. Speak!”

King Udayana of Vatsa then said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One because I am attached to my desires and their cause and basis, today I was overcome with wrath and fury by the words of Queen Anupamā, daughter of Mākandika. I was overcome with thoughts of rage and anger toward the Blessed One and his assembly of disciples F.206.b and shot a razor-sharp arrow at my wife Śyāmāvatī with murderous intent. When I did, it burst into flames in the sky, and as it burned and blazed, it became a single flame. As if the arrow were counteracted, it returned back to remain on my right side, without touching my body.

“Blessed One, I bowed at the feet of my wife Śyāmāvatī, and asked her, ‘Are you a goddess, nāginī, gandharvī, piśācī, rākṣasī, or something else?’ She told me, ‘I am not a goddess, nāginī, gandharvī, piśācī, or rākṣasī. Rather, I am a disciple of the Blessed One, the thus-gone, worthy, completely perfect Buddha. Out of love for you, I have rested my mind in equipoise.’ My wife Śyāmāvatī then sang the praise of the Blessed One in various ways.

“Then, Blessed One, I had this thought: ‘If a disciple of the Blessed One, the thus-gone, worthy, perfectly awakened Buddha, is so full of compassion, loving-kindness, great superhuman power, and great marvelous strength, and is of such great distinction, then what must the Blessed One, the thus-gone, worthy, perfectly awakened Buddha himself be like?’

“Blessed One, in that way, because I was like a fool—ignorant, unclear, and unwise—I felt rage and hatred toward the Thus-Gone One and the assembly of disciples. For this, I request your forgiveness. In the presence of the assembly of disciples, I confess my errors. F.207.a In the hope that you may show me compassion, I confess my errors. I request you, Blessed One, to treat me with kindness. I vow to practice restraint from this day forward.”

The Blessed One said, “Great King, rise and be seated,” and he accepted with kindness King Udayana of Vatsa who had confessed his faults. King Udayana of Vatsa bowed his head at the feet of the Blessed One and sat to one side.

King Udayana of Vatsa, sitting to one side, addressed the Blessed One: “Blessed One, because of how cruel, obstinate, and quick to anger I was, I have been driven to negative actions by the words of women. Because of that, Blessed One, I will go to the hell realms. Blessed One, out of compassion for me, I request the Blessed One to describe thoroughly and correctly the faults of women so that, from today onward, I will not, by any means, fall under the sway of women and be driven to negative deeds that will lead me to fall into the hell realms. It would be for the long-term benefit of myself and all sentient beings, so that we may be helped and happy. Please describe thoroughly and correctly the behaviors of women, the characteristics of women, the treachery of women, the deceitfulness of women, the dishonesty of women, the unsteadiness of women, the fickleness of women, the dependencies of women, the words of women, and the deceptiveness of women.”

The Blessed One asked King Udayana of Vatsa, “Great King, what is your purpose in asking such questions?” F.207.b

King Udayana of Vatsa responded, “Blessed One, I fall under the sway of women because they are vicious, hateful, fierce, and quick to anger. Blessed One, it is women who will lead me to the hell realms. Thus, Blessed One, please heed this request of mine.”

The Blessed One said to King Udayana of Vatsa, “Great King, you must first understand your own faults and then you will come to understand the faults of women.”

King Udayana of Vatsa responded to the Blessed One, “Excellent, Blessed One, excellent! When men possess certain faults, they fall under the sway of women. Please, Blessed One, explain these faults of men to me.”

The Blessed One responded to King Udayana of Vatsa, “Yes, Great King, listen carefully and pay attention. I will now explain.”

King Udayana of Vatsa said, “Very well, Blessed One,” and he listened as the Blessed One had instructed.

The Blessed One addressed him, saying, “Great King, when men possess four particular faults, they fall under the sway of women. What are the four? They are as follows:

“Great King, men are attached to the objects of their desire and become reckless in pursuit of them. Intoxicated by sense pleasures, they ignore the morally disciplined, virtuous, F.208.a and wise mendicants and brahmins and, instead, only desire to gaze upon women again and again. They do not serve, follow, or venerate the morally disciplined, virtuous, and wise mendicants and brahmins when they see them. By abandoning the morally disciplined, virtuous, and wise mendicants and brahmins, they also abandon their own faith, moral discipline, generosity, and wisdom. Those men are faithless, their discipline is faulty, they lack learning, and they are stingy. They behave like hungry spirits; they are weak-minded, attracted to open sores,^[3] and involved with excrement. They delight in the smell of backsides, they enjoy filth, and they have a craving for women. They do not seek peace, they are occupied with their attachments, and they go to places where they should not. They are contemptible, they resemble maggots in excrement, and they welcome defilement. They lust after the objects of their desire, abandoning all shame and modesty. They violate the laws of gods and men, lead despicable lives, are detested by the wise, and keep company with foolish beings. They entertain negative thoughts, keep company with bad friends, are constantly engaging in bad actions, and are inclined toward bad actions.

“They become controlled by women and enslaved by them. They fall under the sway of women as they become dedicated to them and live beside them. They are fixated upon orifices, dependent on orifices, and reliant on orifices. They are occupied with saliva, mucus, phlegm, snot, pus, fetid excretions,^[4] cerebral secretions, and excrement. They behave like sheep, cows, chickens, dogs, pigs, jackals, and asses. They make their living by harming others. F.208.b They do not cherish their parents, nor do they cherish mendicants, brahmins, or others worthy of receiving offerings. They lose their faith in the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha; they lose nirvāṇa. They enter the hells, the animal realm, and the realm of the Lord of Death—they fall to that level. They take up the bodies of lions and garuḍas. They sink to the level of the Hell of Iron-Thorn Trees and the Hell of Burning Coals. They enter the Reviving Hell, Black Line Hell, Crushing Hell, Howling Hell, Great Howling Hell, Hot Hell, Fiercely Hot Hell, and the Hell of Endless Torment.

“Even after hearing about these faults of women, these men feel neither anxiety nor disgust^[5] when they reflect on how they laughed, cried, and felt like shouting aloud, and how they danced, sang, and played music while desiring women and keeping company with them.

“Great King, such is the conduct of foolish beings. Beings with these behaviors will be reborn in the lower realms. Great King, attachment to sense pleasures is the first fault of men whereby they fall under the influence of women and are reborn in the lower realms.”

The Blessed One then spoke the following verses:

“Foul and filthy, objects of desire ought to be despised.

Dissatisfying, frightful, and impermanent, they cause suffering.

Pointlessly, these inferior things lead to one’s demise.

Thus, who among the wise would indulge their desirous cravings?

“Sense pleasures are utterly loathsome,

Like the stench of a cesspit brimming with excrement,

A dwelling filled with rotten, overpowering odors,^[6]

Or the loathsome charnel grounds of the dead.

“Just as flies, upon seeing a wound, swarm to it,

And pigs, after seeing excrement, run to it,

And dogs run to the butcher for meat, F.209.a

So, too, do the unwise delight in women.^[7]

“Infamous and shameful, they degrade positive qualities;

Because of them, one’s pure discipline declines,

And the higher realms are lost as one falls into the hells.

Who among the wise would indulge their desirous cravings?

“Just as the body deteriorates and delusions arise

When one consumes halāhala poison,

In the same way sense pleasures cause foolish beings

Not to see physical forms, like one’s own body, as poison.

“In the same way that a skilled magician

Delights hundreds with conjured illusions,

Foolish beings, who seek pleasure for themselves,

Fall to the lower realms because of their delight in sense pleasures.

“Using feasts of food and drink,

Accompanied by song, dance, and music,

To take a bride from a good family

Is the accrual of pain, the accumulation of suffering.

“Craving for the enjoyment of sense pleasures is pain,

Yet people praise these filthy things, which cause injury and ignorance.

By praising and indulging in such lowly desires,

Inferior people will fall to the lower realms.

“Those who desire for such pain praise these objects

And delight in such harmful desires.

Pointlessly forsaking their lives, these foolish beings

Will fall down into the great and unbearable abyss.

“These people who are dominated by pride and ignorance

Are like birds unable to see the far shores of the ocean;

For so long as they are consumed with the five precious metals,

These foolish beings will wander and burn.

“These foolish beings, utterly intoxicated and confused,

Mistake mere glass for an exquisite vase;

Ignorant as to the path, they will remain forever here,

Where they claim, ‘It is perfect,’ due to their desires.

“Because they do not know karma in all its diversity,

They do not believe in the downfall of all beings.

They do not truly honor their fathers and mothers F.209.b

Or their sons and daughters, and, instead, bring them pain.

“Constantly chattering about intimacy with women

And fully preoccupied with such behavior,

They amass negative deeds in a net of delusion

And pave the way to the lower realms.

“Perceiving their passion as bliss,

These people utterly abandon both father and mother.

They fail to make offerings those who are worthy

And indulge in sense pleasures that ought to be deplored.

“Such people seek their own torment here and there.

The flow of their thoughts is certain to cause destruction.

Those afflicted people search for praise and delight therein.

Such ignoble people are not of the Dharma, but wholly of the world.

“On that basis, they are bound to experience

Torment from weapons and iron shackles,

From bonds, battles, strife, and certain death,

After they die, they will go to the fearsome Hell of Endless Torment.

“In this very life, too, such suffering abounds.

As their wealth diminishes and their beauty fades,

The higher realms slip away and they descend to hell.

Thus, who among the wise would give rise to desirous thoughts.

“Even for the wise, it is easy to lose themselves

In the midst of dense forests made of iron.

It is easy for the learned to get cut on the razor blades.

It is all too easy to end up preparing one’s bed of knives.

“It is easy to end up seizing lumps of burning iron;

It is easy to end up swallowing such iron balls.

To encounter fearsome, fiery pits is easy indeed.

Thus, never let your two hands touch a woman.

“The extent to which people indulge in sense pleasures

Is the extent to which they forsake complete happiness.

Given that sense pleasures are nothing but pain and filth,

Give up such pleasures, along with misery and impurity.

“Desires are the ground for all suffering,

For they cause one’s wealth to be squandered.

Attraction is the root of men’s downfall;

Thus, those who associate with women find only pain. F.210.a

“For a man who comprehends such guidance,

And does not act carelessly regarding women,

The path to the higher realms will always be clear,

And supreme awakening will not be hard to achieve.^[8]

“Furthermore, Great King, one’s parents undergo hardship. For nine or ten months, your mother carries you in the womb, enduring much pain to raise you. She wipes away your urine and excrement and nurses you on her lap. She helps you to grow and nurtures you. Parents show you the world and teach you all about it. They are concerned about you and wish for your well-being. They desire your benefit and wish you well. They desire your success and happiness. They desire to help you out in the world. As such they are worthy of generosity.

“Out of desire to help their son and for him to be happy, they use the wealth they have saved to find him a bride from a different family. The son then becomes attached and intoxicated; he lusts after her to the point of fainting. He becomes fixated on her and remains infatuated. Attached to and intoxicated by this girl from a different family, he neglects his parents who are worthy of generosity and who have grown old, frail, weak, and blind. He kicks them out of their own home, banishing them without resources or wealth.

“Great King, one should constantly, at all times, and with genuine happiness, honor one’s kind and venerable parents. One should revere, venerate, and worship them. And yet, men kick their parents out of their own homes, banishing them, as they give their respect and honor to the girl taken from another family, presenting her food, drink, and clothing. They cherish, esteem, worship, and respect her with genuine happiness, yet not their parents. Just look at these heartless and inconsiderate people with their wicked minds!

“Great King, look at these people who forsake the Dharma that leads to the higher realms F.210.b as they adopt the way of life that leads to the lower realms. Great King, indulging in objects of one’s desire and falling under the sway of women, such men neglect their parents and proceed to the lower realms. This is the second fault of men.”

The Blessed One then spoke the following verses:

“Those who take care of their elderly parents

Will always be happy and content.

They will be among the class of gods,

The likes of Indra and Brahmā themselves.

“Those who take care of their elderly parents

Will successfully return triumphant and safe

Whenever they depart for and return from the great seas.

Those who do so will find supreme treasures.

“Those merchants who take care of their elderly parents

Will reach the pinnacle of success;

Like a bountiful harvest reaped from the fields

The merit gained is simply impossible to measure.

“Those who take care of their elderly parents

Will not be reborn as pack animals,

Such as camels, oxen, donkeys, and the like,

Nor will men cut them with sharp blades.

“Those who take care of their elderly parents

Will not have to cross the Blazing River Hell,

The Hell of Burning Coals, or the Hell of Razor Blades,

Nor will they find themselves drinking molten copper.

“Those who take care of their elderly parents

Will not lack in wealth or grain.

They will acquire wives and sons and daughters,

As well as precious beryl and fine gold.

“Those who take care of their elderly parents

Will behold the palace of the Nirmāṇarata heaven,

As well as the Pāruṣika and Miśrakā groves;

There will always be scores of gods gathered before them.

“The Great Sage, foremost among men and god of gods,

Has taught it to be so; having heard this, who would not

Take care of the sublime objects of veneration, F.211.a

Their elderly parents, whose faculties have declined.

“Great King, inferior people are those who perform the acts of inferior people and tenaciously adhere to wrong views. Such people wonder about virtue and nonvirtue and do not understand how to act in their own self-interest. Because they are insecure, they are disliked by many beings and delight in the praises of foolish beings. Deluded by desire and aversion, they are despised by the wise, consumed by anger, and perform nonvirtuous deeds. They are forsaken by the buddhas and the bodhisattvas. They are intoxicated by the pride^[9] of wealth. They are miserly, delight in harming others, and despise cultivating the Dharma.

“Great King, look how these inferior people delight in the acts of inferior people and despise the acts of superior people. Great King, this is the third fault of men who indulge in the objects of desire and proceed to the lower realms.”

The Blessed One then spoke the following verses:

“Objects of desire are the basis for the downfall of men.

Based on them, beings perform wicked deeds;

Deluded by wrong views, they wander this world

And are led to the lower realms by their confusion.

“With their backward ways, they lack good qualities.

They are heedless and their reasoning is flawed,

As if searching for the roots of blue lotuses in a river,

Their wrong views perpetuate the cycle of saṃsāra.

“In seeking happiness, they only look after themselves.

Like the multitude of people who are attracted to nonvirtue,

They pursue sense pleasures for the sake of finding happiness,

And go to the hell realms in the darkness of their delusion.

“Those inferior men who constantly obsess

Over the objects of their desire

Embody their desire and commit evil deeds; F.211.b

How could those with such wrong ideas ever be happy?

“They repay kindness with evil deeds;

They are charlatans with diminished faith, lacking true devotion;

They will be forsaken by the assembly of noble ones,

And, for that reason, will fall down to the unbearable, fearsome hells.

“People who fixate on forms, sounds, and tastes

Do not honor the bodhisattvas or the wise.

Because of their distorted views, they do not listen to the Dharma

And they never even occasionally honor the Saṅgha.

“Forsaken by the noble ones, they are destined for the lower realms.

Therefore, in this precious human life that one has acquired,

One must earnestly practice generosity, discipline, and abstinence,

And, in that way, attain supreme and authentic awakening.

“Great King, men make their living from a variety of occupations and professions. Great King, they may be scribes, astrologers, accountants, palmists, armorers, royal servants, farmers, merchants, or herdsmen. From these occupations and professions, they make their livelihood. For the sake of wealth, they travel where there are no roads or where the roads are poor; they cross canyons, rivers, war zones, and oceans; they endure the icy winds of winter and the heat of summer; they suffer from hunger and thirst, and, all the while they delight in such journeys. They endure such suffering as this for the sake of their own livelihood, yet they will not donate any of the wealth they earn to mendicants, brahmins, the destitute, the poor, or beggars, because they are under the sway of women, controlled by them, F.212.a enthralled by them, and enslaved by them.^[10] Because of this same love for women, these men are unable to give gifts even to support their women or to practice moral discipline. Infatuated by their women, they will endure their chatter, and even put up with their abuse, evil looks, and reprimands. When abused by women, those men will voluntarily accept it and still regard those same women without ill will. Those men fall under the sway of women who are the objects of their desire.

“Great King, this is the fourth fault of men who crave women, consider filth to be the highest bliss, delight in foulness, and act without awareness. Thereby, they indulge in women and proceed to the lower realms. Great King, a man who possesses these faults comes under the power of sense pleasure.”

The Blessed One then spoke these verses:

“Pursuing sense pleasures in a drunken state,

How could one be happy?

Indulging in these base desires,

How could one be happy?

“Those who perform, without restraint,

The deeds of an inferior being,

And pursue their craving for sense pleasures,

Must suffer their own downfall.

“Those unwise people

Behave like camels and donkeys.

When they see a woman, they rush over,

Just like pigs to a pile of feces.

“Even though the precious objects of their desire

Are stinking and unclean,

Those fools cannot see the faults of those objects—

Like the blind moving through the world.

“Those who are bound by their attachment to material form

Are enthralled by thoughts of sensual pleasure.

Foolish beings who indulge in sense pleasures

Are no different from the likes of dogs and jackals.

“Sound, smell, taste, and touch

Keep ordinary beings

Foolishly spinning in saṃsāra,

Like monkeys tied to a post.

“Foolish beings are shrouded in ignorance.

Covered by a great mass of darkness; F.212.b

Attached to women, they are befuddled

Like crows flocking to feces.^[11]

“They are within Māra’s domain.

Those headed to the lower realms

Are addicted to enjoyment

Just like maggots in a pile of feces.^[12]

“If one thinks about how executioners

Discard the body parts of a human,

It will lead one to find liberation

And not to fall under the sway of women.

“Being caught up in gazing upon women,

The objects of one’s desires, is a fearsome situation.

Yet foolish beings fixate on appearances

And their craving for sense pleasure grows.

“They are like travelers in the summertime,

Making their way across a great desert,

Who foolishly drink salt water.

Their thirst returns more strongly.

“Similarly, foolish beings, blind to the truth,

Who live out their lives in states of ignorance,

Will strengthen desirous cravings

For women here in this world.

“In the same way that a leper’s body

becomes food for tiny insects,

So, too, ordinary beings who crave sense pleasures

Are devoured by women.

“A chamber pot may be decorated

with many variegated colors

Yet be filled with halāhala,

The strongest of all poisons.^[13]

“Bejeweled women are like that too.

They may glitter with adornments,

Yet they are filled with urine and excrement.

They are like leather bellows filled with air.^[14]

“Just like a blade sharpened with oil

And wrapped in a cloth,

So too is a dressed-up woman

Like a sword sheathed in a scabbard.

“In the same way a blazing fire pit

Can burn without any smoke,

Women are like fire.

They are deceptive, like dangerous insects.

“When the fire at the end of the eon blazes,

The entirety of this land will be consumed,

The grasses and trees will be destroyed,

And the rivers will completely dry up.

“As for this abode of the great elements—

The vast oceans will dry up

And the great mountains will burn away.

Even Mount Meru will likewise be destroyed.

“This earth, the great king, sustainer of beings,

Will be completely destroyed. F.213.a

Even the great stone mountains will be destroyed,

And there will be no protection.

“The way that this fire will consume

The mountains and the oceans

Is the same way that women resemble fire;

They are dangerous and unsettling to men.

“Mucus, phlegm, and saliva,

Fluids running from the head,

And foul-smelling bodily discharge

Are like honey for these foolish beings.^[15]

“Full of bones and having a mouth for its opening,

A pile of flesh and skin,

And smelling like raw meat,

This despicable body is like a boil.^[16]

“Like a swelling pustule

Filled with a variety of bacteria,

The body is but a receptacle

For feces and other types of filth.^[17]

“The body is stuffed with intestines,

Colon, spleen, and lungs,

Kidneys, blood, and bile,

Brains, bone, and marrow.^[18]

“Shrouded in a veil of delusion,

Foolish beings do not even see

The eighty thousand types of organisms

That dwell within their innards.^[19]

“The nine bodily orifices

Are constantly excreting putrid filth,

Yet fools grasp at appearances,

Only what they can see and hear.^[20]

“Those fools, whose abode is filth

And who feed on mucus and saliva,

After they feel desire

Do not understand that this is a place despised by all.^[21]

“Like flies that have spotted a wo་und,

They desire contemptible things.

Sweat drips from their armpits

And they reek with awful smells.^[22]

“Fools cling to their own suffering,

Having been deceived into harming themselves.

Like fish pulled from water,

This will bring about their ruin.

“The way that one is attacked

By someone wielding a fearsome weapon

Is the way that those attached to sense pleasures

Are attacked by evil, weapon-like women.

“The way that a king is attacked

By an opponent wielding the weapons of conquest

Is the way that those attached to sense pleasures

Are incinerated in the flames of desire. F.213.b

“Like dogs hovering around a butcher,

Foolish beings fantasize about tastes.

Even when scared away by a loud yell,

They quickly return to savoring their suffering.

“As there is nothing that can protect one

From the faults of one’s own actions,

Beings are led to the lower realms

In accordance with their own faults.

“Those who abandon the Buddhadharma

To indulge in women’s excretions

Have become attached to the taste,

And, by that, are led to the lower realms.

“When a monkey hurts itself,

As it swings about

From one tree to the next,

It experiences suffering that very instant.

“Similarly, those who crave the objects of desire,

Who indulge in the suffering of sense pleasure,

And who are caught in the cage of delusion

Are just squandering their time again and again.

“Just as some unfortunate beings

Are impaled on stakes and left to hang,

Those who are attached to sense pleasures

Will hang high in the Hell of Iron-Thorn Trees.

“When urad and mung beans

Are poured into metal cauldrons

And cooked over a blazing fire

They will foam and boil.

“So, too, will beings who were blind to virtue

And attached to the objects of their desire

Proceed to the lower realms upon death

To be cooked in metal cauldrons.

“Those people who perform evil deeds

Go to the place for evil beings,

Where there are four groups

Of six hundred million cauldrons.

“In each one of those cauldrons,

Which are unfathomably large

And surrounded by masses of flame,

They will boil away for many eons.

“Some will cook in those cauldrons

For one, two, three hundred,

Or even four hundred whole eons,

Depending on their past actions.

“They will be seized by thin, sharp pincers

And plunged again and again into the cauldrons. F.214.a

They will lose their flesh

And become as white as a conch shell.

“Once they are dropped into the iron pots

They will be burning hot, yet never taken out.

They will die again and again only to be reborn.

Their destination is determined by their past actions.

“When the guardians of the hell realms

Beat those miserable people

With clubs and other such weapons,

Their flesh, bones, and marrow will be reduced to dust.

“At that time, a bitterly cold wind will blow

And denizens of the hells

Will thereby be given some relief

From their suffering.

“Those who commit evil acts

Will be smashed by mighty pestles,

Split apart by axes,

And impaled on stakes.

“Those who commit evil acts

Will have four-pointed iron spears,

As well as those with three and five points,

Plunged into their bodies.

“Those who commit evil acts

Will have their heads and brains picked apart

By crows with knife-like beaks,

And eaten by jackals and wolves.

“Those who commit evil acts

Will fall into putrid, rotting feces,

Down to a fate reviled by all—

They will fall into the Hell of Razor Blades and the Blazing River Hell.

“Those who commit evil acts

Will be burned in the Fiercely Hot Hell,

The Howling Hell, and the Great Howling Hell.

They will also be burned in the Black Line Hell.

“Those who commit evil acts,

After their birth in the Black Line Hell,

Will fall, again and again,

Into the hells of burning coals, blazing rivers, and^[23] razor blades.

“When it comes time for those people

To be cooked in the great iron cauldrons,

They will be tormented by dogs

And left longing for happiness.

“When those who commit evil acts

Descend to the great, brutal hells,

They will have no companions F.214.b

As they swallow lumps of iron.

“Those who commit evil acts

Will have their bodies pulverized

By giant boulders made of iron

And terrible mountains.

“That is how one reaps

The fruit of one’s actions.

There will be no protection whatsoever

From the experience of that suffering.

“Any support one could think of

Will not be available to them;

They will be alone, with no refuge,

Left to undergo such suffering.

“For those engaged previously in wrongdoing

In a futile search for happiness,

Even their parents are powerless

To save them now.

“For those engaged previously in wrongdoing

In a futile search for happiness,

Even their sons and daughters

Cannot save them now.

“For those engaged previously in wrongdoing

In a futile search for happiness,

None of their close friends

Can come to save them now.

“For those engaged previously in wrongdoing

In a futile search for happiness,

None of their other relatives

Can save them now.

“Indulging in inferior desires,

While following inferior doctrines,

They commit low, immoral deeds

And proceed to the lower realms.^[24]

“Those who are unwise will experience

The anguish of the Hell of Endless Torment.

The buddhas have declared that women

Are foul-smelling, like excrement.^[25]

“Thus, only inferior men have intercourse

With women, who are inferior,

Like fools who enter houses

Carrying bags full of excrement.^[26]

“The quality of one’s actions

Determines the quality of fruit that one bears.

The punishment of a king

May leave one shackled and in pain.^[27]

“Because of women,

Men will endure being bound and even killed, F.215.a

And they will surely be burned and bound

Again by the guardians of the hells.

“Those confused men who crave women

Will not find happiness

But will be impaled on tall stakes

And thrown into boiling water.

“They will be cast into fissures in the ground

And stabbed with swords.

Such people, having heard this,

Become concerned and uneasy.

“They preoccupy themselves with women

And enjoy themselves with them.

These despicable people indulge in and talk of

Sense pleasures, which are full of pain.^[28]

“When they hear the Dharma, they are confused about its meaning,

But they say, ‘Well spoken!’

Their minds are lost in women,

Like a cat’s lost in a mouse.^[29]

“Even if they feel a momentary sense of agitation

By listening to the words of the Victorious One,

Desire will arise again in their minds

As if it were halāhala poison.^[30]

“A pig may become timid and afraid

For just a single moment,

But as soon as it sees excrement,

Its desires are excited again.^[31]

“In that same way, fools seeking happiness

Abandon the Victorious One’s teachings.

By indulging in the lowly sense pleasures

They proceed to the lower realms.^[32]

“Intoxicated by their lust for sense pleasures

They perform extremely evil deeds,

And criticize those with moral discipline.

Ultimately, they will proceed to the lower realms.^[33]

“As soon as he has the opportunity, a wise man

Who has listened to a teaching such as this one

Ought to abandon all sense pleasures

And go forth as a renunciant.^[34]

“Great King, these are the faults of men who indulge in sense pleasures. Those who cling to sense pleasure, to the causes^[35] of sense pleasure, and to the bases of sense pleasure will experience the hell realms. F.215.b Therefore, Great King, you must constantly and continuously cultivate mindfulness of the Buddha. You must cultivate mindfulness of the body.”

That is how the Blessed One taught King Udayana of Vatsa. As a result of that teaching, King Udayana of Vatsa was delighted, joyful, and extremely happy with the Thus-Gone One.

Then King Udayana of Vatsa said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, completely perfect Buddha’s explanation of the excellent teaching on the inconceivably numerous faults of men and women is truly amazing. Blessed One, I seek refuge in the Blessed One, the Dharma, and the Saṇgha. I have abandoned my weapons and my clubs. I have become modest, and I feel love for all living beings. Blessed One, please accept me as a male lay disciple.”

When the Blessed One had finished teaching, King Udayana of Vatsa, the monks, bodhisattvas, gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas, together with the whole world, rejoiced and praised the Blessed One’s words.

Thus concludes The Episode “King Udayana of Vatsa’s Questions,” the twenty-ninth of the one hundred thousand sections of the Dharma discourse known as The Noble Great Heap of Jewels.

Colophon

Translated, edited, and finalized by, among others, the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi and the chief editor-translator, Bandé Yeshé Dé.

Notes

Reading chad from Y, K, N, H, and S.
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Translation tentative: kun ’joms dkrugs pa’i shul dang ’dra.
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The Tibetan term rma which often translates the Sanskrit vraṇa, primarily means “wound” or “sore,” but can also refer to the orifices of the body, as it does below with the term rma sgo.
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Translation tentative: she’u rul.
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This previous half verse or a close variant is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 83): śrutvedṛśaṃ tu saṃvegaṃ na teṣāṃ bhavati nirvṛtiḥ.
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K, Y, and S read khyi in place of khyim, which might suggest an alternative translation of this line as “like the rotting, stinking corpse of a dog.”
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This verse is preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 80): dṛṣṭvā vraṇaṃ dhāvati makṣikā yathā | dṛṣṭvāśuciṃ dhāvati gardabho yathā | śvānaśca śūnā iva māṃsakāraṇāt | tathaiva dhāvantyabudhāḥ striye ratāḥ || The Tibetan has phag, “pig”, whereas the Sanskrit has gardabha, “donkey” or “ass.” The Sanskrit has aśuci, “filth,” whereas the Tibetan supplies ngan skyugs, which can mean “vomit” but also “feces.”
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 83): yasyedṛśaṃ dharmanayaṃ viditvā | strīṣu prasādaḥ puruṣasya no bhavet |viśodhitaḥ svargapatho ’sya nityam | na durlabhā tasya varāgrabodhiḥ. In the second line, the Tibetan text translated here reads rab tu bag med, “carelessness,” which suggests that the Tibetan translators read an underlying Sanskrit pramādaḥ, rather than prasādaḥ, “trust,” which is what we find preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. Both readings are plausible, however, and it is probable that the similarity between the characters for mā and sā accounts for the development of the variant readings.
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The Tibetan rgyags pa probably translates the Sanskrit term mada, which means both “pride” or “arrogance” as well as “wine” or “liquor.” So, the Sanskrit reading contains a nice pun here.
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The Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 82) quotes this and several following sentences, as well. There may be some minor differences or possible variant readings in the Tibetan, but the passage largely scans well with the Sanskrit.
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This verse is preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 81): avidyāpidhitā bālās tamaḥskandhena āvṛtāḥ | strīṣu saktās tathā mūḍhā amedhya iva vāyasāḥ.
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This verse is preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 81): mārasya gocaro hy eṣa prasthitā yena durgatiḥ | āsvādasaṃjñino gṛddhā mīḍhasthāne yathā krimiḥ. The corrected reading of mīḍha instead of mīṭa is given in Wogihara & Bendall 1904.
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A close variant of the first half of this verse seems to be preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, where it is prefixed to the second half of the next verse, thus forming a single verse. This first half-verse reads kīṭakumbho yathā citro yatra yatraiva dṛśyate (Bendall 1902, p. 81).
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The second half of this verse is preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, where it is affixed to the first half of the previous verse, thus forming a single verse. This second half of the verse reads pūrṇo mūtrapurīṣeṇa dṛtir vā vātapūritā (Bendall 1902, p. 81). The Buddha uses a similar description in the opening verse of the Māgaṇḍiyasutta of the Suttanipāta: muttakarīsapuṇṇaṃ, “[this thing], which is filled with urine and excrement.”
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This verse is preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 81): siṅghāṇakakaphālālāḥ śleṣmaṇi klinnamastakāḥ |daurgandhyaṃ sravate kāyād bālānāṃ tadyathā madhu.
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This verse is preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 81): asthipūrṇaṃ mukhadvāraṃ māṃsacarmādibhiścitaṃ | gaṇḍabhūto hy ayaṃ kāyaḥ kutsito hy āmagandhikaḥ.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 81): nānāprāṇibhiḥ saṃpūrṇo mukhagaṇḍo yathā bhavet |evam eva hy ayaṃ kāyo viṣṭhādyaśucibhājanam.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 81): antyāntrākulaṃ hy udaraṃ sayakṛtphupphuṣākulaṃ| vṛkkau vilohitaṃ pittaṃ mastaluṅgāsthimajjakam.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 81): aśītiṃ krimikulasahasrāṇi yāni tiṣṭhanti antare | atha bālā na paśyanti mohajālena āvṛtāḥ.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 82): navavraṇamukhaiḥ prasravanty aśuciṃ pūtigandhikam |bālā nimittaṃ gṛhṇanti vacane darśane ’pi ca.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 82): raktāḥ paścān na jānanti yo deśaḥ sarvakutsitaḥ |uccāragocarā bālāḥ kheṭasiṅghāṇabhojinaḥ. Wogihara & Bendall 1904, p. 100, corrects Bendall’s earlier reading of uktāḥ to raktāḥ.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 82): jugupsanīye rajyante vraṇaṃ dṛṣṭveva mukṣikāḥ | kakṣāsv āgharate svedo gandho vāyati kutsitaḥ.
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Reading spu gri from N and H in place of spu gri’i.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 82): kurvanti duṣkṛtaṃ karma yena gacchanti durgatim |hīnān kāmān niṣevante hīnān dharmān niṣevya ca. There is a play on words here regarding the word niṣev, translated into Tibetan with the versatile verb sten, and in English above first as “indulge in” and next as “follow.” The same term can also mean “enjoy” (sexually), “honor,” “serve,” or “practice.” At the same time, the translation tries to convey a semantic play on the terms hīna, “inferior,” or “lowly”; duṣkṛta “low, immoral deed”; and durgati “lower or bad realm of rebirth.”
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 82): gatvā avīciṃ duṣprajñāḥ duṣkhāṃ vindanti vedanām | uccāra iva durgandhāḥ striyo buddhaiḥ prakīrtitāḥ.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 82): tasmād dhīnasya hīnābhiḥ strībhir bhavati saṅgatiḥ | uccārabhastrāṃ yo gṛhya bālo vāsaṃ nigacchati.
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The first half of this verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall, 1902, p. 82): yādṛśaṃ kurute karma tādṛśaṃ labhate phalam.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 83): bhūyaḥ kurvanti saṃsargaṃ strībhiḥ sārddhaṃ pramoditāḥ | duṣkhakāmān niṣevante bhāṣante ca jugupsitāḥ.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 83): dharmaṃ śrutvārthasaṃmūḍhā bhāṣante ca subhāṣitam | strīgataṃ cāsya taccittaṃ biḍālasyeva mūṣike.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 83): muhūrtaṃ bhavati saṃvegaḥ śrutvātha jinabhāṣitaṃ |punaḥ kupyati rāgo ’sya viṣahālāhalaṃ yathā.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 83): sūkarasyeva uttrāso muhūrtam anuvartate |dṛṣṭvā vai atha uccāraṃ gṛddhatāṃ janayaty asau.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 83): evaṃ sukhārthino bālāḥ prahāya jinaśāsanaṃ |hīnān kāmān niṣevante yena gacchanti durgatim.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 83): raktāḥ pramattāḥ kāmeṣu kṛtvā karma supāpakam |śīlavattāṃ visaṃvādya paścād gachanti durgatim.
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This verse is also preserved in the Śikṣāsamuccaya (Bendall 1902, p. 83): labdhvā kṣaṇaṃ hi sa prājño dharmaṃ śrutvā ca īdṛśam | sarvān kāmān vivarjyeha pravrajyāṃ niṣkramed budhaḥ.
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Reading rgyu from N, H, and S in place of rma, “wound” or possibly “orifice.”
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