THE MESSENGERS OF THE GODS
THE JUDGEMENT OF KING YAMA
THE PUNISHMENTS IN THE HELLS
Devadûta Sutta, Majjhima Nikâya
(1)
(2)
(3)
Thus have I heard. The Blessed Lord was once staying near Sâvatthî
in the Jetavana grove, in Anâthapindika’s park.
The Blessed One said:
Picture a pair of houses with doors:
a man with eyes to see, standing between them,
could see the people entering a house, leaving it,
going between the houses, and walking back and forth.
That is how I see beings passing away and being reborn.
I see beings that are lowly or exalted,
ill born or well born,
in good destinies or in evil destinies,
according to the deeds they have done.
Truly, those beings with good conduct in body, speech,
and mind, speak no ill of the noble ones;
possessed of right views,
they collect the karma of their right views;
and after their bodies disintegrate, after they die,
they are reborn in a good destiny,
in the world of heaven,
or among humankind.
But those beings with evil conduct in body, speech,
and mind, speak ill of the noble ones;
possessed of wrong views,
they collect the karma of their wrong views;
and... they are reborn in an evil destiny,
in the realm of pretas*, *hungry ghosts
in the womb of an animal,
or in hell.
The judgement by Yama The punishments in hell The wish of King Yama
(16)
King Yama has long been thinking:
Those who do evil deeds in the world must undergo such punishments.
How I wish that I could be a human
when a Tathâgata arises in the world, an Arhat, a fully enlightened Buddha.
Then I could pay homage to the Blessed Lord,
and he would teach me the dharma,
and I could thoroughly comprehend his dharma.
The testimony of the Buddha
(17)
Monks, I am not telling you something I have heard from someone else, whether a recluse or a brahman; I am telling you what I myself know, what I myself have seen, and what I myself have discerned.
Thus spoke the Blessed Lord*. *Bhagavat
NOTES
This extract is abridged from the Devadûtasutta (The messengers of the gods discourse) in Majjhima-nikâya (The medium discourses collection), Bhikkhu J. Kashyap, general editor (Bihar, Pali Publication Board, 1958), 3:250-259, Sutta 130. English translations of parts of this discourse are found in E. Conze, Buddhist Scriptures, 224-226 (‘The torments of the hells’), and Stephen Beyer, The Buddhist Experience, 29-33 (‘A vision of hell’). For a complete translation see I.B. Horner, The Middle Length Sayings (Pali Text Society 1959) 223-230.
The Buddhist concept of hell involves tortures of infinite variety that are inflicted almost endlessly. However, this is not eternal damnation, but sojourn in places that are more akin to the Catholic Christian Purgatory. As in Hinduism, abiding in heavens and hells is temporary and impermanent; and it is the Hindu god Yama who reigns over the hells and judges the dead. Here we see King Yama interrogating people whose conduct has not measured up to the standards. He reminds them of the five messengers of the gods (similar to ‘the four passing sights’ that brought Gotama to his senses and onto the path of enlightement): an infant, a decrepit person, a diseased person, a dismembered person, a deceased person. All these act as reminders of mortality and retribution.
Near the end of this text we have an affirmation that the Buddha is superior to gods.