Samsara, the "Wheel of Rebirth," in Buddhist artNo willingness to give,
Although we could have given much,
We did not make our refuge thus.
Sa: Say the end is near?
Already 60,000 years have gone
Without respite the torture is
In this hellish realm.
Na: Naught, no end near, O, would it end!
No end in sight for us.
Who once did misdeeds here
For me, for you, for both of us.
So: So could I only leave this place
And raise myself to human realm,
I would be kind and restrained too,
And do good deeds in abundance.
A boiling cauldron of oil in the depths of Avici, a hellish realm in Buddhist cosmology
After Mallika gained unshakeable confidence in the Buddha, she also won her husband over to the Dharma:
One night King Pasenadi had a succession of 16 prophetic dreams. During them he heard gruesome, unfathomable noises from four voices: "Du, Sa, Na, So."
When he awoke, fear seized him. Sitting upright and trembling, he waited for sunrise.
When his brahmin priest advisors asked him whether he had slept well, he related the terror of the night. He asked them what could be done to counteract the menace. The brahmins declared that one would have to offer great blood sacrifices [of biblical proportions (Exodus 12:29)] to pacify the evil spirits.
In his fear the king agreed. The brahmins rejoiced because of the gifts they would surely reap and busily began to make preparations for the great sacrifice. They scurried about, building a sacrificial altar and tying animals to posts to be killed.
For greater efficacy, they demanded the sacrifice of four human beings, who also awaited their death tied to posts.
When Queen Mallika became aware of all this activity, she went to the king and asked him why the brahmins were so busy running around joyfully and expectantly. The king replied that she did not pay enough attention to him and did not know his sorrows: He told her of his dreams.
Mallika asked the king whether he had consulted the first and foremost "brahmin" (one ennobled by actions rather than birth) about the meaning and interpretation of his dreams.
Torture ancient Indian style, a man being boiled alive in oil under brahmin oversight
The king replied that she would first have to tell him who was "the first and foremost" among brahmins. Mallika explained that the Awakened One was foremost in this world of devas and hamans, the first of all noble individuals everywhere.
King Pasenadi decided to ask the Buddha's advice and went to Prince Jeta's Grove, to the abbey donated by the millionaire Anathapindika.
There he related to the Buddha his 16 dreams and asked what would happen to him as a result.
Life size scene depicting torment in the worst plane of existence, Avici
"Nothing," the Buddha replied and explained the meaning of each to him. The 16 dreams were prophecies, revealing that in the distant future living conditions on Earth would deteriorate due to the increasing moral laxity of rulers.
During a contemplative period, King Pasenadi had been able to see the future in a vision within his sphere of interest, as a monarch concerned with the well-being of his subjects.
The Results of Former Karma
The voices the king had heard belonged to four men who formerly lived in Savatthi and been rapists or seducers of married women in either case engaged in sexual misconduct.
As a result of that karma ripening at the time of death, it conditioned rebirth in a correspondingly hellish world. And for 30,000 years they drowned in red hot cauldrons of oil, coming nearer and nearer to the fire, which intensified their already unbearable suffering.
For another 30,000 years they slowly rose up in those iron cauldrons and had now come to the rim, where they could once again at least breathe the air of the human realm.
Each one wanted to give voice to a verse. But because of the gravity of their hurtful deeds, they could not get past the first syllable. Not even in sighs could they voice their suffering, having long lost the gift of speech.
The four verses -- which start in the ancient language of the Buddha's day with "du," "sa," "na," and "so" -- were recognized by the Enlightened One as follows
A glimpse of freedom every 60,000 years for violating the Five Guiding Precepts of happiness in the human world
No willingness to give,
Although we could have given much,
We did not make our refuge thus.
Say the end is near?
Already 60,000 years have gone
Without respite the torture is
In this hellish realm.
Naught, no end near, O, would it end!
No end in sight for us.
Who once did misdeeds here
For me, for you, for both of us.
So could I only leave this place
And raise myself to human realm,
I would be kind and restrained too,
And do good deeds in abundance.