Deep Commentary

This chapter is called the Chapter on Hell. In Sanskrit, hell is called Naraka or Niraya. In the traditional Chinese Buddhist renderings, it is also described as the realm of no joy, the fearful place, the place of instruments of suffering, the vessel of suffering, and the place where there is no freedom. In general, it is the place where beings who have created evil karma—such as the five gravely rebellious acts, the ten unwholesome deeds, and so on—must undergo suffering. According to whether the evil karma created by beings is heavy or light, hell is given many different names. However, one thing we should remember is this: hell exists for those who have committed wrong, and it does not exist for those who have not committed wrong. Even in the world today, every country has prisons. Prisons exist in order to confine, punish, and discipline those who break the law. On the other hand, if we do not commit crimes such as robbery, murder, or unlawful acts, then although prisons exist, for us they are as if they do not exist. Therefore, if we absolutely deny that hell exists, or if we insist rigidly that hell exists, such statements may not be entirely correct. Some people live from the day they are born until the day they close their eyes in death without ever knowing what prison is. How, then, can we say that hell exists for them? Even though prisons and hellish places are clearly present in this world, for those who do wrong and are imprisoned by the law, can we say that hell does not exist for them? Thus, it is clear that hell is created by our own mind. That is speaking of the external realm of hell. If we look more deeply into our own inner mind, then whenever our mind is restless, sorrowful, anxious, fearful, and so on, at that very moment we have already fallen into hell. For hell is a dark and painful place. Therefore, if we do not wish to fall into hell in this life or in lives to come, then while we are still alive we should follow the teachings of the Buddhas and patriarchs: strive to do good, cultivate virtue, accumulate merit, keep the precepts we have received, practice compassion and restraint, and recollect the Buddha each day. If we can do this, then not only will our life be happy and peaceful in the present, but in the future we will certainly enjoy the fruit of peace and joy. This verse was taught by the Buddha at Jetavana Monastery in connection with a female ascetic of another sect named Sundarī. According to the story, during the time when the Buddha and the Sangha were staying at Jetavana, more and more people came to make offerings of goods and necessities. Because of this, the teachers of other sects became increasingly jealous. They thought that since the appearance of the Buddha, all their honor, prestige, and material support had declined, and people no longer revered or offered to them as before. At that time, they gave rise to the intention to find a way to harm the Buddha. Among their followers was a young woman of extraordinary beauty named Sundarī. After hearing the teachers of the other sects discuss ways to harm the Buddha, she formed an idea and presented her plan. Each day she would adorn herself beautifully and pretend to go to Jetavana Monastery to listen to the Buddha teach the Dharma. She proposed this scheme: ‘Every night, I will pretend to stay in the monastery. After some time, you should hire people to kill me and bury my body in the grounds of the monastery. Three days later, send people to pretend to search for my body. Let them go to the place where I have been buried, dig up my body, place it on a horse cart, and carry it throughout the city in order to slander the ascetic Gotama and his disciples. Then his reputation and honor will be severely damaged, and surely no one will continue to respect him.’ After hearing her explain this plan, the teachers of the other sects thought it very suitable and reasonable, and they carried it out accordingly. Indeed, when they dug her body out from the refuse heap, everyone appeared grief-stricken, sorrowful, and weeping. Then they carried her body throughout the city, using all kinds of harsh words to insult and falsely accuse the Buddha and the Sangha. When the matter reached the Buddha, he told the monks to continue their ordinary activities and not to show any discomfort or anger. Some of the monks had not yet attained arahantship and therefore still had defilements, so naturally they felt disturbed and upset by those slanderous and abusive words. The Buddha said that within no more than seven days, everything would return to its proper place. In other words, the truth would be brought to light. Indeed, when the matter reached the king, he naturally did not believe that the Buddha and the Sangha could have committed such an act. Therefore, the king ordered investigators to follow the traces of the plot laid by the other sects. The investigators discovered a group of gangsters who were drunk and arguing with one another about the killing of Sundarī. Thus the whole group was arrested. All of them were punished according to the law for the crimes of false accusation and murder. Afterward, the reputation and prestige of the Buddha increased many times over, and people revered him and devoted themselves to his teaching even more wholeheartedly. This concludes the brief account of the story. In this verse, the Buddha admonished and emphasized the grave offense of lying: saying that something exists when it does not, and saying that something does not exist when it does. The offense of lying is one of the four major offenses in the monastic discipline, and it is also a serious offense in the bodhisattva precepts. According to the discipline taught by the Buddha, one who commits this offense cannot simply excuse it lightly; the karmic result is extremely grave and leads to hellish suffering. Among the three karmas—body, speech, and mind—when examined carefully, any evil karma created through these three can be heavy. Any action or word that carries malicious intent causes suffering for oneself and for others. More broadly, it brings suffering to all beings. Among the ten unwholesome actions—three of the body, four of speech, and three of mind—we see that speech alone occupies four: false speech, frivolous speech, divisive speech, and harsh speech. More clearly stated, body and speech together make up seven parts, while the remaining three belong to mental karma. Body and speech are the tools, or capable servants, of the mind. The visible actions that cause suffering to people and other beings are directly carried out by body and speech. But the mind is the commander that gives the orders, like a central headquarters. This mind has three powerful generals as its attendants and agents, receiving commands and directly ordering body and speech to obey absolutely. These three strong collaborators are greed, anger, and delusion. Those who do not know how to practice live entirely as slaves to the command of desire, causing many disasters for themselves and others. They never know how to restrain their craving. From that, their bodily and verbal karma creates many wrongdoings. That describes people who do not know what spiritual practice is. But what about those who know a little about practice? Such people may fear wrongdoing, recite scriptures, practice abstinence and compassion, recollect the Buddha, go to the temple, and cultivate merit, yet they may still suffer from a very serious disease of speech-karma. When they dislike someone, they invent stories, fabricate accusations, criticize, and speak all kinds of slander; they say what is not true as if it were true, and what is true as if it were not. They are skilled at embroidering a small matter into something large. They search for every possible way to speak ill of others. They sense who else dislikes the person they hate, and then they join in, pulling those people into their own faction. Their purpose is to gather more allies, so that many people together will hate the person they wish to destroy. Outwardly, before others, they make it appear that they practice very properly, seriously, and correctly. But behind people’s backs, they mock, criticize, and speak cruelly of the person they resent. If one practices while carrying such a poisonous mind, what kind of practice is that? It is merely false virtue used outwardly to deceive others. Such practice is dishonest and deceives people. For people of this kind, the gate of hell is already wide open, waiting to receive them. How pitiful and tragic this is. The Buddha said that this is a grave illness of beings. This illness is like a severe epidemic, difficult to cure. It is a common illness of humanity, not belonging to any one person alone. However, relatively speaking, it may be somewhat less among men, while it is often especially difficult among women. Women, when it comes to making merit, giving, going to the temple, and studying the Dharma, often show much greater diligence than men. Yet as for the habit of harmful speech-karma, it can be very difficult for them to abandon. But please do not forget: once an unwholesome cause has been planted, how can one avoid the painful result? The result may come quickly or slowly, but it will surely come. Following the Buddha’s teaching above, each of us should carefully guard our speech. We should never speak ill of others, criticize, mock, attack, or harm anyone with words. The more we slander, falsely accuse, or insult others, the more we first bring suffering upon ourselves. Our own heart becomes constantly uneasy, and we will certainly undergo painful results. All the merit we have cultivated can be burned away by our own mouth. Therefore, the Buddhas and patriarchs advise those who know how to practice to use loving speech and right speech when dealing with others. This is especially important when interacting directly with family members. If each person knows how to use gentle, kind, and considerate words, choosing words that bring harmony, then how warm, happy, and beautiful that family will be. Quarrels, loud arguments, and struggles to win or lose often arise in families because each person takes the others lightly and lacks patience, concession, and mutual respect. Because people live together every day, each person’s faults become exposed, and no one continues to respect or honor the others. From there, arguments, contempt, and mutual belittling arise. Then affection is damaged and turns into resentment, hatred, anger, and blame. If each person knows how to act according to the Buddha’s teaching, using loving speech whenever speaking, and speaking with mindfulness and sincerity in dealing with one another, then when one person speaks, the other is truly present with respect and listens wholeheartedly. If that is so, how could there be loud arguments and battles to win against one another? We should remember that yielding and patience are very noble virtues, and they are the glue that creates harmony, love, and deeper bonds in the warm intimacy of family life. When there is courtesy outside and patience within, and when people know how to respect one another, what could be more beautiful? As Buddhists, we should firmly resolve not to speak what is untrue. We should speak words that bring peace, joy, and benefit to everyone. We should firmly avoid words that create conflict, division, and disharmony in the family and community. More than anyone else, we must be aware that harsh and harmful speech directly damages ourselves, our families, and our society in many ways. May everyone, for the welfare of themselves, their families, and others, pay careful attention to this matter. The story briefly recounted above shows clearly the immediate working of cause and effect. Because of jealousy and the desire to harm the Buddha, the teachers of other sects searched for every possible way to destroy his reputation and honor. They used an extremely cruel scheme, even sacrificing a human life, to spread false accusations and disgrace the Buddha and the Sangha. But in the end, not only were they unable to harm the Buddha, they brought disaster upon themselves. Thus we can see that harming others returns to harm oneself. Reflecting on this story, it should serve as a clear mirror for anyone who harbors malicious intentions to harm good people, so that they may carefully examine their own heart.