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[ Dhamma Talk ]
Length of life in the White Lotus Hell:
Suppose there were a load of twenty khaaris[2] of the small Magadhese variety.’[3] as we reckon them here in Kosala, of sesamum seed. And suppose at the end of every century a man were to take out one seed. That kart would be emptied sooner than a term in the Abbuda Niraya[4]
One term in the Nirabbuda is equal to twenty in the Abbuda.
One term in the Ababa is equal to twenty in the Nirabbuda.
One term in the A.ta.ta is equal to twenty in the Ababa.
One term in the Ahaha is equal to twenty in the AÂaÂa.
One term in Water-Lily Hell is equal to twenty in Ahaha.
One term in Sogandihika is equal to twenty in Water-Lily Hell.
One term in Blue Lotus Hell is equal to twenty in Sogandihika Hell.
One term in White Lotus Hell is equal to twenty in Blue Lotus Hell.
One term in Red Lotus Hell is equal to twenty in Red Lotus Hell.
PED: nis + aya of i = to go asunder, to go to destrucion, to die, cp. in meaning Vedic nir.rti. The popular etym. Given by Dhammapala at PvA 53 is "n’atthi ettha ayo sukham ti" = there is no good; that given by Bdhgh at Vism 427 "n’atthi ettha ass¤dasa¾¾ito ayo" (no refreshment)] purgatory, hell, a place of punishment and torture, where sin is atoned (i.e. kamma ripens = paccati, is literally boiled) by terrible ordeals (k¤ra¼¤ni) similar to and partly identical with those of Hades and Tartarus. There are a great number of hells, of which the most fearful is the Av¨ci-mah¤niraya. Names of other purgatories occur frequently in the Jaataka collection . . . K¤kola; khuradh¤ra; Dhuuma-roruva; Pat¤pana; Paduma; Roruva; Sangh¤ta; Sa¾j¨va; Sataporisa; Sattis¬la.
[1]PTS, Mrs. Rhys Davids, trans., The Book of the Kindred Sayings, Part I, The Brahma Suttas, The Kokaalikan.
[2]According to the Comy., the Kosalan measures, from a pattha upwards, were four times the bulk of those used in Magadha: ‘Twenty khaari’s = 1 khaarika, or cartload of tila-seeds [sesame]
[3]Cf Rhys Davids: Ancient Coins, etc., § 32
[4]These names do not represent separate hells, but only periods of time in Avichi -- the general term for the informal regions; cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., p. 334; apportioned to each entrant by the automatic working of Karma. -- well that seems like nitpicking to me, anyone finding themselves residing in one single place for approximately 40 aeons, or 4/5ths of ½ of 1/4th of a complete 4 cycled world cycle (evolution, rest, devolution, rest, of the world), or Kappa-- one Magadha’n cartload’s worth being approximately the duration of an aeon -- would hardly quibble over whether it was a division of a Greater Hell or a Hell unto itself.
References:
See: The Pali Line: The Disadvantages of Going Bad
Knowledge of Former Habitations
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