Middle Discourses 130: Messengers of the GodsMajjhima Nikāya 130 · Devadūtasutta
The Buddha describes how one who has done wrong is brought after death before King Yama, is asked whether he did not see the five messengers of the gods (a baby, an old person, a sick person, a criminal being punished, and a corpse), and falls into the Great Hell. Only part of the discourse is given here.
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22 The forest of simbali trees
Right next to the Hell of Hot Ashes, monks, is a great forest of simbali trees, rising a league high, with thorns sixteen fingers long, burning, blazing, and aglow.
Tassa kho pana, bhikkhave, kukkulanirayassa samanantarā sahitameva mahantaṃ simbalivanaṃ uddhaṃ yojanamuggataṃ soḷasaṅgulakaṇṭakaṃ ādittaṃ sampajjalitaṃ sajotibhūtaṃ.
There they make him climb up and climb down.
Tattha āropentipi oropentipi.
There he feels painful, harsh, sharp, and bitter feelings, yet he does not die so long as that bad deed is not spent.
So tattha dukkhā tibbā kharā kaṭukā vedanā vedeti, na ca tāva kālaṅkaroti yāva na taṃ pāpakammaṃ byantīhoti.
Notes
- Simbali: a tree with thorns on its trunk and branches, the silk-cotton tree.
- League (yojana): a measure of distance, said to be a day’s journey by ox cart.
- Finger (aṅgula): the width of a finger.
Source: VRI s0203m.mul.xml ¶269 · PTS M iii 185