ABHIDHAMMA IN DAILY LIFE - Abhidhamma.com

Example - Yama: Sinner, while you are a human being did you not see newborn baby wallowing
helplessly in his or her own excreta Example -
• Sinner: I did, Your Honor.
• Yama: If so did it ever occur in your thoughts: "I will be reborn like this helpless baby
wallowing in excreta and urine in many future lives. I cannot escape rebirths. It is high
time I control my thoughts, words, and deeds so as not to suffer again like this infant".
• Sinner: Your Honor, I was not at all mindful and thus had no interest in doing wholesome
deeds.
• Yama: Unwholesome deeds are done by you, not by your relatives, parents and friends.
Since you are guilty of living thoughtlessly, you must now pay for your evil deeds, as is
the custom.
• Yama: (Repeated the same questions four times, regarding the aged, the infirm, the dead
and the prisoner. If after the fifth question, the sinner does not recall any of his past good
deeds, Yama himself tried to recall if the sinner in front of him had ever shared the merits
gained with him. If the sinner himself recalled such an incident, or if Yama had
witnessed some meritorious deeds done by the sinner, he is at once pardoned and
sent to a celestial abode. Such instances are numerous. Only when it was evident that
the sinner had no merits to his credit, Yama kept silent, then only would hell-wardens
come and drag away the sinner to torture in a deserving hell. Remember the power of
good deeds; it will help you out of difficult positions.)
a. Sanjiva Hell
Sanjiva means the hell in which the sinners are reborn repeatedly. In this hell, the wardens
chained the sinners' bodies and limbs; the sinners, instead of drying there and then are reborn to
suffer more because their evil kamma continues to take effect. They have to suffer the dreadful
agony repeatedly. The terror of this hell clearly proved the evil results of bad kamma (akusala)
are horrible. (note in hell people are reborn as whole body spontaneously.
b. Kalasutta Hell
Kalasutta means the measuring string (tape) used by carpenters. In this hell, the wardens chase
the fleeing sinners, and when they are caught, their bodies are marked off using measuring tapes.
Then the wardens hack their bodies according to the markings. Sinners had to go through this
torture many times until their evil kamma is exhausted.
c. Samghata Hell
Samghata hell is where sinners are crushed to death repeatedly. Big iron rollers crush sinners
who are planted waist-deep into burning iron sheets nine yojanas thick. The big iron rollers come
from four directions and crush them, back and forth. They suffer this repeatedly until their bad
kammas are exhausted.
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