Having got this man, they
took him to the king, who secretly charged him, "You must make a square
enclosure with high walls. Plant in it all kinds of flowers and fruits;
make good ponds in it for bathing; make it grand and imposing in every
way, so that men shall look to it with thirsting desire; make its gates
strong and sure; and when any one enters, instantly seize him and punish
him as a sinner, not allowing him to get out. Even if I should enter,
punish me as a sinner in the same way, and do not let me go. I now
appoint you master of that naraka."
Soon after this a bhikshu, pursuing his regular course of begging his
food, entered the gate of the place. When the lictors of the naraka saw
him, they were about to subject him to their tortures; but he,
frightened, begged them to allow him a moment in which to eat his
mid-day meal. Immediately after, there came in another man, whom they
thrust into a mortar and pounded till a red froth overflowed. As the
bhikshu looked on, there came to him the thought of the impermanence,
the painful suffering and inanity of this body, and how it is but as a
bubble and as foam; and instantly he attained to Arhatship. Immediately
after, the lictors seized him, and threw him into a caldron of boiling
water. There was a look of joyful satisfaction, however, in the
bhikshu's countenance.
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