Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying in Śrāvastī … Then a brahmin lady by the name of Sūṣas approached Venerable Mahā-Kauṣṭhila. On her arrival, she bowed down her head at the venerable one’s feet and sat down at one side. Then Sūṣas, that brahmin lady, said to Kauṣṭhila:

“Both Udraka Rāmaputra and Arāḍa Kālāma died without their family having been converted to the profundity of this Teaching of the Buddha. The Exalted One describes these two persons as having realised respectively the spheres of ‘nothingness’ and of ‘neither-perception-nor-non-perception’. When the lifetime of both had come to an end, after their death, one of them was destined for kingship on the periphery of the civilised world, and his rule proved a great distress to countless human beings. The other person’s lot was to be a rapacious winged fox that was trapped in its existence as a flying and running beast. When these two kinds of existence had come to an end, both of them went to the Avīci hell. Nevertheless the Exalted One did not say when their share off agony would be used up. Why did he not do so?”

“The Exalted One kept silent,” Venerable Kauṣṭhila replied to Lady Sūṣas, “because nobody asked such a question. So the Exalted One did not say anything as to when the amount of extreme suffering would be finished.”

“As for the Tathāgata”, Lady Sūṣas continued, “he has entered Parinirvāṇa so that it is no longer possible to ask him that question. Having to stay on in this world I am in pursuit of an answer to this question. Now will Venerable Kauṣṭhila please talk with me about this matter? When will the amount of extreme suffering of those persons be over?”

Then Venerable Kauṣṭhila uttered these verses:

“The harvest of whatever is sown will not be the same, and
The same holds true of sentient beings’ course of existence.
With words I cannot do justice to one who realises
Independently the ultimate awakening.
To attest ultimate release by means of insight-knowledge
Through contemplation one should have actually
Realised the super-knowledge of the
Divine eye. In regard to someone
Who achieves the end of suffering once and for all,
My words fail to do him justice.”

Thereupon Lady Sūṣas uttered the following verses:

“It is the Blessed One who has this
Insight-knowledge and is genuinely without weakness and
Blemish; those who have heroic effort as
Their support, look forward to practising
in accordance with the Great Vehicle.”

Now once more Venerable Kauṣṭhila uttered verses as follows:

“Such a disposition is extremely rare,
enabling one to realise
the wonderful essence of the Teaching.
With words it is difficult to do justice to it—
To this extraordinary subject-matter.”

Venerable Kauṣṭhila then expanded on the essence of the Teaching for the sake of Lady Sūṣas which made her happy. In good time the lady rose from her seat, bowed down her head at the venerable one’s feet and went away. After listening to Venerable Kauṣṭhila’s words, Lady Sūṣas was pleased and respectfully applied herself to practice.