Thus have I heard. Once, the Buddha travelled to Nālandā and stayed at Pāvārika’s Mango Grove.

At that time, there was a god of the Abāsvara Heaven named Gamini whose form and shape was most sublime, his radiance blazing, glowing, and gleaming. When the night was giving way to sunrise, he went to the Buddha, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and then withdrew to sit at one side. That Abāsvara Heaven god named Gamini then said: “World Honored One, the brahmacārin, he is lofty. His doing is of some heaven or another. If such sentient beings’ lives end, they are able to go and be reborn in a good place, born into the heavens above. The World Honored One is the Dharma-lord. I only wish the World Honored One to send the sentient beings to arrive in a good place, to be born in the heavens above, when their lives end!”

The World Honored One addressed him: “Gamini, now I will question you. Feel free to answer me. Gamini, what do you think? Suppose in a town there is a man or a woman who is lazy and not energetic, and so walks an evil Dharma. They consummate the path of ten kinds of deeds that are not good; i.e. Killing beings, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, on up to false view. When that person’s life ends, suppose a crowd of people come, each with his palms together, saying things in search of his redemption, making statements such as: ‘You, man or woman, was lazy, not energetic, and so walked an evil Dharma. You consummated the path of ten kinds of deeds that are not good; i.e. Killing beings, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, on up to false view. Because of these causes and these conditions, you must go to a good place, be born in the heavens above upon the break up of your body and the end of your life.’ Thus, Gamini, that man or woman was lazy, not energetic, and so walked an evil Dharma. He consummated the path of ten kinds of deeds that are not good; i.e. Killing beings, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, on up to false view. Would he go to a good place, be born in the heavens above because of the cause and condition of that crowd of people with their palms together praying for his redemption?”

Gamini answered: “No, World Honored One.”

The World Honored One commended him: “Excellent, Gamini! And why is that? That man or woman was lazy, not energetic, and so walked an evil Dharma. He consummated the path of ten kinds of deeds that are not good; i.e. Killing beings, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, on up to false view. Even if a crowd of people, each with their palms together, prayed for his redemption so that because of that cause and that condition he would go to a good place, be born in the heavens above upon the break up of his body and the end of his life, the place that he will go to will not be that one.

“Gamini, suppose they leave the town and go to a deep body of water not far away. And there, someone takes a large, heavy stone and throws into the water. Now, suppose someone came with their palms together and prayed for its redemption, saying: ‘I wish for this stone to float and come out of the water!’ What do you think, Gamini? Would that large, heavy stone come out because of the cause and condition of someone with their palms together praying for its redemption?”

Gamini answered: “No, World Honored One.”

“So it is, Gamini. That man or woman was lazy, not energetic, and so walked an evil Dharma. He consummated the path of ten kinds of deeds that are not good; i.e. Killing beings, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, on up to false view. Even if a crowd of people, each with their palms together, prayed for his redemption so that because of that cause and that condition he would go to a good place, be born in the heavens above upon the break up of his body and the end of his life, the place that he will go to will not be that one. And why is that? It is that the path of ten kinds of deeds that are not good is dark and has a dark result. Of itself, one is destined to descend, surely to arrive in an evil place.

“Gamini, what do you think? Suppose there is in that town a man or woman who is energetic and endevours to cultivate themselves and so walks the wondrous Dharma. He consummates the path of ten good deeds; i.e. He leaves behind harmfulness, stops killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, up to leaves behind wrong views, stops wrong views, and attains right views. If a crowd of people come when his life has ended, each with their palms together, and pray for his redemption, saying: ‘You, man or woman, who was energetic and endevoured to cultivate yourself, and so walked in the wondrous Dharma. You consummated the path of the ten good deeds; i.e. You left behind harmfulness, stopped killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, up to left behind wrong views, stopped wrong views, and attained right views. Because of this cause and this condition, you will arrive at an evil place, be born in Hell when your body has broken up and your life ended.’ What do you think, Gamini? Would that man or woman who is energetic and endevours to cultivate themselves and so walks the wondrous Dharma, who consummates the path of ten good deeds; i.e. He leaves behind harmfulness, stops killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, up to leave behind wrong views, stops wrong views, and attains right views arrive at an evil place, be born in Hell because of this cause and this condition of a crowd of people coming, each with their palms together, and praying for his redemption when his body breaks up and his life ends?”

Gamini answered: “No, World Honored One.”

The World Honored One commended him: “Excellent, Gamini! And why is that? Gamini, that man or woman was energetic and endevoured to cultivate themselves and so walked the wondrous Dharma. He consummated the path of ten good deeds; i.e. He left behind harmfulness, stopped killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, up to left behind wrong views, stopped wrong views, and attained right views. If a crowd of people come, each with their palms together, praying for his redemption so that because of this cause and condition he would go to an evil place, be born in Hell, upon the break up of his body and the end of his life, the place that he would go to will not be that one. And why is that? Gamini, the path of the ten good deeds is light and has a light result. Of itself, it is ascendent. He surely will go to a good place.

“Gamini, suppose someone were to leave that town and go to a deep body of water nearby. There, somone drops a bowl of cream in and it breaks. The solid clay will stay sunken, but the cream will float on top of the water.

“So it is, Gamini, with that man or woman who was energetic and endevoured to cultivate themselves and so walked the wondrous Dharma. He consummated the path of ten good deeds; i.e. He left behind harmfulness, stopped killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, up to left behind wrong views, stopped wrong views, and attained right views. At the end of his life, the body, that crude form made of the four gross elements that was born of mother and father, clothed and nourished with food, that sat, laid down, stopped, moved, washed, sustained, compelled, and tolerated: this thing is broken and destroyed. This thing being ceased and done with, scattered and gone, then after the end of his life, whether it be pecked by birds or eaten by insects and wolves, burned or buried, in the end it is ground into dust. That mind, mentality, and consciousness was constantly permeated by faith, energy, well-versed, charitable, and permeated by wisdom. Because of this cause and condition, of itself, it is ascendent, to be born into a good place. Gamini, that one who killed by renouncing killing, and stopped killing: that is the path of the grove’s contempation, the path of ascendent progress, and the path to a good place.

“Gamini, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, up to wrong view, renouncing wrong view, and attain right view: that is the path of the grove’s contempation, the path of ascendent progress, and the path to a good place.

“Gamini, there is again, that path of the grove’s contempation, the path of ascendent progress, and the path to a good place. Gamini, what is called the path of the grove’s contempation, the path of ascendent progress, and the path to a good place? That is the eightfold Noble path, from right view to right concentration. These eight, Gamini, are said to be that path of the grove’s contempation, the path of ascendent progress, and the path to a good place.”

The Buddha spoke thus. Gamini and the bhikṣus who heard the Buddha’s discourse were elated, took it up, and left.