Reading guide
A frame narrative this whole saṃyutta will reuse
The specific sequence — Moggallāna's smile, Lakkhaṇa's question, the deferral until they reach the Buddha, the description of the vision, and the Buddha's confirmation — is given here in full and then elided in every discourse that follows, exactly as the source's own closing note instructs.
A smile deferred, not a question refused
Moggallāna doesn't decline to answer Lakkhaṇa's question; he specifies that this is the wrong time and the wrong place, redirecting it to be asked again in the Buddha's presence — a small but deliberate detail establishing the pattern of the Buddha, not Moggallāna alone, confirming what's seen.
Confirmation as the Buddha's essential role throughout
The Buddha doesn't merely permit Moggallāna to describe what he saw; he actively corroborates it, stating explicitly that he too had seen this same being, and explains his own past silence: speaking of it earlier would have led to disbelief, which itself would have been harmful to those who disbelieved.
A precise, proportionate account of karmic consequence
The being's current form isn't presented as arbitrary punishment; it's named as the residual result (vipākāvasesa) remaining after the primary consequence — many hundreds of thousands of years in hell — has already been served, distinguishing this apparition from hell itself.
A butcher's trade, not a dramatic crime, as the cause
The specific wrongdoing named is an ordinary occupation, cattle butchery, rather than a singular dramatic act — suggesting the saṃyutta's interest lies in habitual livelihood and its cumulative consequence, not isolated moments of extreme wrongdoing.
Key terms
The text
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Now at that time Venerable Mark and Venerable Mahāmoggallāna were staying on the Vulture’s Peak Mountain. Then Mahāmoggallāna robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, went to Mark and said to him, “Come, Reverend Mark, let’s enter Rājagaha for alms.” “Yes, reverend,” Mark replied. As Mahāmoggallāna was descending from Vulture’s Peak Mountain he smiled at a certain spot. So Lakkhaṇa said to Mahāmoggallāna, “What is the cause, Reverend Moggallāna, what is the reason you smiled?” “Reverend Mark, it’s the wrong time for this question. Ask me when we’re in the Buddha’s presence.”
§2Then Mark and Mahāmoggallāna wandered for alms in Rājagaha. After the meal, on their return from almsround, they went to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. Mark said to Mahāmoggallāna: “Just now, as Mahāmoggallāna was descending from Vulture’s Peak Mountain he smiled at a certain spot. What is the cause, Reverend Moggallāna, what is the reason you smiled?”
§3“Just now, reverend, as I was descending from Vulture’s Peak Mountain I saw a skeleton flying through the air. Vultures, crows, and hawks kept chasing it, pecking, clawing, and stabbing it in the ribs as it screeched in pain. It occurred to me: ‘Oh lord, how incredible, how amazing! That there can be such a sentient being, such a spirit, such an incarnation!’”
§4Then the Buddha said to the mendicants: “Mendicants, there are disciples who live full of vision and knowledge, since a disciple knows, sees, and witnesses such a thing. Formerly, I too saw that being, but I did not speak of it. For if I had spoken of it others would not have believed me, which would be for their lasting harm and suffering. That being used to be a cattle butcher right here in Rājagaha. As a result of that deed he burned in hell for many years, many hundreds, many thousands, many hundreds of thousands of years. Now he experiences the residual result of that deed in such an incarnation.”
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