Reading guide
A vagga named for a kingdom, not a discourse
Unlike the Devaputtasaṃyutta's second and third vaggas, and this saṃyutta's own first vagga's closing-image naming, the Kosalavagga takes its name directly from the kingdom at the center of this entire saṃyutta, a structural variation this reading guide flags without further speculation on why.
Dark and light describing birth, not skin or morality alone
‘Dark’ and ‘light’ in this teaching's own definitions refer to birth circumstance — low, poor, difficult families versus wealthy, eminent ones — while ‘bound for darkness’ or ‘bound for light’ refers separately to conduct and its resulting rebirth, keeping the two axes explicitly distinct rather than collapsing birth and destiny into one.
Four independent combinations, not birth determining fate
The teaching's structural point is that all four combinations occur: someone born low can still be bound for a good rebirth through good conduct, and someone born high can still be bound for a bad rebirth through bad conduct — conduct, not birth, ultimately determining where each person ends up.
Four similes of vertical movement
Each of the four cases is illustrated by an image of ascending or descending furniture and mounts — ground to couch to horseback to elephant to stilt longhouse, or the reverse — giving abstract moral categories a concrete, almost cinematic sense of rising or falling status.
A prose teaching, then restated fully in verse
Unlike many discourses in this saṃyutta where verse compresses or extends a prose teaching, here the closing verses restate all four cases in full, giving specific additional detail — naming the Third Heaven as the good destination and ‘the terrible hell’ as the bad one, and adding a detail absent from the prose: whether such people prevent or permit others from giving food to beggars.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Then King Pasenadi of Kosala went up to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. The Buddha said to him: “Great king, these four individuals are found in the world. What four? The dark bound for darkness, the dark bound for light, the light bound for darkness, and the light bound for light.
§2And how is an individual dark and bound for darkness? It’s when an individual is reborn in a low family—a family of corpse-workers, bamboo-workers, hunters, chariot-makers, or scavengers—poor, with little to eat or drink, where life is tough, and food and shelter are hard to find. And they’re ugly, unsightly, deformed, sickly—one-eyed, crippled, lame, or half-paralyzed. They don’t get to have food, drink, clothes, and vehicles; garlands, fragrance, and makeup; or bed, house, and lighting. And they do bad things by way of body, speech, and mind. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell. This individual is like someone who goes from darkness to darkness, from blackness to blackness, from bloodstain to bloodstain.
§3And how is an individual dark and bound for light? It’s when an individual is reborn in a low family—a family of corpse-workers, bamboo-workers, hunters, chariot-makers, or scavengers—poor, with little to eat or drink, where life is tough, and food and shelter are hard to find. And they’re ugly, unsightly, deformed, sickly—one-eyed, crippled, lame, or half-paralyzed. They don’t get to have food, drink, clothes, and vehicles; garlands, fragrance, and makeup; or bed, house, and lighting. But they do good things by way of body, speech, and mind. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm. This individual is like someone who ascends from the ground to a couch; from a couch to horseback; from horseback to an elephant; and from an elephant to a stilt longhouse.
§4And how is an individual light and bound for darkness? It’s when an individual is reborn in an eminent family—a well-to-do family of aristocrats, brahmins, or householders—rich, affluent, and wealthy, with lots of gold and silver, lots of property and assets, and lots of money and grain. And they’re attractive, good-looking, lovely, of surpassing beauty. They get to have food, drink, clothes, and vehicles; garlands, fragrance, and makeup; and bed, house, and lighting. But they do bad things by way of body, speech, and mind. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell. This individual is like someone who descends from a stilt longhouse to an elephant; from an elephant to horseback; from horseback to a couch; and from a couch to the ground; and from the ground they enter darkness.
§5And how is an individual light and bound for light? It’s when an individual is reborn in an eminent family—a well-to-do family of aristocrats, brahmins, or householders—rich, affluent, and wealthy, with lots of gold and silver, lots of property and assets, and lots of money and grain. And they’re attractive, good-looking, lovely, of surpassing beauty. They get to have food, drink, clothes, and vehicles; garlands, fragrance, and makeup; and bed, house, and lighting. And they do good things by way of body, speech, and mind. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm. This individual is like someone who shifts from one couch to another; from the back of one horse to another; from one elephant to another; or from one stilt longhouse to another. That’s how an individual is light and bound for light. These are the four individuals found in the world.”
§6“O king, some people are poor, faithless and stingy. Miserly, with bad intentions, they lack regard, they have wrong view. They abuse and insult ascetics and brahmins and other supplicants. They’re nihilists and bullies, who prevent others from giving food to beggars. O king, ruler of the people: when such people die they fall into the terrible hell—from darkness they’re bound for darkness.
§7O king, some people are poor, but faithful and not stingy. They give with best of intentions, that peaceful-hearted person. They rise for and bow to ascetics and brahmins and other supplicants. Training in moral conduct, they don’t prevent others from giving food to beggars. O king, ruler of the people: when such people die they go to the Third Heaven—from darkness they’re bound for light.
§8O king, some people are rich, but faithless and stingy. Miserly, with bad intentions, they lack regard, they have wrong view. They abuse and insult ascetics and brahmins and other supplicants They’re nihilists and bullies, who prevent others from giving food to beggars. O king, ruler of the people: when such people die they fall into the terrible hell—from light they’re bound for darkness.
§9O king, some people are rich, faithful and not stingy. They give with best of intentions, that peaceful-hearted person. They rise for and bow to ascetics and brahmins and other supplicants. Training in moral conduct, they don’t prevent others from giving food to beggars. O king, ruler of the people: when such people die they go to the Third Heaven—from light they’re bound for light.”
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