Prologue I

Beggars!

That man who here acts wrongly in mind, speech and body

Suffers in This Visible World

Four Ways:

In the First Place

As He chances to hear

Appropriate, Suitable talk

About Himself

At the Water-Hole

Over the Back Fence

After the Meeting

Or Wherever People Chance to come together and talk,

He hears:

"That’s some bad Hombre!

A no good good for nuth’n

Down and out

Lie’n Steal’n

Murder’n

Sum

Gum

Foshu!

Or the Like.

And Again

Late at Night

As he sits

Or lies down

His Evil Deeds

Rest Heavily upon him

As in the evening

When the sun goes down

Over the mountain

The shadow

Of the mountain

Spreads

Out

Across

The

Land

And Again

He see the king’s men

Take

A con artist

A thief

A murderer

An adulterer . . .

They bind his arms and legs

And Parade him around town

To the Beat

Of a

Harsh Sounding Drum

They take him out

The

South

Gate . . .

[where the dead are taken; the charnel ground]

And there

They lash him with whips

Or they whack him with a switch

Or they beat him with sticks

Or they cut off his hand

Or they cut off his foot

Or they cut off his hands and feet

Or they cut off his ear

Or they cut off his nose

Or they cut off his ears and nose

Or they give him

The Porridge Pot

[They cut a hole in his skull, drop in a molten copper ball]

or The Polished Shell

[They sand-paper polish his skull]

or The Sun Gobbler

[They wedge open his mouth and drop in a molten copper ball]

or The Fire Garland

or The Flaming Hand

or The Hay-Twist

[They use a ball-peen hammer to break every single bone in his body, then they twist him up a bit -- Moggallana was murdered by the Ajivakas in this way (see here) -- in order not to die disrespectfully, he pulled himself together, went to The Great Master, explained matters and took his leave before he died]

or The Peeling-Bark Dress

[They peel off his skin in strips from shoulders to waist making a skirt, then they chase him around so that he trips on his own skin]

or The Antelope

[They stake him out propped up on all fours and build a fire underneath him and bar-b-que him alive]

or The Fish Hooking

[They flail at him with fish hooks]

or The Coin-Slice

[They cut coin-size pieces out of him -- I have heard of this being done to a price-gouger in the cocaine trade in this day and age (dated: June 30, 1992, A.D.)]

or The Pickling Process

[They pickle him in caustic liquids -- The Nazis in France did this to people.]

or Circling The Pin

[They drive a pin through his ears into the ground, and taking him by the feet . . . ]

or The straw Mattress

[In flames . . . for adultery]

or they spray him with boiling oil

or feed him to the dogs

or impale him alive

or they

Cut

Off

His

Head

And at that he thinks:

"Ho Boy!

They catch you, man,

You goin-a go

Tha

Same

Way!"

And again, he thinks:

"In so far as there is Kamma

In so far as there is a Bad Rebound

From Bad Deeds

In so far as there is

Niraya Hell,

It’s Off To [such-n-sucha]

Niraya Hell

I

Go!"