{"collection":"Samyutta Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_sn19.1/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_sn19.1","id":"suttacentral_sn19.1","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/sn19.1/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Samyutta Nikaya"],"text":"So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near R\u0101jagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels\u2019 feeding ground. Now at that time Venerable Mark and Venerable Mah\u0101moggall\u0101na were staying on the Vulture\u2019s Peak Mountain. Then Mah\u0101moggall\u0101na robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, went to Mark and said to him, \u201cCome, Reverend Mark, let\u2019s enter R\u0101jagaha for alms.\u201d \u201cYes, reverend,\u201d Mark replied. As Mah\u0101moggall\u0101na was descending from Vulture\u2019s Peak Mountain he smiled at a certain spot. So Mark said to Mah\u0101moggall\u0101na, \u201cWhat is the cause, Reverend Moggall\u0101na, what is the reason you smiled?\u201d \u201cReverend Mark, it\u2019s the wrong time for this question. Ask me when we\u2019re in the Buddha\u2019s presence.\u201d Then Mark and Mah\u0101moggall\u0101na wandered for alms in R\u0101jagaha. After the meal, on their return from almsround, they went to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. Mark said to Mah\u0101moggall\u0101na: \u201cJust now, as Mah\u0101moggall\u0101na was descending from Vulture\u2019s Peak Mountain he smiled at a certain spot. What is the cause, Reverend Moggall\u0101na, what is the reason you smiled?\u201d \u201cJust now, reverend, as I was descending from Vulture\u2019s 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: \u2018Oh lord, how incredible, how amazing! That there can be such a sentient being, such a spirit, such an incarnation!\u2019\u201d Then the Buddha said to the mendicants: \u201cMendicants, 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 R\u0101jagaha. 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.\u201d (Tell all these discourses in full like this.)","title":"A Skeleton","tradition":"Samyutta Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":360}