The Cold, Neighboring, and Ephemeral Hells

I do not have the freedom

To remain in this human realm for long,

As death will destroy this body in the end.

After death, I will be compelled to take rebirth.

If I do not engage in virtuous deeds

And commit harmful acts,

I will take birth in one of the three lower realms.

Mental states arising from great anger and hatred,

Cruelly desiring that harm befall our enemies,

Are experienced as eight hot, eight cold,

Four neighboring, and innumerable ephemeral hells,

As real to those ensnared in them

As this present environment is now.

Excruciating suffering without respite

Is the experience in all these terrible hells;

The particular pains of each situation

Accord with harmful thoughts, speech, and deeds

Performed in previous lives.

I shall never allow my mental state

To be shaped by great anger and hatred.

I shall not allow anger to arise,

and if it has arisen, I will remedy it.

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