'It is possible, O Bhikkhu;' so saying, Bhagavat spoke (as follows): 'Even as, O Bhikkhu, (if there were) a Kosala load of sesamum seed containing twenty kharis, and a man after the lapse of every hundred years were to take from it one sesamum seed at a time, then that Kosala load of sesamum seed, containing twenty kharis, would, O Bhikkhu, sooner by this means dwindle away and be used up than one Abbuda hell; and even as are twenty Abbuda hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Nirabbuda hell; and even as are twenty Nirabbuda hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Ababa hell; and even as are twenty Ababa hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Ahaha hell; and even as are twenty Ahaha hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Atata hell; and even as are twenty Atata hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Kumuda hell; and even as are twenty Kumuda hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Sogandhika hell; and even as are twenty Sogandhika hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Uppalaka hell; and even as are twenty Uppalaka hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Pundarika hell; and even as are twenty Pundarika hells, O Bhikkhu, so is one Paduma hell; and to the Paduma hell, O Bhikkhu, the Bhikkhu Kokaliya is gone, having shown a hostile mind against Sariputta and Moggallana.' This said Bhagavat, and having said this Sugata, the Master, furthermore spoke as follows:

1. 'To (every) man that is born, an axe is born in his mouth, by which the fool cuts himself, when speaking bad language. (657)

2. 'He who praises him who is to be blamed or blames him who as to be praised, gathers up sin in his mouth, and through that (sin) he will not find any joy. (658)

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3. 'Trifling is the sin that (consists in) losing riches by dice; this is a greater sin that corrupts the mind against Sugatas. (659)

4. 'Out of the one hundred thousand Nirabbudas (he goes) to thirty-six, and to five Abbudas; because he blames an Ariya he goes to hell, having employed his speech and mind badly. (660)

5. 'He who speaks falsely goes to hell, or he who having done something says, "I have not done it;" both these after death become equal, in another world (they are both) men guilty of a mean deed[1]. (661)

6. 'He who offends an offenceless man, a pure man, free from sin, such a fool the evil (deed) reverts against, like fine dust thrown against the wind[2]. (662)

7. 'He who is given to the quality of covetousness, such a one censures others in his speech, (being himself) unbelieving, stingy, wanting in affability, niggardly, given to backbiting. (663)

8. 'O thou foul-mouthed, false, ignoble, blasting, wicked, evil-doing, low, sinful, base-born man, do not be garrulous in this world, (else) thou wilt be an inhabitant of hell[3]. (664)