1. The suffering rooted in the descent into the womb
(Gaarbahavakranthi Mulaka Dukkha): When this being is born in the mother’s
womb, he is not born inside a blue or red or white lotus, etc., but on the
contrary, like a worm in rotting fish, rotting dough, cesspools, etc., he is
born in the belly in a position that is below the receptacle for undigested
food (stomach), above the receptacle for digested food (rectum), between the
belly-lining and the backbone, which is very cramped, quite dark, pervaded by
very fetid draughts redolent of various smells of ordure, and exception-ally
loathsome. And on being reborn there,
for ten months he undergoes excessive suffering, being cooked like a pudding in
a bag by the heat produced in the mother’s womb, and steamed like a dumpling of
dough, with no bending, stretching, and so on. So this, firstly, is the
suffering rooted in the descent into the womb.
2. The suffering rooted in gestation (.Gaarbahapariharana
Mulaka Dukkha): When the mother suddenly stumbles or moves or sits down or gets
up or turns round, the extreme suffering he undergoes by being dragged back and
forth and jolted up and down, like a kid fallen into the hands of a drunkard,
or like a snake’s young fallen into the hands of a snake-charmer; and also the
searing pain that he undergoes, as though he had reappeared in the cold hells,
when his mother drinks cold water, and as though deluged by a rain of embers
when she swallows hot rice gruel, rice, etc., and as though undergoing the
torture of the "lye-pickling”, when she swallows anything salty or acidic,
etc.—this is the suffering rooted in gestation.
3. The suffering rooted in abortion (Gaarbahavipaththi
Mulaka Dukkha): When the mother has an abortion, the pain that arises in him
through the cutting and rending in the place where the pain arises that is not
fit to be seen even by friends and intimates and companions—this is the
suffering rooted in abortion.
4. The suffering rooted in parturition (Vijayana Mulaka
Dukkha): The pain that arises in him when the mother gives birth, through his
being turned upside-down by the kamma -produced winds [forces] and flung into
that most fearful passage from the womb, like an infernal chasm, and lugged out
through the extremely narrow mouth of the womb, like an elephant through a
keyhole, like a denizen of hell being pounded to pulp by colliding rocks—this
is the suffering rooted in parturition.
5. The suffering rooted in venturing outside the mother’s
womb (vahirnishkramana Mulaka Dukkha): The pain that arises in him after he is
born, and his body, which is as delicate as a tender wound, is taken in the
hands, bathed, washed, rubbed with cloths, etc., and which pain is like being
pricked with needle points and gashed with razor blades, etc.—this is the
suffering rooted in venturing outside the mother’s womb.
6. The suffering rooted in self-violence (Arthmopakrama
Mulaka Dukkha): The pain that arises afterwards during the course of existence
in one who punishes himself, in one who devotes himself to the practice of
mortification and austerity according to the vows of the naked ascetics, in one
who starves through anger, and in one who hangs himself—this is the suffering
rooted in self-violence.
7. The suffering rooted in others’ violence (Paropakrama
Mulaka Dukkha) : And that arising in one who undergoes flogging, imprisonment,
etc., at the hands of others is the suffering rooted in others’ violence. So this birth is the basis for all this suffering.
May all beings be happy and well & attains the fruits of
Nibbana.
Suranda Weediyage
BA, Tripitakachariya, Dip in Pali/ Buddhism (Pali & Buddhist University of Sri Lanka), HNDBF,
surandalk@gmail.com
http://www.thebuddhadhamma.wordpress.com
