# SN19 Lakkhaṇasaṃyutta — [[Vipaka|Vipāka]] of Beings Related:: [[Kamma]], [[Peta]], [[Moggallana|Mahāmoggallāna]] Source:: [SN19: Lakkhaṇasaṃyutta](https://suttacentral.net/pitaka/sutta/linked/sn/sn-nidanavaggasamyutta/sn19), translated by Bhikkhu Sujato ## Shared context In these discourses, Venerable Mahāmoggallāna sees beings undergoing extraordinary torments near Vulture’s Peak. The Buddha confirms the visions and identifies the deeds or former identities connected with their suffering. ### Shared vipāka formula The complete formula, stated in [SN19.1](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.1/en/sujato) and again in [SN19.21](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.21/en/sujato), says that the being: 1. **burned in hell** for many years—many hundreds, thousands, and hundreds of thousands of years—as a result of the deed; and 2. was now experiencing the **residual result** of that deed in the form seen by Mahāmoggallāna. The intervening suttas abbreviate repeated passages with ellipses. Thus, the table distinguishes the shared prior hell result from the particular residual _vipāka_ described in each discourse. ## Table: Former deeds and Vipāka | Sutta | _Vipāka_ | What the being formerly did or was | | ----------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | [SN19.1](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.1/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a **skeleton flying through the air**; vultures, crows, and hawks chase it, peck, claw, and stab it in the ribs while it screeches in pain. | A **cattle butcher** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.2](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.2/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a **scrap of meat flying through the air**; birds peck and claw it while it screeches in pain. | A **cattle butcher** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.3](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.3/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a **piece of flesh flying through the air**; birds peck and claw it while it screeches in pain. | A **bird hunter** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.4](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.4/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a **flayed man flying through the air**; birds peck and claw him while he screams in pain. | A **sheep butcher** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.5](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.5/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a flying man whose **body hairs are swords**; the swords repeatedly rise and fall upon his body. | A **pig butcher** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.6](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.6/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a flying man whose **body hairs are spears**; the spears repeatedly rise and fall upon his body. | A **deer hunter** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.7](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.7/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a flying man whose **body hairs are arrows**; the arrows repeatedly rise and fall upon his body. | A **punisher / torturer** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.8](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.8/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a flying man whose **body hairs are needles**; the needles repeatedly rise and fall upon his body. | An **equerry (horse trainer/handler)** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.9](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.9/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a flying man with **needle hairs** that bore successively through his head, mouth, chest, belly, thighs, calves, and feet. | An **informant** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.10](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.10/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a flying man with **testicles as large as pots**; he carries them on his shoulder when walking and sits on them when seated, while birds peck and claw him. | A **corrupt village head** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.11](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.11/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a man **submerged over his head in a sewer**. | An **adulterer** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.12](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.12/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a man submerged in a sewer, **eating dung with both hands**. | A malicious brahmin who, during Buddha Kassapa’s dispensation, invited the Saṅgha to a meal, **filled a trough with dung**, and told them to eat and take the remainder. | | [SN19.13](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.13/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a **flayed woman flying through the air**; birds peck and claw her while she screams in pain. | An **adulteress** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.14](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.14/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a flying woman **stinking and dingy like a catfish**; birds peck and claw her while she screams in pain. | A **sorceress** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.15](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.15/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a **scorched, sooty, and sweating woman** flying through the air and screaming in pain. | The chief queen of the king of Kaliṅga; out of jealousy, she **poured a brazier of hot coals over a co-wife**. | | [SN19.16](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.16/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a **headless trunk**, with eyes and mouth on its chest, flying through the air; birds peck and claw it. | An **executioner named Hārika (“Taker”)** in Rājagaha. | | [SN19.17](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.17/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a monk flying through the air; his **robe, bowl, belt, and body burn, blaze, and glow**. | A **bad monk** during Buddha Kassapa’s dispensation; no more specific deed is stated in this abbreviated sutta. | | [SN19.18](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.18/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a nun flying through the air; her **outer robe is burning** (the rest of the repeated description is abbreviated). | A **bad nun**; no more specific deed is stated. | | [SN19.19](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.19/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a trainee nun flying through the air; her **outer robe is burning** (the rest is abbreviated). | A **bad trainee nun**; no more specific deed is stated. | | [SN19.20](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.20/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a novice monk flying through the air; his **outer robe is burning** (the rest is abbreviated). | A **bad novice monk**; no more specific deed is stated. | | [SN19.21](https://suttacentral.net/sn19.21/en/sujato) | [[#Shared vipāka formula\|burned in hell for a long time]], then a novice nun flying through the air; her **robe, bowl, belt, and body burn, blaze, and glow**. | A **bad novice nun** during Buddha Kassapa’s dispensation; no more specific deed is stated. | ## Reading notes - **All 21 cases share the hell-then-residual-result pattern** described above; the second column records both the prior hell result and the residual result witnessed by Mahāmoggallāna. - The correspondences are often graphic and thematically related to the former deed, but the suttas themselves simply identify the deed and its result; they do not state a general one-to-one law that every similar deed must produce an identical bodily form. - In SN19.17–21, “bad” is all the translated text specifies about the monastic’s former conduct. A more detailed offense should not be inferred from these suttas alone.