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raat FT T: { 3: ?
a town connected with both land and water routes, a port, a hermitage or even a halting place; a living being with thirst borne without intention, with hunger borne without intention, with abstinence from sex practised without intention, with heat or cold, with bites by mosquitoes or wild flies--all borne without intention, with uneasiness due to non-bath, sweat and dust, dirt and mud-again all borne without intention, for a short while or for long, has his own soul under torture, and because of this/out of this, he dies; then such a living being attains, after death, the Vāņavyantara heaven and is born therein as a celestial being.
Q. 62. Bhante! What sort of description is given to the heaven occupied by the Vāņavyantaras ?
A. 62. Gautama ! Just as in this world of human beings, there are, always full of flowers, with sprouts, with bunches of flowers and of leaves, with trees of the same species, with twin trees, bending under the weight of fruits and flowers, or about to bend under similar weight, with crowns of buds and the like, aśoka forest, saptaparņa forest, campaka forest, mango forest, tilaka forest, forest of gourd creepers, banyan forest, chatrogha forest, aśana forest, saņa forest, alasi forest, kusumba forest, siddhārtha forest, bandhujīvaka forest, with wonderous beauty, making the world a worthy place ; likewise with the heaven occupied by the Vāņavyantara devas, with a minimum life-span of 10,000 years and maximum of one palycpama, inhabited as it is by many such devas and their consorts. This heaven is widely spread and beautifully covered, has light and is deeply gay. Oh Gautama ! The heaven of the Vāņavyantaras has been stated to be such. For this, oh Gautama ! is it said that a living being who is non-abstinent, who has neither uprooted sinful acts nor given them up becomes a deva.
सेवं भंते ! सेवं भंते ! त्ति भगव गोयमे समणं भगवं महावीरं वंदइ णमंसइ वंदित्ता णमंसित्ता संजमेणं तवसा अप्पाणं भावेमाणे विहरइ।
On this, Gautama made the following submission :
