This discourse is a fundamental statement on the role of kamma. It identifies a fool with one who acts badly, and describes the suffering that awaits them in this life and the next. An astute person who acts well, by contrast, will experience countless joys.

“Fool” is bāla, originally “infant”. | A much simplified exposition of this theme is found at AN 3.3.

See note on MN 13:14.3 for explanations of these.

“Hell” is niraya, “bereft of good things”.

At SN 12.63:6.5 this simile is applied to consciousness as a fuel or nutriment, and in SN 56.35 to the suffering of transmigration.

Related similes are collected in SN 13.1ff. and SN 56.49ff., but this particular one is unique.

The Buddhist traditions were uncomfortable with the idea that the “wardens of hell” (nirayapāla) are sentient beings, since this would imply that they are not merely working off the results of their own bad deeds, but actively creating new bad kamma by tormenting others. The commentary cites “certain elders” who argue that there are no wardens of hell because kamma works “like a machine” (yantarūpaṁ viya). These elders are probably the Mahāsaṅghikas of Andhra who, according to the commentary on Kv 20.3, say the torments are inflicted by the deeds themselves in the form of wardens of hell. The Theravadin commentator responds by analogy, since there are those who inflict punishment in the human realm. The situation was comparable in northern Indian Buddhism, for Vasubandhu at Abhidharmakośabhāṣya 3.59a–c cites a number of opinions on both sides. In his Viṁśikā vv. 4–7 and commentary he makes his own position clear, arguing that the wardens are mental projections, not sentient beings.

Identified by the commentary with Avīci hell; cf. the reference to Avīci with its four doors at Iti 89:5.3.

Here the text appears to quote a saying.

From the “five-fold crucifixion” up to here is also found at AN 3.36:13.2. In MN 130:10.1ff., the Buddha makes good on his claim here, and extends the description of the hells. See there for notes.

Compare Chāndogya Upaniṣad 1:12.5, where white dogs sing hymns for food. The Brahmanical tradition does not treat that story as derogatory; rather, the dogs are sages in disguise, and the story illustrates how even dogs would avoid eating unclean food.

Susumāra (literally “child-killer”) may be either the Gangetic dolphin or the crocodile (as at Cp 27:1.3). Since crocodiles lay eggs on dry land, it seems the dolphin must be meant here.

See SN 56.47 and SN 56.48.

An “astute person” is paṇḍita, used for a scholar.

The wheel is firstly the sun and secondly the wheel of the chariots that drove the Indo-Europeans in their conquests. It is the manifestation of unstoppable power. The whole story reflects the Indo-European dream of universal domination. | Compare DN 17:1.7.3 and DN 26.

Many of the details in this myth echo the Brahmanical horse sacrifice. Since the horse was the primary source of Indo-European dominion, its sacrifice served to authorize the power of a king. It was a costly and dangerous rite that was attempted only by the greatest of sovereigns. | Bhiṅkāra (“ceremonial vase”) and abbhukkirati (“besprinkled”) are elevated terms.

In the horse sacrifice, the horse is released for a year, while the king follows it with his army, claiming any land that it wanders on as his.

Read bhuñjati at MN 98:10.30 with yathābhuttañca bhuñjatha at DN 17:1.9.4, DN 26:6.7, and MN 129:35.7. These have sometimes been rendered “eat”, “enjoy”, or “govern”. But compare the archaic English “use” meaning “the benefit or profit of lands”. Thus yathābhuttañca bhuñjatha means “use as has been used”, i.e. “maintain the current level of taxation”.

The Wheel plunges into the seas, while the sacrificial horse is born in the western and eastern seas.

Historically, India has usually been divided into squabbling realms, but from an early age there was a dream of a unified and peaceful continent.

The phrase “fixed to an axle” is used of an ordinary wheel at AN 3.15:3.4. | This passage is also found at DN 17:1.11.1 and DN 26:7.16 with the additional mention of the “High Court”.

The white elephant is a symbol of royalty to this day. The description anticipates the elephant Indra acquired in later legends, Airāvata the “cloudy”, white and huge and moving through the sky. | For sattappatiṭṭho, the commentary has susaṇṭhitaaṅgapaccaṅga (“well-grounded on each and every limb”), a sense confirmed by the Mūlasarvāstivāda Bhaiṣajyavastu which has saptāṅgaḥ supratiṣṭhito (“well-established on seven limbs”). The subcommentary lists the four feet, trunk, tail, and penis (varaṅga).

The sacrificial horse is likewise white with black head or forequarters. It is identified with the sun, thus being a “sky-walker”. “Thundercloud” (valāhaka; Sanskrit balāhaka) is the name of one of the four horses of Kṛṣṇa’s chariot in the Mahābharata. The description here also recalls the Vedic sacred horse uccaiḥśravas.

“Blessing” is iddhi, which normally means “psychic power”.

“Householders” (gahapati) is literal; it means land owners. Thus the “brahmins and householders” (not “brahmin householders”) were the wealthy class.