SN 42.3  Yodhājīva sutta - Warrior

Then the |headman::head of the village, chieftain [gāmaṇi]| |Yodhājīva::name which means a warrior, a mercenary, a professional soldier [yodhājīva]| approached the Blessed One. Having drawn near, he paid homage to to the Blessed One and sat down to one side. Seated there, the headman Yodhājīva said to the Blessed One:

“Venerable sir, I have heard it said, from the ancient teachers as well as the current and former teachers among warriors: ‘When a warrior is one who strives and exerts himself in battle, if others slay him and finish him off while he is striving and exerting himself in battle, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of the battle-slain deities.’ What does the Blessed One say about this?”

“That’s enough, headman, let that be; do not ask me about that.”

For a second time, the headman Yodhājīva said to the Blessed One: “Venerable sir, I have heard it said, from the ancient teachers as well as the current and former teachers among warriors: ‘When a warrior is one who strives and exerts himself in battle, if others slay him and finish him off while he is still striving and exerting himself in battle, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of the battle-slain deities.’ What does the Blessed One say about this?” “That’s enough, headman, let that be; do not ask me about that.”

And for a third time, the headman Yodhājīva said to the Blessed One:

“Venerable sir, I have heard it said, from the ancient teachers as well as the current and former teachers among warriors: ‘When a warrior is one who strives and exerts himself in battle, if others slay him and finish him off while he is still striving and exerting himself in battle, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of the battle-slain deities.’ What does the Blessed One say about this?”

“Surely, headman, I am not getting through to you when I say, ‘That’s enough, headman, let that be; do not ask me about this.’ But still, I will explain it to you.

When a warrior, headman, is one who strives and exerts himself in battle, his mind is already seized by wrongdoing and wrongly directed by the thought: ‘Let these beings be slain, caught, destroyed, or perish.’ If others then slay him and finish him off while he is still striving and exerting himself in battle, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the battle-slain hell.

If, headman, he holds this view: ‘When a warrior is one who strives and exerts himself in battle, if others slay him and finish him off while he is striving and exerting himself in battle, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of the battle-slain deities,’ then that is a |wrong view::a distorted perception, an untrue view, a false belief [micchādiṭṭhi]| on his part. For a person with wrong view, I say, there is one of two destinations: either hell or the animal realm.”

When this was said, the headman Yodhājīva cried out and burst into tears.

“So I did not get through to you when I said, ‘That’s enough, headman, let that be; do not ask me about this.’”

“I am not crying, venerable sir, because of what the Blessed One said to me, but because I have been deceived, tricked, and misled by the ancient teachers as well as the current and former teachers among warriors, who have said: ‘When a warrior is one who strives and exerts himself in battle, if others slay him and finish him off while he is striving and exerting himself in battle, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of the battle-slain deities.’”

“Excellent, venerable sir! Excellent, venerable sir! Just as if one were to set upright what had been overturned, |reveal::uncover [vivarati]| what had been concealed, point out the way to one who was lost, or hold up a lamp in the dark so that those with eyes could see forms — even so, venerable sir, the |Dhamma::teachings of the Buddha that point to the nature of reality, the ultimate truth [dhamma]| has been |explained::illustrated [pakāsita]| by the Blessed One in many ways. I go for refuge to the Blessed One, to the Dhamma, and to the |Saṅgha::The community of monks and nuns practicing in line with the Buddha’s teachings. In the broader sense, this is the community of disciples who have realized the noble path and fruition through the Buddha’s teachings [saṅgha]| of bhikkhus. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who, from this day forward, has gone to refuge for life.”