The Sutra of the Blood Bowl as Taught by the Buddha

At that time, the Venerable Maudgalyayana once traveled to the land of Yuzhou, to the county of Zhuiyang. There he saw a Blood-Bowl Pond Hell, spanning eighty-four thousand yojanas in breadth. Within the pond were one hundred and twenty kinds of torments: iron beams, iron pillars, iron cangues, and iron chains.

He saw many women from Jambudvīpa, with disheveled hair and bound hands by long cangues, suffering punishment in that hell. The demon jailers and ghost kings forced the sinners to drink blood three times a day. When the sinners refused to drink, the jailers would beat them with iron rods, making them cry out in agony.

Maudgalyayana, filled with sorrow, asked the jailer: "I do not see any men from Jambudvīpa suffering this bitter retribution. Why is it only these many women who endure such pain?"

The jailer answered the master: "It has nothing to do with men. It is solely because women, in childbirth, shed blood and filth, defiling the earth deities. If they then take soiled garments to wash in streams or rivers, the water flows polluted. Unwitting good men and women may fetch this water to boil tea for offering to the holy ones, resulting in impurity. The names of these women are recorded by the Great Heavenly General and entered into the Ledger of Good and Evil. Upon the end of their hundred-year lifespan, they must undergo this bitter retribution."

Maudgalyayana, deeply saddened, then asked the jailer: "How can one repay the kindness of one's birth mother and rescue her from this Blood-Bowl Pond Hell?"

The jailer answered the master: "Only by having devoted and filial sons and daughters, who revere the Three Jewels, and who furthermore observe the Blood-Bowl Fast on behalf of their mother for three years. They must also hold a Blood-Bowl Merit Assembly, inviting monks to recite this entire scripture. When the observance is completed and repentance made, a Prajñā boat will carry her across the River of No Liberation. She will then see five lotus blossoms appear in the Blood-Bowl Pond. The sinner will rejoice, a mind of shame will arise, and she will thereby attain rebirth in the Buddha-land."

All the great bodhisattvas and the Venerable Maudgalyayana proclaimed together, urging the people of Jambudvīpa, men and women of faith: "Awaken early and cultivate your path. Diligently prepare for the journey ahead. Do not let your grasp slip, for once lost in ten thousand kalpas, it is hard to recover."

The Buddha proclaimed the *Sūtra on the Blood-Bowl of Women*: "If anyone with faith copies, upholds, or receives this sutra, it will cause mothers for three generations to all be reborn in the heavens. There they will enjoy all happiness, with clothing, food, and necessities appearing spontaneously, and they will attain long life and prosperity."

At that time, the eight kinds of divine beings, dragons, humans, non-humans, and all others greatly rejoiced. Having faith, they received, upheld, and practiced these teachings. They made obeisance and withdrew.

The Sutra of the Blood Bowl as Taught by the Buddha