“Mendicants, I declare these four kinds of deeds, having realized them with my own insight. What four? There are dark deeds with dark results. There are bright deeds with bright results. There are dark and bright deeds with dark and bright results. There are neither dark nor bright deeds with neither dark nor bright results, which lead to the ending of deeds. These are the four kinds of deeds that I declare, having realized them with my own insight.”

Numbered Discourses 4.233 24. Deeds Deeds in Detail

“Mendicants, I declare these four kinds of deeds, having realized them with my own insight. What four? There are dark deeds with dark results; bright deeds with bright results; dark and bright deeds with dark and bright results; and neither dark nor bright deeds with neither dark nor bright results, which lead to the ending of deeds.

And what are dark deeds with dark results? It’s when someone makes hurtful choices by way of body, speech, and mind. Having made these choices, they’re reborn in a hurtful world, where hurtful contacts strike them. Touched by hurtful contacts, they experience hurtful feelings that are absolutely painful—like the beings in hell. These are called dark deeds with dark results.