There has been discussion on this sutta on dhammawheel so it is worth looking at it here:
- Saḷāyatanavaggasaṁyutta
- Gāmaṇisaṁyutta
- Gāmaṇivagga
- SN 42.2
Connected discourses, Bodhi translation
Talapuṭa
On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrel Sanctuary. Then Talapuṭa the troupe headman334 approached
the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said to him:
“Venerable sir, I have heard it said among actors of old in the lineage of teachers: ‘If an actor, in the theatre or the arena, entertains and amuses people by truth and lies,335 then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of the laughing devas.’ What does the Blessed One say about that?”
“Enough, headman, let it be! Don’t ask me that!”
A second time and a third time Talapuṭa the troupe headman said: “Venerable sir, I have heard it said among actors of old in the lineage of teachers: … [307] … What does the Blessed One say about that?”
“Surely, headman, I am not getting through to you336 when I say, ‘Enough, headman, let it be! Don’t ask me that!’ But still, I will answer you. In the theatre or arena, among beings who are not yet free from lust, who are bound by the bondage of lust, an actor entertains them with titillating things that excite themeven more strongly to lust. In the theatre or arena, among beings who are not yet free from hatred, who are bound by the bondage of hatred, an actor entertains them with infuriating things that excite them even more strongly to hatred. In the theatre or arena, among beings who are not yet free from delusion, who are bound by the bondage of delusion, an actor entertains them with bewildering things that excite them even more strongly to delusion.
“Thus, being intoxicated and negligent himself, having made others intoxicated and negligent, with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the ‘Hell of Laughter.’337 But should he hold such a view as this: ‘If an actor, in the theatre or the arena, entertains and amuses people by truth and lies, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of the laughing devas’—that is a wrong view on his part. For a person with wrong view, I say, there is one of two destinations: either hell or the animal realm.”338
When this was said, Talapuṭa the troupe headman cried out and burst into tears. [The Blessed One said:] “So I did not get through to you when I said, ‘Enough, headman, let it be! Don’t ask me that!’”
“I am not crying, venerable sir, because of what the Blessed One said to me, but because I have been tricked, cheated, and deceived for a long time by those actors of old in the lineage of teachers who said: ‘If an actor, [308] in the theatre or the arena, entertains and amuses people by truth and lies, then with the breakup of the body, after death, he is reborn in the company of the laughing devas.’
“Magnificent, venerable sir! Magnificent, venerable sir! The Dhamma has been made clear in many ways by the Blessed One, as though he were turning upright what had been turned upside down, revealing what was hidden, showing the way to one who was lost, or holding up a lamp in the dark for those with eyesight to see forms. I go for refuge to the Blessed One, and to the Dhamma, and to the Bhikkhu Saṅgha. May I receive the going forth under the Blessed One, venerable sir, may I receive the higher ordination?”
Then Talapuṭa the troupe headman received the going forth under the Blessed One, he received the higher ordination. And soon, not long after his higher ordination … the Venerable Talapuṭa became one of the arahants.