In the
southeast
lies Sudharma, the room where the gods come
together {devasabha) in order to examine the good and the evil deeds committed by human beings.
together {devasabha) in order to examine the good and the evil deeds committed by human beings.
Abhidharmakosabhasyam-Vol-2-Vasubandhu-Poussin-Pruden-1991
In 385
its center, resting on the sphere of gold, is the "diamond throne" where the Bodhisattva sits to attain vajropamasamddhi (vi. 44d) and so to become an Arhat and a Buddha: no other place, and no other
person can support the vajropamasamddhi of the Bodhisattva.
2. Eastern Videha or Purvavideha has the shape of a half-moon; it
has three sides of two thousand yojanas, thus of the same dimension as the long side of Jambu, and one side of three hundred fifty yojanas.
3. Godaniya, which faces the western side of Meru, is round like the
moon; it is seven thousand five hundtedyojanas [in circumference], and 386
two thousand five hundred through the center.
4. Facing the northern side of Meru is Kuru or Uttarakuru which has
the shape of a seat; it is square: its sides, of two thousand yojanas each, form a circumferance of eight thousand yojanas. To say that Kuru is
387 "parallel" means that its four sides are of the same dimension.
Such is the shape of the continents, and such is the shape of the faces
388 of the persons who reside in them.
56. There are eight intermediate continents: Dehas, Videhas,
Kurus, Kauravas, Camaras, and Avaracamaras, Sathas and
389 Uttaramantrins.
These continents are designated by the name of their inhabitants. Dehas and Videhas are located on both sides of Purvavideha; Kurus and Kauravas on the sides of Uttarakuru; Camaras and Avaracamaras on the sides of Jambudvipa; and Sathas and Uttaramantrins on the sides of Godaniya.
All of these continents are inhabited by human beings. Never-
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390
theless, according to one opinion, one of them [namely Camara] is
reserved for Rak? asas.
#*#
57. Here, to the north of the nine ant-Mountains, lie the
Himavat; beyond it, but on this side of the Mountain of Perfume,
391 is a lake deep and wide by fifty leagues.
By going toward the north in this Jambudvipa, one encounters three
392 ant-Mountains, [so called because they have the shape of an ant];
then three other ant-Mountains; then three other again; and finally the Himavat (= the Himalayas).
Beyond that, this side of the Gandhamadana ("the Mountain of
Perfume"), lies Lake Anavatapta from whence there flows out four great
393
rivers, the Ganga, the Sindhu, the Vaksu and the Slta. This lake, fifty
yojanas wide and deep, is full of a water endowed with the eight 394
qualities. Only persons who possess magical powers can go there. The Jambu tree is located near this lake. Our continent receives its name of Jambudvipa, either from the tree, or from the fruit of the tree which is
also called Jambu.
395
Where are the hells , and what are their dimensions?
58. At the bottom, at twenty thousand leagues, is Avici, of this same dimension; above, the seven hells; all eight have sixteen utsodas.
Beneath Jambudvipa, at a distance of twenty thousandyojanas, lies the great hell Avici. It is twenty thousandyojanas high and wide; its sun
396 is thus found forty thousand yojanas below the sun of Jambudvipa.
397 Why is this hell named Avici?
Two explanations: 1. because there is not, in this hell, any interruption {vici) of suffering. Suffering is interrupted in the other hells. In Sarhjlva, for example, bodies are first crushed and reduced to dust; then a cold wind revives them and gives them feeling: from
? whence the name of Samjiva; 2. because there is no agreeable (via) state 398
there. In the other hells all agreeable sensation which arises from retribution is absent; but here there is some agreeable sensations which are "an outflowing" (nisyanda, ii. 56c).
Above Avici are seven hells one above the other: Pratapana, Tapana, Mah&raurava, Raurava, Samghata, Kalasutra, and Samjiva. According to another opinion, these seven hells are placed at the same level as Avici.
Each of the eight hells has sixteen utsadas (See p. 458, line 15). This results from a declaration of the Blessed One,". . . There are eight hells there that I have revealed, difficult to get out of, full of cruel beings, each having sixteen utsadas\ they have four walls and four gates; they are as high as they are wide; they are encircled by walls of fire; their ceiling is fire; their sun is burning, sparkling fire; and they are filled with flames
3 hundreds of yojanas high. " "
***
What are the sixteen utsadas}
59a-c. Kukula, Kunapa, Ksuramarga, etc. , and the River are
400 located at the four cardinal points of these hells.
At each gate of these hells there is found:
1. The Kukula, a fire where one is pushed down to ones knees. When beings put their feet in there, they lose their skin,fleshand blood,
401 which rearises when they take their feet out.
2. The Kunapa, a mire of excrements, where there are water beasts
called Sharp-mouthes, whose bodies are white and heads black, which
402 can bite the damned through to their bones.
3. The Ksuramarga, or Ksuradharamarga, the great road of razor
blades; here beings lose their skin,flesh,and blood when they put their
403 feet on it.
Asipattravana, the forest whose leaves are swords; when these
swords fall, they cut off major and minor parts of the body, which are
404 then devoured by the Syamasabala dogs.
405
AyahSalmallvana, the forests of thorns, thorns sixteen digits in
length. When beings climb these trees, the thorns turn downwards, but they turn upward when they descend the tree.
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Birds, Iron-beaks, tear out and eat the eyes of the damned
These three places of suffering constitute a single utsada because they have in common punishment through injury.
406
4. The fourth utsada is the river Vaitarani, of boiling water loaded
with burning ashes. On both sides there are persons (purusa) armed with swords, lances and javelins, who push back the damned who would get out. Whether they plunge into the water or emerge, whether they go up or down the current, whether they travers in the two directions or are tossed about, the damned are boiled and cooked, as the grains of sesame or corn poured into a cauldron placed over the fire.
The river encircles the great hell like a moat.
The four utsodas are sixteen in number by reason of their difference of place, since they are located at the four gates to the great hell.
***
407 What is the meaning of the word utsada?
They are called utsadas because they are places of supplementary torment: in the hells the damned are tormented, but they are additionally so in the utsadas.
According to Manoratha (above, note 170), after having been shut
m up in the hells, the damned then fall into the utsodas.
***
One question leads to another. We have just spoken of the "persons"
(narakapdla) beings?
They are not beings.
Then how do they move?
Through the actions of beings, like the wind of creation.
Then how do you explain what the Venerable Dharmasubhuti said,
"Those who are angry, who take pleasure in cruel actions and
transgressions, who rejoice in the sufferings of others, are reborn as
411 Yamaraksasas? "
The demons who torment the beings in hell are not termed Yamaraksasas, the "guardians of hell" as you think; but rather the servants of Yama who, on the order of Yama, throw the damned into
who stand on the banks of the Vaitarani. Are the "guardians of hell" 409
410
? hell.
According to another opinion, the "guardians of hell" are beings. Where does the retribution of the cruel acts take place that these
guardians commit in the hells?
In the same hells. Since the retribution of anantarya transgressions
(iv. 97) takes place in these hells, why would the retribution of the actions of the guardians not be possible here?
But why are not the guardians, who are found in the midst of fire, burned?
Because the force of action marks a boundary to the fire and prevents
it from reaching the guardians, or rather because this same force causes
the bodies of the guardians to be made up of primary elements of a
412 special nature.
#**
413 59c-d. There are eight other hells, the cold hells, Arbuda, etc.
These hells are called Arbuda, Nirarbuda, Atata, Hahava, Huhuva, Utpala, Padma, and Mahapadma. Among these names, some (Arbuda, Nirarbuda, Utpala, Padma, and Mahapadma) indicate the form that the beings in hell take: they take the form of an arbuda, a lotus. . . ; the others indicate the noise that the damned make under the bite of the cold: atata
These cold hells are located under Jambudvlpa, on a level with the great hells.
***
How is there place, under a single Jambudvlpa, for the hells which
414 are indeed wider than Jambudvlpa?
The continents, like piles of grain, are wider at their bases. The great ocean does not sink into a deep, steep cavity around the continents. (Vibhasa, TD 27, p. 866a21; Cullavagga, 9,1. 3).
The sixteen hells are created through the force of the actions of beings (ii. 56b, iii. 90c, 101c, iv. 85a); there are hells,--the prdde/ika hells,--created through the force of individual actions, the actions of one
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being, of two beings, of many beings. Their variety is great; their place is
415 not determined: river, mountain, desert, and elsewhere
The principal place of the hells is below. As for the animals, they
have three places, the land, the water, and the air. Their principal place
is the Great Ocean; the animals that are elsewhere are the surplus of the
416 animals.
***
The king of the Pretas is called Yama; his residence, which is the principal dwelling of the Pretas, is located five hundred leagues under Jambudvipa; it is five hundred leagues deep and wide. The Pretas that are found elsewhere are the surplus of the Pretas. The Pretas differ much one from another; certain of them possess supernatural powers
and enjoy a glory similar to that of the gods; see the Avaddnas of the 417
Pretas.
***
Upon what do the sun and the moon rest?
Upon the wind The collective force of the actions of beings
produces the winds which create (nirma) the moon, the sun and the 418
stars in heaven. A11 these astral bodies revolve around Meru as if transported by a whirlpool.
What is the distance from here to the moon and the sun? 60a. At mid-Meru lie the moon and the sua
The moon and the sun move at a level with the summit of Yugandhara.
What are their dimensions? Respectively.
419 60b. Fifty and fifty and one leagues.
The disk of the moon is of fifty yojanas\ the disk of the sun is of fifty-one yojanas.
The smallest among the "houses" (vimdna) of the stars is of one 420
krosa (iii. 87c); [the largest is of sixteenyojanas].
The force of the actions of beings forms, smaller than and external
? 421 422
to the house of the sun, a disk of fire-stone, hot and luminous; and,
for the house of the moon, a disk of water-stone, cold and luminous. Their function, according to circumstances, is to cause to arise and last the eye, the body, fruits, flowers, crops, and herbs; and to destroy them.
In a universe with its four continents (iii. 73) there is a single sun and a single moon. Yet the sun does not fulfill its function at the same time in the four continents.
61a-b. Midnight it sets, midday it rises at the same moment
When it is midnight in Uttarakuru, the sun sets in Purvavideha, it is midday inJambudvipa, and it rises in Godaniya, and so on. (Dtrgha, TD 1, p. I47c6-14).
By reason of the variety of the progress of the sun, the days and nights grow longer and shorter.
61c-62b. The nights grow longer after the ninth day of the second quarter of the second month of the rains, and they grow shorter after the ninth day of the second quarter of the fourth month of winter. Reverse for the days. The days and the nights grow longer little by little accordingly as the sun goes towards the south or towards the north.
The nights grow longer from the ninth day of the clear quarter of Bhadrapada on, and grow shorter from the ninth day of the clear quarter of Phalguna on. Reverse for the days: when the nights become longer, the days become shorter, and vice versa. The days and the nights grow longer and shorter gradually, in proportion to the sun going towards the
423 south or towards the north of Jambudvipa.
##*
Why does the disk of the moon not appear completely full at the beginning of the bright quarter?
62c-d The moon is covered by its shadow by reason of its proximity to the sun, and one sees it incompletely.
This is the teaching of the Prajnapti, "When the house of the moon moves in the vicinity of the house of the sun, then the light of the sun
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falls on the house of the moon. Consequently, the shadow falls on the
424 opposite side, and the disk appears incomplete. "
But, according to the ancient masters, the Yogacarins, the manner of
its moving is such that the moon appears sometimes complete,
425 sometimes incomplete.
***
To what class of beings do the inhabitants of the houses of the sun, the moon and the stars belong?
426
These are the Caturmaharajakayikas, and the only ones among
these gods who inhabit houses; but there is a great number of Caturmaharajakayikas who inhabit the earth, in the parisandds--the stages or terraces--of Mem and elsewhere.
##*
63-64. There are four terraces, the distance between them being
ten thousand leagues, extending out sixteen, eight, four and two
thousand leagues. They are the Karotapanis, the Maladharas,
the Sadamattas and the two Maharajikas; and also on the seven
427 mountains.
The first terrace is ten thousand leagues above the water, the second ten thousand leagues above the first and so on. They thus reach up to the middle of Mem. The first terrace extends out from Mem sixteen thousand leagues; the others, in their order extend out eight, four, two
428
thousand leagues. On the first terrace reside the Yaksas "Pitcher in
429
their Hand": on the second, the "Wearers of Crowns;" on the third
the "Always Intoxicated" (saddmatta, which the Karika calls soda- m
mada): all these gods belong to the Caturmaharajakayikas. At the 431
fourth terrace are the Four Kings in person with their attendants: these gods are called the Caturmaharajakayikas, the Four Great Kings. As the Caturmaharajakayikas inhabit Mem, so too they have villages
and towns on the seven mountains of gold, Yugandhara, etc Also the gods of this class are the most numerous of the gods.
? 65-68. The Thirty-three Gods are at the summit of Meru, the sides of which are eighty thousand (leagues). At the corners, four peaks which the Vajrapanis inhabit. In the middle, with sides of two thousand five hundred, with a height of one and a half, is a village called Sudar&ana, of gold, with a varigated and smooth sun. There is Vaijayanta, with sides of two hundred fifty. On the outside, this village is adorned with Caitraratha, Parusya, MiSra and Nandana (Parks); at a distance of twenty thousand leagues from these Parks, at the four sides, there are excellent fields. At the northeast Parijata, in the southwest Sudharma.
432
1. The Trayastrimsas or Thirty-three Gods
Meru; the sides of this summit are of eighty thousand yojanas. According to other masters, the sides of each are twenty thousand, and
433 the circumference is eighty thousand.
2. At the corners, there are peaks (kuta), five hundredyojanas high and wide, where the Yaksas called Vajrapanis reside.
3. In the middle of the plateau of Meru there is the royal city of Sakra,
the chief of the gods, a city called "Beautiful to Look At" (Sudar- 434
6ana). Its sides are two thousand five hundred yojanas; its cir- 435
cumference is ten thousand; its height oneyojana and a half; it is of gold; it is adorned with one hundred and one types of colors; and the same for its sun. This sun is soft to the touch, like the leaf of the cotton tree; it rises and falls to facilitate its progress.
4. In the middle of this city there is the palace of Sakra, the chief of the gods, called Vaijayanta: it makes all the other residences blush by its richness and its gems. Its sides are two hundred fifty yojanas.
Such are the adornments of the city itself.
436
5. Ornaments outside of the city are the four Parks: Caitraratha,
Parusyaka, MiSraka, and Nandana, fields of play for the gods.
437
6. At the four sides of these Parks, from a distance of twenty
438 yojanas on, there are four fields of play with a marvellous sun,
delightful and which appears to rival them.
7. The magnolia tree called Parijataka is, for the Thirty-three
439
Gods, the place par excellence for pleasure and for love; its roots go
The World 465
inhabit the summit of
? 464 Chapter Three
m
down fiftyyojanas\ it is one hundredyojanas high; with its branches,
leaves and petals, it covers fifty yojanas.
The fragrance of its flowers spreads one hundredyojanas away with
the wind, fifty against the wind.
So be it, it can spread to one hundredyojanas with the wind, but how
can it go against the wind?
According to one opinion, one says that it spreads to fifty yojanas
against the wind, because it does not go beyond the tree [which covers in fact fifty yojanas],
[But this explanation does not hold: for] the text says that it goes against the wind
We say then that the fragrance does not go against the wind, that it perishes where it arises: but such is the quality of this fragrance that, even though it would be arrested by the lightest divine wind, it gives birth to a new "series" of identical fragrances. Nevertheless, the fragrances become weak, weaker, entirely weak and are completely arrested, incapable of going as far as it does when the wind is favorable.
Does the series of this fragrance have for its support only its own primary elements which constitute the fragrance? Or rather should one suppose that the wind becomes perfumed? [In the same way as, when the grains of sesame are perfumed byflowers,there arises a new odor which is no longer the fragrance of the flowers. ]
The opinion of the masters is not fixed on this.
441
Yet the Blessed One said, "The fragrance offlowersdoes not go
against the wind, neither does the fragrance of good go against the wind; but the satpurusa goes in all directions. " How do you reconcile this statement with the theory that fragrance "goes against the wind? "
This statement refers to odors of the world of humans, which, it is
quite evident, does not go against the wind
442
The MahlSasakas read, "The fragrance [of the flowers of the
Parijataka tree] go with the wind for a hundredyojanas; in the absence of wind, to fifty. "
443
8.
In the southeast lies Sudharma, the room where the gods come
together {devasabha) in order to examine the good and the evil deeds committed by human beings.
Such is the arrangement of the receptacle or physical world of the Thirty-three Gods.
? 444 69a-b. Above, the gods reside in "houses. "
The gods higher that the Thirty-three Gods reside in vimdnas or aerial abodes. These gods are the Yamas, the Tusitas, the Nirmanaratis, and the Paranirmitavasavartins, plus the gods of Rupadhatu, namely sixteen categories of gods beginning with the Brahmakayikas. In all, twenty-two types of gods live in the physical world and occupy set
445 446 residences. [There are many other gods, the Kridapramosakas, the
Prahasakas, etc. , which a summary treatise like this does not take into account].
**#
69b-d. There are six gods who taste pleasure; they unite through coupling, an embrace, the touch of hands, a smile, and a look.
The CaturmaharSjakayikas, Trayastrimsas, Yamas, Tusitas, Nirma- naratis and Paranirmitavasavartins are the gods of Kamadhatu. The higher gods are not in Kamadhatu.
The Caturmaharajakayikas and the TrayastrimSas live on the
ground; thus they unite by coupling, like humans; but they appease the
fire of their desire through the emission of wind, since they do not have
any semea The Yamas appease the fire of their desire by embracing, the
Tusitas by the touch of hands, the Nirmanaratis by smiling, and the
Paranirmitavasavartins by looking at each other. Such is the doctrine of
447
the Prajfiapti.
According to the Vaibhasikas (Vibhasd, TD 27, p. 585b27), these
expressions of the Prajnapti, "embracing," "touching of the hands," etc. , do not indicate the mode of union--for all the gods couple--but the
448
duration of the act. The more ardent the desire by reason of the more
pleasurable object, so much shorter is the duration of the union.
#**
A small god or goddess appears on the knees, or from out of the knees of a god or goddess; this small god or goddess is their son or
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daughter: all the gods are "apparitionaT (iii. 8c).
70a-c. Among these gods, their newborn are similar to infants of five to ten years.
From five to ten years according to the category of the gods. Young gods grow up quickly.
449 70c-d The gods of Rupadhatu are complete and clothed.
The gods of Rupadhatu, from their birth, are complete in their development; they are born fully clothed.
450 All the gods speak the Aryan language.
In Kamadhatu,
71a-b. There are three "arisings" of the objects of desire: the
451
1. There are beings whose objects of desire (kdmaguna) are placed (by outside factors) at their disposition; but they are able to dispose of these objects. These are humans and certain gods--namely the first four classes of gods.
2. There are beings whose objects of desire are created by themselves; and they dispose of these objects which they create. These are the Nirmanaratis.
3. There are beings whose objects of desire are created by others but
who themselves dispose of these objects created by others. These are the
452 ParankmitavaSavartins.
The first enjoy the objects of desire which are presented to them; the second enjoy objects of desire which they create at their will; and the third enjoy objects of desire that they create or have others create at their will. These are the three arisings of the objects of desire (kdmopapattis).
In Rupadhatu,
71c-& There are three "arisings of pleasure": the nine spheres of
453 three Dhyanas.
The nine spheres of the first three Dhyanas are the three "arisings of pleasure. " The gods of the first three Dhyanas, for long periods, pass their time pleasantly through pleasure born from separation from the defilements, through pleasure consisting of joy arisen from absorption
gods of Kamadhatu together with humans.
? (samddhija: seeing the disappearance of vicdra and vitarka) and through pleasure free from joy (nihpritikasukha, seeing the disapparance of satisfaction or saumanasya). By reason of their absence of suffering, and by reason of their duration, these arisings are indeed "arisings of pleasure" (sukhopapatti).
In dhyanantara there is no pleasure consisting of joy. Is this an "arising of pleasure? "
454 This is to be discussed
###
At what height are the twenty-two heavenly residences situated, starting from the Qlturmaharajikas to the highest gods of Rupadhatu?
It is not easy to calculate this height in yojanas, but
72a-b. To the extent that there is descent from one residence, to
455 this extent there is ascent towards a higher residence.
In other words, to the extent that a residence is above Jambudvlpa, to that extent it is below its next higher residence. For example, the fourth house of the Caturmaharajikas, the dwelling of the Caturmaha- rajikas themselves is forty thousand yojanas above here; to the extent that this residence descends to here, to that extent this residence ascends to the residence of the Trayatrim? as, [on the summit of Meru, eighty thousand yojanas from here]. As many yojanas as there are from TriiyastrimSas to here, that many are there from Trayastrim? as to the Yamas. And thus following: the Akani? thas are above the SudarSanas thesamenumberofyojanas thattheSudarsanasareaboveJambudvlpa.
Above the Akanisthas, there are no more residences (sthdna). This is because this residence is higher than the others, no residence is
456
opinion, this residence is called agha-nispba, because agha signifies
457 matter.
***
Can a being born in an inferior residence go to a higher house and see its superior beings?
superior to it, and so it is called a-kanispha.
"assembled matter", and this residence is the limit (nispha) of this
The World 467
According to another
? 468 Chapter Three
72c-d The gods do not see their superiors without magic or the assistence of another.
When they possess magical powers, or when they are assisted by a
being possessing magical powers or by a Yama god, the Trayastrim? as
458 can go to the Yamas; and thus following.
A being born in an lower residence can see a being born in a higher
residence who makes a visit to an inferior residence, but not if this being 459
belongs to a higher Dhatu, or to a higher bhumi\ in the same way that one cannot feel a tangible things [higher in Dhatu or bhumi], because it
460
is not of the sphere [of a lower organ]. This is why beings higher
through their Dhatu or bhumi do not descend with their own bodies, but with a magic body of the sphere of the bhumi to where they wish to descend (Digha, ii. 210).
461
desires, lower beings can see him in the same way as they see a being of
According to another school, their own bhumi.
if a being of a higher bhumi so
***
What are the dimensions of the houses of the Yamas and the other gods?
According to one opinion, the houses of the four types of higher gods of Yama have the dimension of the summit of Mem.
According to others, the dimension of the First Dhyana is the dimension of the universe with its four continents; that of the Second, the Third, and the Fourth Dhyana is, respectively, the dimension of a small, medium and great chiliocosm.
According to anothers, the first three Dhyanas have, respectively,
the dimension of a small, medium and great chiliocosm; the Fourth
462 Dhyana is without measure.
*##
What is a small, a second, and a third chiliocosm?
73-74. One thousand four-continents, moons, suns, Merus, dwellings of the Kama gods, and world of Brahma, make up a
? small chiliocosm; one thousand small chiliocosms make a dichiliocosm, the middle universe; and one thousand dichilio- cosms make a trichiliocosm. The destruaion and the creation of
463 the universes lasts the same time.
A sdhasra cudika lokadhatu, or small chiliocosm \s made up of one thousand Jambudvlpas, Purvavidehas, Avaragodaniyas, Uttarakurus, moohs, suns, Merus, dwellings of the dturmaharajakayikas and the Other gods of Kamadhatu, and worlds of Brahm? . One thousand universes of this type make a dichiliocosm, a middle universe (dvisahasro madhyamo lokadhatuh). One thousand universes of this type make a trichiliomegachiliocosm {tnsdhasramahdsdhasro loka- dhatuh).
464
The periods of destruaion and creation are equal in length. The
stanza uses the word sambhava in the sense of vivatta. ***
In the same way that the dimensions of the physical worlds differ, in that same way the dimensions of the beings inhabitating them differ:
75-77. The inhabitants ofJambudvipa have a height of four, or of three elbows and a half; those called Purva, Goda and Uttara, by doubling each time. The bodies of the gods of Kamadhatu increase, by quarters of krosa9 until a krosa and a half. The bodies ofthegodsofRupadhatuareatfirstahalfyojana\ thenincrease by a half; beyond the Parittabhas, the bodies double, and reduce three yojanas from the Anabhrakas o a
Humans of Jambudvipa generally are three elbows and a half, sometimes four elbows in height; the Purvavidehakas, the Avara- godaniyakas, and the Auttarakauravas are respeaively eight, sixteen, and thirty-two elbows in height.
The Caturmaharajakayikas are a quarter of a krosa (iii. 88a) in height; the height of the other gods of Kamadhatu increases successively by this same quarter: the Trayastrimsas, by half a krosa; the Yamas, by three quarters of a kro/a; the Tusitas, by one krosa; the Nirmanaratis, by a krofa and a quarter; and the Parinirmitavasavartins, by a krosa and a
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half.
The Brahmakayikas, who are the first gods of Rupadhatu, are a
half-yojana in height; the Brahmapurohitas, one yojana in height; the Mahabrahmans, one yojana and a half in height; and the Parlttabhas, two yojanas in height.
Beyond the Parlttabhas, the dimensions double: Apramanabhas are four, Abhasvaras, eight, and the same until the &ubhakrtsans, who are sixty-four yojanas in height. For the Anabhrakas, one doubles this number but subtracts three: they are then one hundred twenty-five
yojanas in height. One continues doubling, from the Punyaprasavas on who are two hundred fiftyyojanas in height, to the Akanisthas, who are sixteen thousandyojanas in height.
***
The length of life of these beings also differs. With regard to humans:
78. Life, among Kurus, is one thousand years in length; in the two continents, it diminishes twice by half; here, it is in- determinate: nevertheless it is ten years at the end and
465 incalculable at the beginning.
The lifespan of beings in Godanalya is half the lifespan of beings in Uttarakuru, thus five hundred years in length; the life of beings in Purvavideha is two hundred and fifty years in length.
InJambudvipa, length of life is not determined, sometimes it is long, 466
sometimes short. At the end of the cosmic age or kdpa (iii. 98c), at its minimum, it is ten years; whereas the lifespan of humans at the beginning of the cosmic age (prdthamakdpikay iii91a) is incalculable: one cannot measure it by counting in thousands, etc
##*
The lifespan of the gods of Kamadhatu is an integral of the length of a day:
79a-80b. Fifty human years make a day-and-night for the lowest gods of Kamadhatu, and these gods live a life of five hundred
? 467 years. For the higher gods, double the day and the life.
Fifty human days make a day in the life of the Caturmaharajakayikas,
m
whose lifespan is of five hundred years of twelve month of thirty days. For the TrayastrimSas, one day equals one hundred human years, and dieir lifespan is one thousand years in length; for the Yamas, one day equals two hundred human years and their lifespan is two thousand years in length; and so o a
But there is qo sun or moon above Yugandhara; how is a day of the gods determined, and how are the gods illumined?
Day and night are marked by the flowers which open or close, like
the kumuda and the padma in the world of humans; by the birds that 469
sing or that are silent; and by sleep which ends or begins. Furthermore the gods themselves are luminous.
***
As for the gods of Rupadhatu and Arupyadhatu:
80b-81d. There is no day and night for the gods of Rupadhatu;
their lifespans are calculated in kalpas whose number is fixed by
the dimensions of their bodies. In Arupyadhatu, a lifespan of a
thousand kalpas which increases as much. These kalpas are, 470
from the Parittabhas on, mahakdpas\ below, halves.
The gods of Rupadhatu whose bodies are half ^yojana in height-- the Brahmakayikas--live a half kalpa; and thus following to the Akanisthas, whose bodies are sixteen thousand yojanas in height, and whose lifespan is thus sixteen thousand kalpas in length.
In AkaSanantyayatana, a lifespan is twenty thousand kalpas in length; fifty thousand kalpas in length in Vijiiananantyayatana, sixty thousand kalpas in length in Akimcanyayatana, and eighty thousand in Naivasamjnanasarhjnnayatana or Bhavagra.
But to which kalpas does this refer: to intermediate kalpas (antarakdpas), to kalpas of destruction (samvarta), to kalpas of creation (vivaria), or to great kalpas (mahdkalpas, iii. 89d)?
From the Parittabhas (lower gods of the Second Dhyana) on, they refer to the great kalpas; below (Brahmaparisadyas, Brahmapurohitas,
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Mahabrahmans) they refer to half great kalpas. In fact, there are twenty antarakalpas during which the world is created[: Mahabrahma appears from the beginning]; then twenty antarakalpas during which the world lasts; and then twenty antarakalpas during which the world is destroyed[: Mahabrahma disappears at the end]. Thus the life of Mahabrahma lasts sixty intermediate antarakalpas: these sixty make a kalpa and a half; half a great kdpa (or forty intermediate kalpas) is considered to be a kalpa.
***
What is the length of a lifespan in the painful realms of rebirth?
Let us examine in order the first six hot hells, the last two hot hells, animals, Pretas, and the cold hells.
82. In six hells, Samjiva, etc. , a day and night has the length of the life of the gods of Kamadhatu; with such days, life as for the gods of Kamadhatu.
A day in the six hells,--Samjiva, Kalasutra, Samghata, Raurava, Maharaurava, and Tapana,--is equal in this order to the life of the gods of Kamadhatu, the Caturmaharajakayikas, etc
The damned in Samjiva have, like the Caturmaharajakayikas, a life of five hundred years of twelve months of thirty days; but each of these days has the length of the total lifespan of the Caturmaharajakayikas. Same relationship between the damned of Kalasutra and the Traya- strimsas, and between the damned of Tapana and the Paranirmitava- Savartins.
83a-b. In Pratapana, a lifespan of a half antahkalpa; in Avici, a likespan of one antahkalpa.
In Pratapana, a lifespan lasts one half of an antarakalpa; in Avici, 471
83b-d. The life of animals is one kdpa in length at most; the life of the Pretas is five hundred years with its days the duration of a month.
one antarakalpa.
The animals that live the longest time live one antarakdpa\ these
? are the great Naga Kings, Nanda, Upananda, ASvatara, etc The Blessed
One said, "There are, Oh Bhiksus, eight great Naga Kings who live a 472
kolpa and who sustain the earth . . ,"
The days of the Pretas have a length of one human month; they live
five hundred years made up of days of this length.
84. Life in the Arbudas is the time of the exhaustion of a vaha, by taking a grain of sesame every one hundred years; the others by
473 multiplying each time by twenty.
The Blessed One has indicated the length of a lifespan in the cold hells only through comparisons, "If, Oh Bhiksus, a Magadhan vaha of
474 475
sesame of eighty khdris were full of sesame seeds; if one were to
take one grain each one hundred years, this vdha would be empty before a lifespan of beings born in the Arbuda hell would end: this is what I say. And, Oh Bhiksus, twenty Arbudas make, Oh Bhiksus, one Nirar- buda. . . " (See above, note 413).
###
Do all beings, whose length of lifespan has just been indicated, live the full length of this lifespan?
85a. With the exception of Kuru, there is death before their
476 time.
The life of beings in Uttarakuru is fixed; they necessarily live one
477
thousand years: their length of life is complete. Everywhere else there
is antaramrtyu, "death in the course of, in the middle of, a complete life," or premature death. Nevertheless certain persons are sheltered from premature death, namely the Bodhisattva who, in Tusita, is no longer bound to birth; a being in his last existence [who will not die before
478
having obtained the state of Arhat]; one who has been the object of a
479 prediction by the Blessed One; one who is sent by the Blessed One; a
oraddhanusarin and a Dharmanusarin (vi. 29a-b) [who will not die
before having become a Sraddhadhimuktika and a Drstiprapta]; a
480
woman pregnant with the Bodhisattva or with a Cakravartin, etc
***
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We have explained the residences and the bodies by measuring them in terms ofyojanas, and lifespans by measuring them in terms of years; but we have not explained yojanas and years.
These can be explained only through the means of words (ndman); one must then say that it is the limit (paryanta) of words, etc
85b-c An atom (paramanu), a syllable (aksara), and an instant 481
(ksana) is the limit of matter, of words, and of time.
A paramanu is the limit of physical matter (rupa); so too a syllable is
482
the limit of words, for example, go; and an instant, the limit of time
(advan).
What is the dimension of an instant?
If the right conditions (pratyaya) are present, the time that it takes for a dharma to arise; or rather the time that it takes for a dharma in
m progress to go from one paramanu to another paramdnu.
#**
According to the Abhidharmikas, there are sixty-five instants in the
484 time that it takes a healthy man to snap his fingers.
85d-88a. Paramanu, anu, loharajas, abrajas, sasarajas, avirajas, gorajas, chidrarajas, liksd, that which comes out of the liksd,yava, and anguliparvan, by multiplying each time by seven; twenty-
four angulis make one hasta; four hastas make one dhanus; five hundred dhanus make one krofa, the distance a hermitage should be located; and eight kroias make what is called one
m yojana.
[Thus seven paramdnus make one anu9 and eight anus make a loharajas.
Avirajas signifies edakrajas, and chidrarajas signifies vdtdyana- cchidrarajas.
"That which come out of the liksa* is the yuka.
The author does not say that three anguliparvans make one anguli,
486 for that is well known. ]
487 A hermitage, aranya, should be located one kro/a from a village.
? 88b-89c One hundred and twenty ksanas make one tatksana\ sixteen tatksanas make one lava\ we obtain a muhurta or hour,
an ahorata or one day and night, and a mdsa or month, by multiplying the preceeding term by thirty; a samvatsara or year,
488 is of twelve months by adding the tinardtras.
One muhurta equals thirty lavas. Thirty muhurtas make one day and night; a night is sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, and sometimes equal to a day.
489
There are four months of winter, of heat, and of rain; twelve
months which, with the days called unaratras, make a year. The
unardtras are the six days which, in the course of the year, one should
omit (for the calculation of the lunar months). There is a stanza about
this: "When one month and a half of the cold, hot, rainy season has
elapsed, the learned omit one unardtra in the half-month that 490
remains. "
*#*
We have explained the year; we must explain the kalpa or cosmic period
491 89d There are different types of kalpa:
492 There is a distinction between a small kalpa (antarakalpa) , a
49
kalpa of disappearance (samvatta), * a kalpa of creation (vivaria), and a
great kalpa.
90a-b. A kalpa of disappearance lasts from the non-production
of the damned to destruction of the receptacle world
The period that extends from the moment when beings cease being reborn in hell until the moment when the world is destroyed is called a samvartakalpa, a kalpa of destruction.
"Destruction" is of two types: destruction of the realms of rebirth, and destruction of the Dhatu.
It is again of two types: destuction of living beings, and destruction
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of the physical world
1. When no being is reborn in hell--even though beings in hell
continue to die--the period of twenty small kalpas during which the world lasts is terminated; and the period of destruction begins.
When not a single being remains in the hells, the destruction of
beings in hell is achieved, and the world has been destroyed to that
extent: if a being of this universe has committed any actions which
should be retributed in hell, the force of these actions causes him to be
reborn in the hell of another universe not in the process of
494 destruction.
2. So too is the destruction of animals and Pretas. The animals that
reside in the great ocean disappear first; those that live with humans will
495 disappear at the same time as do humans.
3. Among humans of Jambudvlpa, a person enters by himself,
496
without a teacher, by reason of dharmata, into the First Dhyana.
Coming out of this Dhyana, he exclaims, "Happy is the pleasure and the joy that arise from detachment! Gdm is the pleasure and joy that arise from detachment! " Understanding these words, other persons also enter into absorption and, after their death, pass into the world of Brahma. When, by this continual process, there does not remain a single person inJambudvlpa, the destruction of the persons ofJambudvlpa is finished.
The same for the inhabitants of Purvavideha and Avaragodaniya. The inhabitants of Uttarakuru are incapable of detaching themselves from Kamadhatu and, as a consequence, of entering into dhyana: they are also reborn, not in the world of Brahma, but among the gods of Kamadhatu.
When a single human being no longer remains, the destruction of humans is finished, and the world has been destroyed to this extent.
4. The same then holds for the gods of Kamadhatu, from the Caturmaharajakayikas to the Paranirmitava^avartins, who enter into dhyana and are reborn in the world of Brahma, and who successively disappear. When a single god no longer remains in Kamadhatu, the destuction of Kamadhatu is finished.
5. It then happens, by reason of dharmata, that a god of the world of Brahma enters into the Second Dhyana. Coming out of this Dhyana, he excaims, "Happy is the pleasure and joy that arise from absorption!
?
its center, resting on the sphere of gold, is the "diamond throne" where the Bodhisattva sits to attain vajropamasamddhi (vi. 44d) and so to become an Arhat and a Buddha: no other place, and no other
person can support the vajropamasamddhi of the Bodhisattva.
2. Eastern Videha or Purvavideha has the shape of a half-moon; it
has three sides of two thousand yojanas, thus of the same dimension as the long side of Jambu, and one side of three hundred fifty yojanas.
3. Godaniya, which faces the western side of Meru, is round like the
moon; it is seven thousand five hundtedyojanas [in circumference], and 386
two thousand five hundred through the center.
4. Facing the northern side of Meru is Kuru or Uttarakuru which has
the shape of a seat; it is square: its sides, of two thousand yojanas each, form a circumferance of eight thousand yojanas. To say that Kuru is
387 "parallel" means that its four sides are of the same dimension.
Such is the shape of the continents, and such is the shape of the faces
388 of the persons who reside in them.
56. There are eight intermediate continents: Dehas, Videhas,
Kurus, Kauravas, Camaras, and Avaracamaras, Sathas and
389 Uttaramantrins.
These continents are designated by the name of their inhabitants. Dehas and Videhas are located on both sides of Purvavideha; Kurus and Kauravas on the sides of Uttarakuru; Camaras and Avaracamaras on the sides of Jambudvipa; and Sathas and Uttaramantrins on the sides of Godaniya.
All of these continents are inhabited by human beings. Never-
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390
theless, according to one opinion, one of them [namely Camara] is
reserved for Rak? asas.
#*#
57. Here, to the north of the nine ant-Mountains, lie the
Himavat; beyond it, but on this side of the Mountain of Perfume,
391 is a lake deep and wide by fifty leagues.
By going toward the north in this Jambudvipa, one encounters three
392 ant-Mountains, [so called because they have the shape of an ant];
then three other ant-Mountains; then three other again; and finally the Himavat (= the Himalayas).
Beyond that, this side of the Gandhamadana ("the Mountain of
Perfume"), lies Lake Anavatapta from whence there flows out four great
393
rivers, the Ganga, the Sindhu, the Vaksu and the Slta. This lake, fifty
yojanas wide and deep, is full of a water endowed with the eight 394
qualities. Only persons who possess magical powers can go there. The Jambu tree is located near this lake. Our continent receives its name of Jambudvipa, either from the tree, or from the fruit of the tree which is
also called Jambu.
395
Where are the hells , and what are their dimensions?
58. At the bottom, at twenty thousand leagues, is Avici, of this same dimension; above, the seven hells; all eight have sixteen utsodas.
Beneath Jambudvipa, at a distance of twenty thousandyojanas, lies the great hell Avici. It is twenty thousandyojanas high and wide; its sun
396 is thus found forty thousand yojanas below the sun of Jambudvipa.
397 Why is this hell named Avici?
Two explanations: 1. because there is not, in this hell, any interruption {vici) of suffering. Suffering is interrupted in the other hells. In Sarhjlva, for example, bodies are first crushed and reduced to dust; then a cold wind revives them and gives them feeling: from
? whence the name of Samjiva; 2. because there is no agreeable (via) state 398
there. In the other hells all agreeable sensation which arises from retribution is absent; but here there is some agreeable sensations which are "an outflowing" (nisyanda, ii. 56c).
Above Avici are seven hells one above the other: Pratapana, Tapana, Mah&raurava, Raurava, Samghata, Kalasutra, and Samjiva. According to another opinion, these seven hells are placed at the same level as Avici.
Each of the eight hells has sixteen utsadas (See p. 458, line 15). This results from a declaration of the Blessed One,". . . There are eight hells there that I have revealed, difficult to get out of, full of cruel beings, each having sixteen utsadas\ they have four walls and four gates; they are as high as they are wide; they are encircled by walls of fire; their ceiling is fire; their sun is burning, sparkling fire; and they are filled with flames
3 hundreds of yojanas high. " "
***
What are the sixteen utsadas}
59a-c. Kukula, Kunapa, Ksuramarga, etc. , and the River are
400 located at the four cardinal points of these hells.
At each gate of these hells there is found:
1. The Kukula, a fire where one is pushed down to ones knees. When beings put their feet in there, they lose their skin,fleshand blood,
401 which rearises when they take their feet out.
2. The Kunapa, a mire of excrements, where there are water beasts
called Sharp-mouthes, whose bodies are white and heads black, which
402 can bite the damned through to their bones.
3. The Ksuramarga, or Ksuradharamarga, the great road of razor
blades; here beings lose their skin,flesh,and blood when they put their
403 feet on it.
Asipattravana, the forest whose leaves are swords; when these
swords fall, they cut off major and minor parts of the body, which are
404 then devoured by the Syamasabala dogs.
405
AyahSalmallvana, the forests of thorns, thorns sixteen digits in
length. When beings climb these trees, the thorns turn downwards, but they turn upward when they descend the tree.
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Birds, Iron-beaks, tear out and eat the eyes of the damned
These three places of suffering constitute a single utsada because they have in common punishment through injury.
406
4. The fourth utsada is the river Vaitarani, of boiling water loaded
with burning ashes. On both sides there are persons (purusa) armed with swords, lances and javelins, who push back the damned who would get out. Whether they plunge into the water or emerge, whether they go up or down the current, whether they travers in the two directions or are tossed about, the damned are boiled and cooked, as the grains of sesame or corn poured into a cauldron placed over the fire.
The river encircles the great hell like a moat.
The four utsodas are sixteen in number by reason of their difference of place, since they are located at the four gates to the great hell.
***
407 What is the meaning of the word utsada?
They are called utsadas because they are places of supplementary torment: in the hells the damned are tormented, but they are additionally so in the utsadas.
According to Manoratha (above, note 170), after having been shut
m up in the hells, the damned then fall into the utsodas.
***
One question leads to another. We have just spoken of the "persons"
(narakapdla) beings?
They are not beings.
Then how do they move?
Through the actions of beings, like the wind of creation.
Then how do you explain what the Venerable Dharmasubhuti said,
"Those who are angry, who take pleasure in cruel actions and
transgressions, who rejoice in the sufferings of others, are reborn as
411 Yamaraksasas? "
The demons who torment the beings in hell are not termed Yamaraksasas, the "guardians of hell" as you think; but rather the servants of Yama who, on the order of Yama, throw the damned into
who stand on the banks of the Vaitarani. Are the "guardians of hell" 409
410
? hell.
According to another opinion, the "guardians of hell" are beings. Where does the retribution of the cruel acts take place that these
guardians commit in the hells?
In the same hells. Since the retribution of anantarya transgressions
(iv. 97) takes place in these hells, why would the retribution of the actions of the guardians not be possible here?
But why are not the guardians, who are found in the midst of fire, burned?
Because the force of action marks a boundary to the fire and prevents
it from reaching the guardians, or rather because this same force causes
the bodies of the guardians to be made up of primary elements of a
412 special nature.
#**
413 59c-d. There are eight other hells, the cold hells, Arbuda, etc.
These hells are called Arbuda, Nirarbuda, Atata, Hahava, Huhuva, Utpala, Padma, and Mahapadma. Among these names, some (Arbuda, Nirarbuda, Utpala, Padma, and Mahapadma) indicate the form that the beings in hell take: they take the form of an arbuda, a lotus. . . ; the others indicate the noise that the damned make under the bite of the cold: atata
These cold hells are located under Jambudvlpa, on a level with the great hells.
***
How is there place, under a single Jambudvlpa, for the hells which
414 are indeed wider than Jambudvlpa?
The continents, like piles of grain, are wider at their bases. The great ocean does not sink into a deep, steep cavity around the continents. (Vibhasa, TD 27, p. 866a21; Cullavagga, 9,1. 3).
The sixteen hells are created through the force of the actions of beings (ii. 56b, iii. 90c, 101c, iv. 85a); there are hells,--the prdde/ika hells,--created through the force of individual actions, the actions of one
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being, of two beings, of many beings. Their variety is great; their place is
415 not determined: river, mountain, desert, and elsewhere
The principal place of the hells is below. As for the animals, they
have three places, the land, the water, and the air. Their principal place
is the Great Ocean; the animals that are elsewhere are the surplus of the
416 animals.
***
The king of the Pretas is called Yama; his residence, which is the principal dwelling of the Pretas, is located five hundred leagues under Jambudvipa; it is five hundred leagues deep and wide. The Pretas that are found elsewhere are the surplus of the Pretas. The Pretas differ much one from another; certain of them possess supernatural powers
and enjoy a glory similar to that of the gods; see the Avaddnas of the 417
Pretas.
***
Upon what do the sun and the moon rest?
Upon the wind The collective force of the actions of beings
produces the winds which create (nirma) the moon, the sun and the 418
stars in heaven. A11 these astral bodies revolve around Meru as if transported by a whirlpool.
What is the distance from here to the moon and the sun? 60a. At mid-Meru lie the moon and the sua
The moon and the sun move at a level with the summit of Yugandhara.
What are their dimensions? Respectively.
419 60b. Fifty and fifty and one leagues.
The disk of the moon is of fifty yojanas\ the disk of the sun is of fifty-one yojanas.
The smallest among the "houses" (vimdna) of the stars is of one 420
krosa (iii. 87c); [the largest is of sixteenyojanas].
The force of the actions of beings forms, smaller than and external
? 421 422
to the house of the sun, a disk of fire-stone, hot and luminous; and,
for the house of the moon, a disk of water-stone, cold and luminous. Their function, according to circumstances, is to cause to arise and last the eye, the body, fruits, flowers, crops, and herbs; and to destroy them.
In a universe with its four continents (iii. 73) there is a single sun and a single moon. Yet the sun does not fulfill its function at the same time in the four continents.
61a-b. Midnight it sets, midday it rises at the same moment
When it is midnight in Uttarakuru, the sun sets in Purvavideha, it is midday inJambudvipa, and it rises in Godaniya, and so on. (Dtrgha, TD 1, p. I47c6-14).
By reason of the variety of the progress of the sun, the days and nights grow longer and shorter.
61c-62b. The nights grow longer after the ninth day of the second quarter of the second month of the rains, and they grow shorter after the ninth day of the second quarter of the fourth month of winter. Reverse for the days. The days and the nights grow longer little by little accordingly as the sun goes towards the south or towards the north.
The nights grow longer from the ninth day of the clear quarter of Bhadrapada on, and grow shorter from the ninth day of the clear quarter of Phalguna on. Reverse for the days: when the nights become longer, the days become shorter, and vice versa. The days and the nights grow longer and shorter gradually, in proportion to the sun going towards the
423 south or towards the north of Jambudvipa.
##*
Why does the disk of the moon not appear completely full at the beginning of the bright quarter?
62c-d The moon is covered by its shadow by reason of its proximity to the sun, and one sees it incompletely.
This is the teaching of the Prajnapti, "When the house of the moon moves in the vicinity of the house of the sun, then the light of the sun
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falls on the house of the moon. Consequently, the shadow falls on the
424 opposite side, and the disk appears incomplete. "
But, according to the ancient masters, the Yogacarins, the manner of
its moving is such that the moon appears sometimes complete,
425 sometimes incomplete.
***
To what class of beings do the inhabitants of the houses of the sun, the moon and the stars belong?
426
These are the Caturmaharajakayikas, and the only ones among
these gods who inhabit houses; but there is a great number of Caturmaharajakayikas who inhabit the earth, in the parisandds--the stages or terraces--of Mem and elsewhere.
##*
63-64. There are four terraces, the distance between them being
ten thousand leagues, extending out sixteen, eight, four and two
thousand leagues. They are the Karotapanis, the Maladharas,
the Sadamattas and the two Maharajikas; and also on the seven
427 mountains.
The first terrace is ten thousand leagues above the water, the second ten thousand leagues above the first and so on. They thus reach up to the middle of Mem. The first terrace extends out from Mem sixteen thousand leagues; the others, in their order extend out eight, four, two
428
thousand leagues. On the first terrace reside the Yaksas "Pitcher in
429
their Hand": on the second, the "Wearers of Crowns;" on the third
the "Always Intoxicated" (saddmatta, which the Karika calls soda- m
mada): all these gods belong to the Caturmaharajakayikas. At the 431
fourth terrace are the Four Kings in person with their attendants: these gods are called the Caturmaharajakayikas, the Four Great Kings. As the Caturmaharajakayikas inhabit Mem, so too they have villages
and towns on the seven mountains of gold, Yugandhara, etc Also the gods of this class are the most numerous of the gods.
? 65-68. The Thirty-three Gods are at the summit of Meru, the sides of which are eighty thousand (leagues). At the corners, four peaks which the Vajrapanis inhabit. In the middle, with sides of two thousand five hundred, with a height of one and a half, is a village called Sudar&ana, of gold, with a varigated and smooth sun. There is Vaijayanta, with sides of two hundred fifty. On the outside, this village is adorned with Caitraratha, Parusya, MiSra and Nandana (Parks); at a distance of twenty thousand leagues from these Parks, at the four sides, there are excellent fields. At the northeast Parijata, in the southwest Sudharma.
432
1. The Trayastrimsas or Thirty-three Gods
Meru; the sides of this summit are of eighty thousand yojanas. According to other masters, the sides of each are twenty thousand, and
433 the circumference is eighty thousand.
2. At the corners, there are peaks (kuta), five hundredyojanas high and wide, where the Yaksas called Vajrapanis reside.
3. In the middle of the plateau of Meru there is the royal city of Sakra,
the chief of the gods, a city called "Beautiful to Look At" (Sudar- 434
6ana). Its sides are two thousand five hundred yojanas; its cir- 435
cumference is ten thousand; its height oneyojana and a half; it is of gold; it is adorned with one hundred and one types of colors; and the same for its sun. This sun is soft to the touch, like the leaf of the cotton tree; it rises and falls to facilitate its progress.
4. In the middle of this city there is the palace of Sakra, the chief of the gods, called Vaijayanta: it makes all the other residences blush by its richness and its gems. Its sides are two hundred fifty yojanas.
Such are the adornments of the city itself.
436
5. Ornaments outside of the city are the four Parks: Caitraratha,
Parusyaka, MiSraka, and Nandana, fields of play for the gods.
437
6. At the four sides of these Parks, from a distance of twenty
438 yojanas on, there are four fields of play with a marvellous sun,
delightful and which appears to rival them.
7. The magnolia tree called Parijataka is, for the Thirty-three
439
Gods, the place par excellence for pleasure and for love; its roots go
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inhabit the summit of
? 464 Chapter Three
m
down fiftyyojanas\ it is one hundredyojanas high; with its branches,
leaves and petals, it covers fifty yojanas.
The fragrance of its flowers spreads one hundredyojanas away with
the wind, fifty against the wind.
So be it, it can spread to one hundredyojanas with the wind, but how
can it go against the wind?
According to one opinion, one says that it spreads to fifty yojanas
against the wind, because it does not go beyond the tree [which covers in fact fifty yojanas],
[But this explanation does not hold: for] the text says that it goes against the wind
We say then that the fragrance does not go against the wind, that it perishes where it arises: but such is the quality of this fragrance that, even though it would be arrested by the lightest divine wind, it gives birth to a new "series" of identical fragrances. Nevertheless, the fragrances become weak, weaker, entirely weak and are completely arrested, incapable of going as far as it does when the wind is favorable.
Does the series of this fragrance have for its support only its own primary elements which constitute the fragrance? Or rather should one suppose that the wind becomes perfumed? [In the same way as, when the grains of sesame are perfumed byflowers,there arises a new odor which is no longer the fragrance of the flowers. ]
The opinion of the masters is not fixed on this.
441
Yet the Blessed One said, "The fragrance offlowersdoes not go
against the wind, neither does the fragrance of good go against the wind; but the satpurusa goes in all directions. " How do you reconcile this statement with the theory that fragrance "goes against the wind? "
This statement refers to odors of the world of humans, which, it is
quite evident, does not go against the wind
442
The MahlSasakas read, "The fragrance [of the flowers of the
Parijataka tree] go with the wind for a hundredyojanas; in the absence of wind, to fifty. "
443
8.
In the southeast lies Sudharma, the room where the gods come
together {devasabha) in order to examine the good and the evil deeds committed by human beings.
Such is the arrangement of the receptacle or physical world of the Thirty-three Gods.
? 444 69a-b. Above, the gods reside in "houses. "
The gods higher that the Thirty-three Gods reside in vimdnas or aerial abodes. These gods are the Yamas, the Tusitas, the Nirmanaratis, and the Paranirmitavasavartins, plus the gods of Rupadhatu, namely sixteen categories of gods beginning with the Brahmakayikas. In all, twenty-two types of gods live in the physical world and occupy set
445 446 residences. [There are many other gods, the Kridapramosakas, the
Prahasakas, etc. , which a summary treatise like this does not take into account].
**#
69b-d. There are six gods who taste pleasure; they unite through coupling, an embrace, the touch of hands, a smile, and a look.
The CaturmaharSjakayikas, Trayastrimsas, Yamas, Tusitas, Nirma- naratis and Paranirmitavasavartins are the gods of Kamadhatu. The higher gods are not in Kamadhatu.
The Caturmaharajakayikas and the TrayastrimSas live on the
ground; thus they unite by coupling, like humans; but they appease the
fire of their desire through the emission of wind, since they do not have
any semea The Yamas appease the fire of their desire by embracing, the
Tusitas by the touch of hands, the Nirmanaratis by smiling, and the
Paranirmitavasavartins by looking at each other. Such is the doctrine of
447
the Prajfiapti.
According to the Vaibhasikas (Vibhasd, TD 27, p. 585b27), these
expressions of the Prajnapti, "embracing," "touching of the hands," etc. , do not indicate the mode of union--for all the gods couple--but the
448
duration of the act. The more ardent the desire by reason of the more
pleasurable object, so much shorter is the duration of the union.
#**
A small god or goddess appears on the knees, or from out of the knees of a god or goddess; this small god or goddess is their son or
The World 465
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daughter: all the gods are "apparitionaT (iii. 8c).
70a-c. Among these gods, their newborn are similar to infants of five to ten years.
From five to ten years according to the category of the gods. Young gods grow up quickly.
449 70c-d The gods of Rupadhatu are complete and clothed.
The gods of Rupadhatu, from their birth, are complete in their development; they are born fully clothed.
450 All the gods speak the Aryan language.
In Kamadhatu,
71a-b. There are three "arisings" of the objects of desire: the
451
1. There are beings whose objects of desire (kdmaguna) are placed (by outside factors) at their disposition; but they are able to dispose of these objects. These are humans and certain gods--namely the first four classes of gods.
2. There are beings whose objects of desire are created by themselves; and they dispose of these objects which they create. These are the Nirmanaratis.
3. There are beings whose objects of desire are created by others but
who themselves dispose of these objects created by others. These are the
452 ParankmitavaSavartins.
The first enjoy the objects of desire which are presented to them; the second enjoy objects of desire which they create at their will; and the third enjoy objects of desire that they create or have others create at their will. These are the three arisings of the objects of desire (kdmopapattis).
In Rupadhatu,
71c-& There are three "arisings of pleasure": the nine spheres of
453 three Dhyanas.
The nine spheres of the first three Dhyanas are the three "arisings of pleasure. " The gods of the first three Dhyanas, for long periods, pass their time pleasantly through pleasure born from separation from the defilements, through pleasure consisting of joy arisen from absorption
gods of Kamadhatu together with humans.
? (samddhija: seeing the disappearance of vicdra and vitarka) and through pleasure free from joy (nihpritikasukha, seeing the disapparance of satisfaction or saumanasya). By reason of their absence of suffering, and by reason of their duration, these arisings are indeed "arisings of pleasure" (sukhopapatti).
In dhyanantara there is no pleasure consisting of joy. Is this an "arising of pleasure? "
454 This is to be discussed
###
At what height are the twenty-two heavenly residences situated, starting from the Qlturmaharajikas to the highest gods of Rupadhatu?
It is not easy to calculate this height in yojanas, but
72a-b. To the extent that there is descent from one residence, to
455 this extent there is ascent towards a higher residence.
In other words, to the extent that a residence is above Jambudvlpa, to that extent it is below its next higher residence. For example, the fourth house of the Caturmaharajikas, the dwelling of the Caturmaha- rajikas themselves is forty thousand yojanas above here; to the extent that this residence descends to here, to that extent this residence ascends to the residence of the Trayatrim? as, [on the summit of Meru, eighty thousand yojanas from here]. As many yojanas as there are from TriiyastrimSas to here, that many are there from Trayastrim? as to the Yamas. And thus following: the Akani? thas are above the SudarSanas thesamenumberofyojanas thattheSudarsanasareaboveJambudvlpa.
Above the Akanisthas, there are no more residences (sthdna). This is because this residence is higher than the others, no residence is
456
opinion, this residence is called agha-nispba, because agha signifies
457 matter.
***
Can a being born in an inferior residence go to a higher house and see its superior beings?
superior to it, and so it is called a-kanispha.
"assembled matter", and this residence is the limit (nispha) of this
The World 467
According to another
? 468 Chapter Three
72c-d The gods do not see their superiors without magic or the assistence of another.
When they possess magical powers, or when they are assisted by a
being possessing magical powers or by a Yama god, the Trayastrim? as
458 can go to the Yamas; and thus following.
A being born in an lower residence can see a being born in a higher
residence who makes a visit to an inferior residence, but not if this being 459
belongs to a higher Dhatu, or to a higher bhumi\ in the same way that one cannot feel a tangible things [higher in Dhatu or bhumi], because it
460
is not of the sphere [of a lower organ]. This is why beings higher
through their Dhatu or bhumi do not descend with their own bodies, but with a magic body of the sphere of the bhumi to where they wish to descend (Digha, ii. 210).
461
desires, lower beings can see him in the same way as they see a being of
According to another school, their own bhumi.
if a being of a higher bhumi so
***
What are the dimensions of the houses of the Yamas and the other gods?
According to one opinion, the houses of the four types of higher gods of Yama have the dimension of the summit of Mem.
According to others, the dimension of the First Dhyana is the dimension of the universe with its four continents; that of the Second, the Third, and the Fourth Dhyana is, respectively, the dimension of a small, medium and great chiliocosm.
According to anothers, the first three Dhyanas have, respectively,
the dimension of a small, medium and great chiliocosm; the Fourth
462 Dhyana is without measure.
*##
What is a small, a second, and a third chiliocosm?
73-74. One thousand four-continents, moons, suns, Merus, dwellings of the Kama gods, and world of Brahma, make up a
? small chiliocosm; one thousand small chiliocosms make a dichiliocosm, the middle universe; and one thousand dichilio- cosms make a trichiliocosm. The destruaion and the creation of
463 the universes lasts the same time.
A sdhasra cudika lokadhatu, or small chiliocosm \s made up of one thousand Jambudvlpas, Purvavidehas, Avaragodaniyas, Uttarakurus, moohs, suns, Merus, dwellings of the dturmaharajakayikas and the Other gods of Kamadhatu, and worlds of Brahm? . One thousand universes of this type make a dichiliocosm, a middle universe (dvisahasro madhyamo lokadhatuh). One thousand universes of this type make a trichiliomegachiliocosm {tnsdhasramahdsdhasro loka- dhatuh).
464
The periods of destruaion and creation are equal in length. The
stanza uses the word sambhava in the sense of vivatta. ***
In the same way that the dimensions of the physical worlds differ, in that same way the dimensions of the beings inhabitating them differ:
75-77. The inhabitants ofJambudvipa have a height of four, or of three elbows and a half; those called Purva, Goda and Uttara, by doubling each time. The bodies of the gods of Kamadhatu increase, by quarters of krosa9 until a krosa and a half. The bodies ofthegodsofRupadhatuareatfirstahalfyojana\ thenincrease by a half; beyond the Parittabhas, the bodies double, and reduce three yojanas from the Anabhrakas o a
Humans of Jambudvipa generally are three elbows and a half, sometimes four elbows in height; the Purvavidehakas, the Avara- godaniyakas, and the Auttarakauravas are respeaively eight, sixteen, and thirty-two elbows in height.
The Caturmaharajakayikas are a quarter of a krosa (iii. 88a) in height; the height of the other gods of Kamadhatu increases successively by this same quarter: the Trayastrimsas, by half a krosa; the Yamas, by three quarters of a kro/a; the Tusitas, by one krosa; the Nirmanaratis, by a krofa and a quarter; and the Parinirmitavasavartins, by a krosa and a
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half.
The Brahmakayikas, who are the first gods of Rupadhatu, are a
half-yojana in height; the Brahmapurohitas, one yojana in height; the Mahabrahmans, one yojana and a half in height; and the Parlttabhas, two yojanas in height.
Beyond the Parlttabhas, the dimensions double: Apramanabhas are four, Abhasvaras, eight, and the same until the &ubhakrtsans, who are sixty-four yojanas in height. For the Anabhrakas, one doubles this number but subtracts three: they are then one hundred twenty-five
yojanas in height. One continues doubling, from the Punyaprasavas on who are two hundred fiftyyojanas in height, to the Akanisthas, who are sixteen thousandyojanas in height.
***
The length of life of these beings also differs. With regard to humans:
78. Life, among Kurus, is one thousand years in length; in the two continents, it diminishes twice by half; here, it is in- determinate: nevertheless it is ten years at the end and
465 incalculable at the beginning.
The lifespan of beings in Godanalya is half the lifespan of beings in Uttarakuru, thus five hundred years in length; the life of beings in Purvavideha is two hundred and fifty years in length.
InJambudvipa, length of life is not determined, sometimes it is long, 466
sometimes short. At the end of the cosmic age or kdpa (iii. 98c), at its minimum, it is ten years; whereas the lifespan of humans at the beginning of the cosmic age (prdthamakdpikay iii91a) is incalculable: one cannot measure it by counting in thousands, etc
##*
The lifespan of the gods of Kamadhatu is an integral of the length of a day:
79a-80b. Fifty human years make a day-and-night for the lowest gods of Kamadhatu, and these gods live a life of five hundred
? 467 years. For the higher gods, double the day and the life.
Fifty human days make a day in the life of the Caturmaharajakayikas,
m
whose lifespan is of five hundred years of twelve month of thirty days. For the TrayastrimSas, one day equals one hundred human years, and dieir lifespan is one thousand years in length; for the Yamas, one day equals two hundred human years and their lifespan is two thousand years in length; and so o a
But there is qo sun or moon above Yugandhara; how is a day of the gods determined, and how are the gods illumined?
Day and night are marked by the flowers which open or close, like
the kumuda and the padma in the world of humans; by the birds that 469
sing or that are silent; and by sleep which ends or begins. Furthermore the gods themselves are luminous.
***
As for the gods of Rupadhatu and Arupyadhatu:
80b-81d. There is no day and night for the gods of Rupadhatu;
their lifespans are calculated in kalpas whose number is fixed by
the dimensions of their bodies. In Arupyadhatu, a lifespan of a
thousand kalpas which increases as much. These kalpas are, 470
from the Parittabhas on, mahakdpas\ below, halves.
The gods of Rupadhatu whose bodies are half ^yojana in height-- the Brahmakayikas--live a half kalpa; and thus following to the Akanisthas, whose bodies are sixteen thousand yojanas in height, and whose lifespan is thus sixteen thousand kalpas in length.
In AkaSanantyayatana, a lifespan is twenty thousand kalpas in length; fifty thousand kalpas in length in Vijiiananantyayatana, sixty thousand kalpas in length in Akimcanyayatana, and eighty thousand in Naivasamjnanasarhjnnayatana or Bhavagra.
But to which kalpas does this refer: to intermediate kalpas (antarakdpas), to kalpas of destruction (samvarta), to kalpas of creation (vivaria), or to great kalpas (mahdkalpas, iii. 89d)?
From the Parittabhas (lower gods of the Second Dhyana) on, they refer to the great kalpas; below (Brahmaparisadyas, Brahmapurohitas,
The World 471
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Mahabrahmans) they refer to half great kalpas. In fact, there are twenty antarakalpas during which the world is created[: Mahabrahma appears from the beginning]; then twenty antarakalpas during which the world lasts; and then twenty antarakalpas during which the world is destroyed[: Mahabrahma disappears at the end]. Thus the life of Mahabrahma lasts sixty intermediate antarakalpas: these sixty make a kalpa and a half; half a great kdpa (or forty intermediate kalpas) is considered to be a kalpa.
***
What is the length of a lifespan in the painful realms of rebirth?
Let us examine in order the first six hot hells, the last two hot hells, animals, Pretas, and the cold hells.
82. In six hells, Samjiva, etc. , a day and night has the length of the life of the gods of Kamadhatu; with such days, life as for the gods of Kamadhatu.
A day in the six hells,--Samjiva, Kalasutra, Samghata, Raurava, Maharaurava, and Tapana,--is equal in this order to the life of the gods of Kamadhatu, the Caturmaharajakayikas, etc
The damned in Samjiva have, like the Caturmaharajakayikas, a life of five hundred years of twelve months of thirty days; but each of these days has the length of the total lifespan of the Caturmaharajakayikas. Same relationship between the damned of Kalasutra and the Traya- strimsas, and between the damned of Tapana and the Paranirmitava- Savartins.
83a-b. In Pratapana, a lifespan of a half antahkalpa; in Avici, a likespan of one antahkalpa.
In Pratapana, a lifespan lasts one half of an antarakalpa; in Avici, 471
83b-d. The life of animals is one kdpa in length at most; the life of the Pretas is five hundred years with its days the duration of a month.
one antarakalpa.
The animals that live the longest time live one antarakdpa\ these
? are the great Naga Kings, Nanda, Upananda, ASvatara, etc The Blessed
One said, "There are, Oh Bhiksus, eight great Naga Kings who live a 472
kolpa and who sustain the earth . . ,"
The days of the Pretas have a length of one human month; they live
five hundred years made up of days of this length.
84. Life in the Arbudas is the time of the exhaustion of a vaha, by taking a grain of sesame every one hundred years; the others by
473 multiplying each time by twenty.
The Blessed One has indicated the length of a lifespan in the cold hells only through comparisons, "If, Oh Bhiksus, a Magadhan vaha of
474 475
sesame of eighty khdris were full of sesame seeds; if one were to
take one grain each one hundred years, this vdha would be empty before a lifespan of beings born in the Arbuda hell would end: this is what I say. And, Oh Bhiksus, twenty Arbudas make, Oh Bhiksus, one Nirar- buda. . . " (See above, note 413).
###
Do all beings, whose length of lifespan has just been indicated, live the full length of this lifespan?
85a. With the exception of Kuru, there is death before their
476 time.
The life of beings in Uttarakuru is fixed; they necessarily live one
477
thousand years: their length of life is complete. Everywhere else there
is antaramrtyu, "death in the course of, in the middle of, a complete life," or premature death. Nevertheless certain persons are sheltered from premature death, namely the Bodhisattva who, in Tusita, is no longer bound to birth; a being in his last existence [who will not die before
478
having obtained the state of Arhat]; one who has been the object of a
479 prediction by the Blessed One; one who is sent by the Blessed One; a
oraddhanusarin and a Dharmanusarin (vi. 29a-b) [who will not die
before having become a Sraddhadhimuktika and a Drstiprapta]; a
480
woman pregnant with the Bodhisattva or with a Cakravartin, etc
***
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? 474 Chapter Three
We have explained the residences and the bodies by measuring them in terms ofyojanas, and lifespans by measuring them in terms of years; but we have not explained yojanas and years.
These can be explained only through the means of words (ndman); one must then say that it is the limit (paryanta) of words, etc
85b-c An atom (paramanu), a syllable (aksara), and an instant 481
(ksana) is the limit of matter, of words, and of time.
A paramanu is the limit of physical matter (rupa); so too a syllable is
482
the limit of words, for example, go; and an instant, the limit of time
(advan).
What is the dimension of an instant?
If the right conditions (pratyaya) are present, the time that it takes for a dharma to arise; or rather the time that it takes for a dharma in
m progress to go from one paramanu to another paramdnu.
#**
According to the Abhidharmikas, there are sixty-five instants in the
484 time that it takes a healthy man to snap his fingers.
85d-88a. Paramanu, anu, loharajas, abrajas, sasarajas, avirajas, gorajas, chidrarajas, liksd, that which comes out of the liksd,yava, and anguliparvan, by multiplying each time by seven; twenty-
four angulis make one hasta; four hastas make one dhanus; five hundred dhanus make one krofa, the distance a hermitage should be located; and eight kroias make what is called one
m yojana.
[Thus seven paramdnus make one anu9 and eight anus make a loharajas.
Avirajas signifies edakrajas, and chidrarajas signifies vdtdyana- cchidrarajas.
"That which come out of the liksa* is the yuka.
The author does not say that three anguliparvans make one anguli,
486 for that is well known. ]
487 A hermitage, aranya, should be located one kro/a from a village.
? 88b-89c One hundred and twenty ksanas make one tatksana\ sixteen tatksanas make one lava\ we obtain a muhurta or hour,
an ahorata or one day and night, and a mdsa or month, by multiplying the preceeding term by thirty; a samvatsara or year,
488 is of twelve months by adding the tinardtras.
One muhurta equals thirty lavas. Thirty muhurtas make one day and night; a night is sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, and sometimes equal to a day.
489
There are four months of winter, of heat, and of rain; twelve
months which, with the days called unaratras, make a year. The
unardtras are the six days which, in the course of the year, one should
omit (for the calculation of the lunar months). There is a stanza about
this: "When one month and a half of the cold, hot, rainy season has
elapsed, the learned omit one unardtra in the half-month that 490
remains. "
*#*
We have explained the year; we must explain the kalpa or cosmic period
491 89d There are different types of kalpa:
492 There is a distinction between a small kalpa (antarakalpa) , a
49
kalpa of disappearance (samvatta), * a kalpa of creation (vivaria), and a
great kalpa.
90a-b. A kalpa of disappearance lasts from the non-production
of the damned to destruction of the receptacle world
The period that extends from the moment when beings cease being reborn in hell until the moment when the world is destroyed is called a samvartakalpa, a kalpa of destruction.
"Destruction" is of two types: destruction of the realms of rebirth, and destruction of the Dhatu.
It is again of two types: destuction of living beings, and destruction
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of the physical world
1. When no being is reborn in hell--even though beings in hell
continue to die--the period of twenty small kalpas during which the world lasts is terminated; and the period of destruction begins.
When not a single being remains in the hells, the destruction of
beings in hell is achieved, and the world has been destroyed to that
extent: if a being of this universe has committed any actions which
should be retributed in hell, the force of these actions causes him to be
reborn in the hell of another universe not in the process of
494 destruction.
2. So too is the destruction of animals and Pretas. The animals that
reside in the great ocean disappear first; those that live with humans will
495 disappear at the same time as do humans.
3. Among humans of Jambudvlpa, a person enters by himself,
496
without a teacher, by reason of dharmata, into the First Dhyana.
Coming out of this Dhyana, he exclaims, "Happy is the pleasure and the joy that arise from detachment! Gdm is the pleasure and joy that arise from detachment! " Understanding these words, other persons also enter into absorption and, after their death, pass into the world of Brahma. When, by this continual process, there does not remain a single person inJambudvlpa, the destruction of the persons ofJambudvlpa is finished.
The same for the inhabitants of Purvavideha and Avaragodaniya. The inhabitants of Uttarakuru are incapable of detaching themselves from Kamadhatu and, as a consequence, of entering into dhyana: they are also reborn, not in the world of Brahma, but among the gods of Kamadhatu.
When a single human being no longer remains, the destruction of humans is finished, and the world has been destroyed to this extent.
4. The same then holds for the gods of Kamadhatu, from the Caturmaharajakayikas to the Paranirmitava^avartins, who enter into dhyana and are reborn in the world of Brahma, and who successively disappear. When a single god no longer remains in Kamadhatu, the destuction of Kamadhatu is finished.
5. It then happens, by reason of dharmata, that a god of the world of Brahma enters into the Second Dhyana. Coming out of this Dhyana, he excaims, "Happy is the pleasure and joy that arise from absorption!
?
