仁王般若經疏 3.11

3.11

Second, it clarifies the seven disasters directly destroying the state. The seven disasters are: 1. the disaster of ghosts and spirits; 2. the disaster of bandits; 3. the disaster of ministers, sovereign, crown prince, and the hundred officials; 4. the disaster of the twenty-eight lunar lodges. From 'Great King' onward, the three calamities together with the previous ones make seven disasters. The meaning of this is: because the state lacks the Triratna and furthermore does not expound or chant the Mahāyāna, the ghosts and spirits do not hear the saddharma; therefore their evil minds flourish and multiply, tormenting and disrupting the myriad people, and the myriad people again fall into disorder, decline, and die; thus external bandits come to invade the state. Furthermore, the one hundred classes of ghosts and spirits delight in hearing the saddharma; because the sūtra is not expounded in that state, the various ghosts and spirits become furious, and therefore stir up the seven disasters to torment and disrupt the state. As for the twenty-eight lunar lodges: Jiao, Kang, Di, Fang, Xin, Wei, and Ji are the eastern lodges. Dou, Niu, Nü, Xu, Wei, Shi, and Bi are the northern lodges. Kui, Lou, Wei, Mao, Bi, Zui, and Shen are the western lodges. Jing, Gui, Liu, Xing, Zhang, Yi, and Zhen are the southern lodges. There are seven in each direction; four times seven makes twenty-eight lodges. 'Losing their measures' means they fall into confusion with respect to the degrees and measures above; hence it is said, 'lose their measures.' As for 'the sun and the moon lose their measures': the sky has three hundred and sixty-five and one-quarter degrees; the sun travels one degree each day, making one revolution of the sky in one year; the moon travels thirteen and seven-nineteenths degrees each day, making one revolution of the sky in one month. Furthermore, the paths traveled by the sun and moon along the celestial courses are indeed immeasurable, but broadly determined, there are three paths: on the winter solstice, the sun travels along the southern path; on the summer solstice, it travels along the northern path; at the spring and autumn equinoxes, it travels along the middle path. The ritual method for protecting against disasters is the same as above; hence it says, 'as explained above.'