瑜伽師地論略纂 2.73

2.73

Regarding 'thirty-two thousand yojanas down from here to the Saṃjīva naraka' and so forth: the meaning of this text is that thirty-two thousand yojanas beneath the ground level one first reaches the Saṃjīva naraka, which is ten thousand yojanas wide. Four thousand yojanas further below one reaches the Kālasūtra naraka, and two thousand below the Kālasūtra one reaches the Saṃghāta naraka. In this manner, all eight narakas are ten thousand yojanas wide, and the intervals between each of the lower six hells are two thousand yojanas. Calculating down to the bottom of the Avīci hell from ground level, it is one hundred and twenty-eight thousand yojanas. Mount Sumeru enters the water eighty thousand yojanas; this exceeds that by forty-eight thousand yojanas. By taking this as a standard, one knows that the eight hot hells are deeper than in the Kośa, which states that the bottom of Avīci is forty thousand yojanas from ground level. The verse of that treatise states: 'Twenty thousand below this, Avīci is equal in depth and width.' In the Kośa: although the water mandala is eight hundred million yojanas deep, it rests upon the wind mandala; the golden mandala is furthermore three hundred and twenty thousand thick, resting upon the water mandala. Therefore, Mount Sumeru rests upon that golden mandala. Now, in the Mahāyāna, gold is below the water, and then based upon the golden mandala, water is above the gold. Although the numerical depth is not stated, since the bottom of Avīci is calculated as one hundred and twenty-eight thousand yojanas, while Sumeru's entry into the water is said to be only eighty thousand, one clearly knows that Sumeru does not rest upon the golden mandala, but is half above and half below, floating in the water. The land of Jambudvīpa is within the water, deep like Mount Sumeru; the meaning is very difficult to fathom. The seven golden mountains successively double smaller than Sumeru; why would this continent alone be exceptionally deep compared to the other kinds? Because the hells are arranged differently, and those with evil karma are numerous, their locations must be vast; why should it be a fault that it is especially deeper than other kinds? Although the Kośa does not state it separately, the Vibhāṣā, fascicle 172, has three explanations. One says: the bottom of Avīci is forty thousand from here; the lower twenty thousand is Avīci; in the nineteen thousand immediately above are the remaining seven sequentially, each measuring ten thousand yojanas in length and breadth (fearing an error, consult the draft text); in the five hundred immediately above is white clay, and five hundred is mud. The second says: Avīci is the same as before; in the thirty-five thousand immediately above are situated the remaining seven, each measuring five thousand in length and breadth; next is one thousand of blue earth, one thousand of yellow earth, one thousand of red earth, one thousand of white earth, five hundred of white clay, and five hundred of mud. The third says: Avīci is in the center, surrounded by the remaining seven. This Jambudvīpa is like a heap of grain, pointed on top and broad at the bottom, so that it can accommodate them. Hence the sūtra states: 'The great waters of the four oceans gradually deepen as one enters.' Although there is no critical assessor, it is not known which one the Kośa adopts; yet observing the flow of the text, the third is correct because it does not contradict; the other explanations all contradict their own school. Now in the Mahāyāna, conforming to reason is best. The eight cold hells correspond to the eight hot hells, being equal in size and measurement; hence they are not separately discussed. Pretas and asuras have already been discussed earlier. That the border hells are not seen also belongs to the text on cold hells; the solitary hells may be likewise.