大乘義章 8.52

8.52

第一釋名。言八難者，一是地獄、二是畜生、三是餓鬼、四盲聾瘖瘂、五世智辯聰、六佛前佛後、七欝單越國、八長壽天。初三後一，就趣彰名。於中初三，全攝三趣，是故直言地獄、畜生、餓鬼難也。第八一難，不盡天趣，長壽別之，是故名為長壽天難。盲聾瘖瘂、世智辯聰，當體立稱，正用盲聾、世智辯聰以為難故。佛前佛後，就時彰目。欝單一難，處別為號。此之八種，能礙聖道，故名為難（此一門竟）。

First, explaining the names. As for the eight difficulties: the first is hell; the second is animals; the third is hungry ghosts; the fourth is blindness, deafness, muteness, and lameness; the fifth is worldly knowledge and辯eloquence; the sixth is before or after a Buddha; the seventh is the continent of Uttarakuru; the eighth is the long-lived gods. The first three and the last one reveal their names according to the destinies. Among them, the first three completely encompass the three destinies; therefore they are directly called the difficulty of hell, the difficulty of animals, and the difficulty of hungry ghosts. The eighth difficulty does not exhaust the heavenly destiny, but is differentiated by long life; therefore it is called the difficulty of the long-lived gods. 'Blindness, deafness, muteness, and lameness' and 'worldly knowledge and dialectical eloquence' establish their designations according to their actual entity, because it is precisely blindness, deafness, and worldly knowledge and dialectical eloquence that constitute the difficulty. 'Before or after a Buddha' reveals its designation according to time. The single difficulty of Uttarakuru takes its title from a specific place. Because these eight kinds can obstruct the noble path, they are called difficulties. (This concludes the first gate.)