華嚴經內章門等雜孔目章 2.65

2.65

三界者，眾生果報分段依處。分齊有三：從阿鼻獄至他化天男女參居，多諸染欲，故曰欲界；從初禪梵天至阿迦膩吒天，竝無女形，亦無欲染，宮殿高大，是色化生，故名色界；從無邊空處至非想非非想天，但有四心，無色形質，故名無色界。於此三界，凡聖麁細出沒不同，有其四種：一者繫業分段三界、二者不繫業分段三界、三者餘習變易三界、四者不捨世間變易三界。問：變易及不捨世間同無流法，因何在三界？答：變易等身，為慈悲故，在於世間。如《涅槃經》說「常樂我淨，能以大悲還入世間。」故在三界。此三界中，大分天位有二十八：欲界六；色界十八，離廣果天、出無想天，成十八；無色有四。此中義相名數麁細竝皆不同，當知一乘三乘小乘等義竝皆差別。如《華嚴經》，四天王天、三十三天、夜摩天、兜率陀天、化樂天、他化自在天；梵天、梵身天、梵輔天、梵眷屬天、大梵天、光天、少光天、無量光天、光音天、淨天、少淨天、無量淨天、遍淨天、密身天、少密身天、無量密身天、密果天，此中不開無想天，不煩天、不熱天、善現天、善見天、色究竟天；空處天、識處天、無所有處天、非想非非想天，加其四天。總三十二天。又《正法念經》云「從阿鼻獄至非想天，於中麁細眾生，次第相疊，間無空處。」據此因緣，一類眾生即不可說其分齊。《法華經》云「此土常安穩」，當知三界內有麁細眾生，麁者見劫壞、細者常安穩。佛所以不同說，欲顯眾生界無盡。乃至因陀羅微細等義，竝皆不同。小乘三界唯一同壞，初教三界其義即空，終教三界即如無分別，一乘三界所謂無盡無分別。餘義如別章。

The three realms are the bases of the portion-divided karmic fruition of sentient beings. Their demarcations are three: from the Avīci hell up to the Paranimmitavasavatti heaven, where men and women cohabitate and there are many defiled desires, it is called the desire realm; from the Brahmā heaven of the first dhyāna up to the Akaniṣṭha heaven, where there are no female forms, no defilement of desire, the palaces are lofty and vast, and beings are born by transformation from form, it is called the form realm; from the sphere of boundless space up to the heaven of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, where there are only the four mental [aggregates] and no physical form or matter, it is called the formless realm. Within these three realms, the appearance and disappearance, coarse and subtle, of ordinary beings and sages are different, having four kinds: first, the portion-divided three realms bound to karma; second, the portion-divided three realms not bound to karma; third, the inconceivable transformation three realms of residual habit-energies; fourth, the inconceivable transformation three realms of not abandoning the world. Question: Since transformation [death] and not abandoning the world are both uncontaminated dharmas, why are they in the three realms? Answer: Bodies of transformation and the like remain in the world for the sake of compassion. As the Nirvāṇa Sūtra states: 'With permanence, bliss, self, and purity, one is able, by great compassion, to re-enter the world.' Therefore they are in the three realms. Within these three realms, the broad division of heavenly stations has twenty-eight: six in the desire realm; eighteen in the form realm—excluding the Bṛhatphala heaven and taking out the Asaṃjñisattva heaven, making eighteen; the formless has four. Herein, the characteristics of meaning, enumerations, coarse and subtle, are all completely different; one should know that the meanings in the Ekayāna, Triyāna, and Hīnayāna are all differentiated. As in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra: the heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings, the heaven of the Thirty-Three, the Yāma heaven, the Tuṣita heaven, the Nirmāṇarati heaven, the Paranirmitavaśavartin heaven; the Brahmā heaven, the Brahmapāriṣadya heaven, the Brahmapurohita heaven, the Brahmakāyika heaven, the Mahābrahmā heaven, the Ābhā heaven, the Parīttābha heaven, the Apramāṇābha heaven, the Ābhāsvara heaven, the Śubha heaven, the Parīttaśubha heaven, the Apramāṇaśubha heaven, the Śubhakṛtsna heaven, the Sandrahāva heaven, the Parīttasandrahāva heaven, the Apramāṇasandrahāva heaven, the Bṛhatphala heaven—herein the Asaṃjñisattva heaven is not opened up—the Avṛha heaven, the Atapa heaven, the Sudṛśa heaven, the Sudarśana heaven, the Akaniṣṭha heaven; the heaven of the sphere of space, the heaven of the sphere of consciousness, the heaven of the sphere of nothingness, the heaven of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, adding these four heavens. In total, there are thirty-two heavens. Furthermore, the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna Sūtra states: 'From the Avīci hell up to the heaven of neither-perception, coarse and subtle sentient beings are stacked in succession within them, without any empty space in between.' According to this principle, one cannot speak of the demarcation of a single class of sentient beings. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra states: 'This land is ever peaceful.' One should know that within the three realms there are coarse and subtle sentient beings: the coarse see the kalpa destroyed, while the subtle are ever peaceful. That the Buddha taught differently was intended to reveal the inexhaustibility of the realm of sentient beings. Up to the meanings of Indra's subtle [net] and so forth, they are all entirely different. In the Hīnayāna the three realms are solely and uniformly destroyed; in the initial teaching the meaning of the three realms is empty; in the final teaching the three realms are thusness without discrimination; in the Ekayāna the three realms are the so-called inexhaustible and nondiscriminative. The remaining meanings are as in a separate essay.