慈悲道場懺法 4

English (machine translation) 4

Language: English

4.1

The Remainder on Revealing Karmic Retribution

Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa, renew your utmost sincerity, and with single-minded devotion listen attentively! The Buddha was in the Karanda Bamboo Grove at Rājagṛha. At that time, Maudgalyāyana arose from dhyāna and wandered by the banks of the Gaṅgā River, where he saw various hungry ghosts suffering different retributions. Thereupon, the hungry ghosts each gave rise to a respectful mind and came to ask Maudgalyāyana about their past causes and conditions. One ghost asked, saying: “Throughout my life I have always been tormented by hunger and thirst, and wished to go to the latrine to take excrement and eat it. But a powerful ghost at the latrine struck me with a staff, so I could never get near it. What sin caused this?”
Maudgalyāyana answered, saying: “When you were a human, you were the director of a Buddhist monastery. A guest monk came to the monastery to beg for food, but you were stingy and begrudged giving food to the guest, waiting until the guest had departed before serving the resident monks. Because you lacked virtue and begrudged the saṅgha's property, you incurred this retribution due to these causes and conditions. This is your flower retribution; your fruit will be in hell.”

4.3

Furthermore, a ghost asked Maudgalyāyana: "Throughout my entire life, I have had a large bronze cauldron upon my shoulders filled with molten copper. I scoop it out with a ladle and pour it over my own head, suffering pain that is unbearable. What sin has caused this?" Maudgalyāyana answered: "When you were a human, you acted as the monastery's karmadāna (weina) in charge of the affairs of the monastic community. There was a jar of clarified butter that you hid away in a secluded place, failing to distribute it in accordance with the proper time. You waited until the guest monks had departed and only then distributed it to the permanent residents. Clarified butter is property of the cāturdiśa-saṅgha (monastery of the four quarters), in which all have a share. Because you acted unrighteously and begrudged the communal goods, you have incurred this retribution through these causes and conditions. This present state is merely your preliminary blossom retribution; your full fruit will be in hell."

4.4

Furthermore, a ghost asked Maudgalyāyana: "Throughout my entire life, I have constantly swallowed red-hot iron pellets. What sin has caused this?" Maudgalyāyana answered: "When you were a human, you were a śrāmaṇera. You took pure water to make rock-sugar syrup. The rock sugar was hard and large; you gave rise to a mind of theft and chipped off a small piece, stealing a mouthful to drink before the monastic community had partaken of it. Through these causes and conditions, you have incurred this retribution. This is merely your preliminary blossom retribution; your full fruit will be in hell."

4.5

Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! What Maudgalyāyana witnessed is truly terrifying. We too may well have committed such sins in the past, yet covered by ignorance, we do not recall or know them ourselves. Since we possess such immeasurable sinful karmas that will cause us to undergo retributions of suffering in future lives, today, with utmost sincerity and singular, profound sorrow, we prostrate with the five limbs touching the ground in shame and remorse to repent, praying and beseeching that they be eradicated. Furthermore, on behalf of all hungry ghosts throughout the ten directions to the ends of space, we seek mercy and repent; also, respectfully on behalf of our parents, teachers, and elders, we seek mercy and repent; also, on behalf of the senior, middle, and junior seats who serve as venerable witnesses at this altar, we seek mercy and repent; and also, on behalf of good and bad spiritual friends, extending broadly to all limitless and endless sentient beings of the four modes of birth and six destinies throughout the ten directions, we seek mercy and repent. May the sins already committed be eliminated through this present [repentance], and may we not dare to commit again the sins not yet done. We look up and pray to all the Buddhas of the ten directions:

4.6

Homage to Maitreya Buddha.
Homage to Śākyamuni Buddha.
Homage to Krakucchanda Buddha.
Homage to Kanakamuni Buddha.
Homage to Kāśyapa Buddha.
Homage to Siṃha Buddha.
Homage to Arciṣmat Buddha.
Homage to Muni Buddha.
Homage to Supuṣpa Buddha.
Homage to Kusuma Buddha.
Homage to Sunakṣatra Buddha.
Homage to Pariṇāyaka Buddha.
Homage to Mahābāhu Buddha.
Homage to Mahābala Buddha.
Homage to Nakṣatrarāja Buddha.
Homage to Bhaiṣajyābhirāma Buddha.
Homage to Nāmasaṃjña Buddha.
Homage to Mahāprabhā Buddha.
Homage to Jvalitaskandha Buddha.
Homage to Prabhākara Buddha.
Homage to Sūryagarbha Buddha.
Homage to Candra Buddha.
Homage to Arcis-samūha Buddha.
Homage to Suprabhāsa Buddha.
Homage to Aśoka Buddha.
Homage to Siṃhavikrīḍita Bodhisattva.
Homage to Siṃhavikrāmin Bodhisattva.
Homage to Anantakāya Bodhisattva.
Homage to Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva.
Homage to the Buddha.
Homage to the Dharma.
Homage to the Saṅgha.

4.7

With great compassion and loving-kindness, rescue and extricate all sentient beings throughout the ten directions who are presently undergoing the sufferings of the realm of hungry ghosts; furthermore, we pray that You rescue and extricate all sentient beings of the hells, animal realm, and human realm throughout the ten directions from their immeasurable multitude of sufferings, causing all sentient beings to immediately attain liberation, sever the karmas of the three hindrances, be free from the five fears, cleanse their minds with the eight liberations, shelter beings with the four great vows, personally behold the Compassionate Countenance to receive and uphold the wondrous teachings, and permanently exhaust all outflows without rising from their original seats. Responding naturally according to thought to reach across all Buddha lands, may their vows and practices quickly reach completion and may they swiftly accomplish samyaksambodhi. (One prostration)

4.8

Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! Once again, with utmost sincerity and single-mindedness, listen carefully. At that time, the Buddha was in Rājagṛha. To the southeast of the city was a pool of water into which feces, urine, and all filth drained; it was so foul that none could approach it. There was a giant worm that lived in this water, several zhang in length and devoid of hands and feet, twisting and writhing up and down, observed by thousands of spectators. Ānanda went and saw it, and reported it fully to the Buddha. The Buddha and the great assembly went together to the site of the pool. The assembly thought: "Today, the Tathāgata will surely explain to the gathering the origins of this worm." The Buddha told the assembly: "After the parinirvāṇa of Vipaśyin Buddha, there was a monastery at that time with a stūpa. Five hundred monks passed through the monastery. The monastery master was delighted, inviting them to stay and offering them provisions, exerting his full heart to provide meals without holding back anything. Later, five hundred merchants, having gone into the sea to gather jewels, returned and passed by the stūpa monastery. Seeing the five hundred monks diligently practicing the Path, each of them gave rise to faith and joyfully deliberated together: 'A field of merit is hard to encounter; we should make a modest offering.' Each person gave up one pearl, yielding five hundred maṇi jewels which were entrusted to the monastery master. Later, an unwholesome thought arose in the monastery master: he plotted to keep them for himself alone and not provide the offerings. The assembly asked: 'The merchants offered the pearls; you ought to provide the offerings.' The monastery master replied: 'These pearls were given to me. If you wish to seize the pearls, I can give you feces! If you do not leave immediately, I will cut off your hands and feet and cast them into the cesspool!' The assembly, considering his folly, departed silently. Due to this evil sin, he received the body of this worm, and afterward he will enter hell to suffer manifold agonies once more."

4.9

While the Buddha was in Rājagṛha, he also saw a sentient being whose tongue was vast and long, with iron nails driven into the tongue from which blazing fire flared up, enduring severe agony all day and all night. Maudgalyāyana asked the Buddha: "What sin's retribution causes him to undergo this suffering now?" The Buddha answered Maudgalyāyana: "In the past, this person once served as a monastery master. He scolded and drove away visiting monks, not giving them food or drink and not allowing them to share in offerings. Through these causes and conditions, he has incurred this retribution." There was also a sentient being whose body was vast and long, with a cauldron on his head blazing with fire, filled with molten copper pouring out from all four sides over his body, walking through empty space without rest. Maudgalyāyana asked the Buddha: "What sin causes him to undergo this suffering now?" The Buddha answered Maudgalyāyana: "In the past, this person served as an administrative officer (karmadāna/zhishi) of a monastery. When a dānapati sent oil, he did not distribute it to the guest monks, but waited until the guests had left and only then distributed it to the permanent residents. Through these causes and conditions, he has incurred this retribution."

4.10

There was yet another sentient being through whose body a blazing iron pellet entered from above and exited from below, walking through empty space with agony unbearable. Maudgalyāyana asked the Buddha: "What sin causes him to undergo this suffering now?" The Buddha answered Maudgalyāyana: "In the past, this person was a śrāmaṇera who stole seven fruits from the monastic community's orchard. Upon death, he entered hell and underwent immeasurable suffering. Because the residual karma is not yet exhausted, he has incurred this retribution."

4.11

He also saw a great fish with one body and a hundred heads, each head different, trapped in another's net. After the Bhagavat saw it, he entered the samādhi of loving-kindness and called out to the fish; the fish immediately responded. The Bhagavat asked: "Where is your mother?" It replied: "My mother is in the latrine as a worm." The Buddha said to the monks: "This great fish, at the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, was a Tripiṭaka monk who, due to harsh speech, received the retribution of having many heads. His mother at that time enjoyed his offerings and benefits; through these causes and conditions, she became a worm in the latrine." The Buddha said: "Those who receive such retributions do so entirely because of sentient beings' harsh and aggressive speech, carrying tales between parties and stirring up strife between two households. Upon death they enter hell; the hell wardens heat iron spatulas until they are red-hot inside and out to sear their tongues; they also heat iron hooks, each having three blades as sharp as sword-points, to sever their tongues; they also use oxen and plows to furrow their tongues; and they heat iron pestles to pierce their throats. Only after hundreds of millions of kalpas, when their sins are exhausted, are they reborn among birds and beasts." The Buddha said: "If there are sentient beings who slander sovereigns, parents, teachers, and elders, their sins exceed even this."

4.12

Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! Hearing these words of the Buddha is greatly terrifying. Now the two paths of good and evil are as clear as day, and the retributions of sin and merit are understood beyond doubt; we must only exert our utmost efforts to diligently practice repentance. Together, we have opened the scriptures and seen these matters in full. If we do not make earnest efforts and instead slacken and regress even slightly, how can what we are doing today be accomplished? It is like a starving person who fixes his mind on a hundred delicacies; in the end it brings no relief to his hunger and distress. Thus we know that those who wish to seek the supreme, wondrous Dharma and wish to deliver sentient beings cannot remain merely within their thoughts. Since the matter is in one's mind, one should exert oneself to diligently put it into practice. Together, with utmost sincerity and singular, profound sorrow, prostrating with the five limbs touching the ground, let us seek mercy and prostrate in repentance on behalf of all sentient beings in the hells, hungry ghost realm, animal realm, and human realm; and also on behalf of parents, teachers, elders, good and bad spiritual friends, as well as all of our own kin, let us seek mercy and prostrate in repentance. May the sins already committed be eliminated, and may we not dare to commit again the sins not yet done. We look up and pray to the great, compassionate Father of the world:

4.13

Homage to Maitreya Buddha.
Homage to Śākyamuni Buddha.
Homage to Tiṣya Buddha.
Homage to Prabhākara Buddha.
Homage to Mālādhara Buddha.
Homage to Guṇaprabha Buddha.
Homage to Arthadarśin Buddha.
Homage to Dīpaprabha Buddha.
Homage to Samṛddha Buddha.
Homage to Bhaiṣajyarāja Buddha.
Homage to Sukomalāṅga Buddha.
Homage to Ūrṇā Buddha.
Homage to Dṛḍha Buddha.
Homage to Puṇyatejas Buddha.
Homage to Abhedya Buddha.
Homage to Guṇalakṣaṇa Buddha.
Homage to Rāhula Buddha.
Homage to Gaṇādhipa Buddha.
Homage to Brahmaghoṣa Buddha.
Homage to Dṛḍhakoṭi Buddha.
Homage to Anunnata Buddha.
Homage to Prabhākara Buddha.
Homage to Mahāśaila Buddha.
Homage to Vajra Buddha.
Homage to Gaṇanāyaka Buddha.
Homage to Abhaya Buddha.
Homage to Ratna Buddha.
Homage to Siṃhadhvaja Bodhisattva.
Homage to Siṃhakṛti Bodhisattva.
Homage to Anantakāya Bodhisattva.
Homage to Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva.

4.14

Through the power of compassion and loving-kindness, the power of great wisdom, the inconceivable power, and the immeasurable power of sovereign ease, deliver all sentient beings of the six destinies, eradicate all sufferings of the six destinies, and cause all sentient beings to completely sever the sinful karmas of the three wretched paths, ultimately never again committing the five heinous offenses or ten unwholesome deeds to fall anew into the three wretched paths. From this day forward, may they abandon lives of bitter retribution and attain birth in pure lands; abandon lifespans of bitter retribution and attain lifespans of wisdom; abandon bodies of bitter retribution and attain vajra-like bodies; abandon the sufferings of evil destinies and attain the bliss of nirvāṇa; minding the suffering of evil destinies, generate the bodhicitta; may the four immeasurables and six pāramitās constantly manifest before them; may the four analytical knowledges and six supernormal knowledges be attained with sovereign ease as desired; and, being courageous and diligent without rest or cessation, even advance in practice to fulfill the stages of the ten bhūmis, and furthermore be able to deliver all sentient beings. (One prostration)

4.15

Part Two: Emerging from Hell (Having fully recounted causes, conditions, and karmic retributions above, showing that due to unwholesome karma beings fall into evil destinies, we now consecutively reveal the gate of hell.)

4.16

Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! Although the ten thousand dharmas differ in rank and their functions are not identical, when it comes to the contrast between light and dark, there are only good and evil. Speaking of good, there are the supreme fruits of humans and devas; recounting evil, there are the severe retributions of the three wretched paths. These two matters are laid out in the world, distinct, evident, and not false. Yet those who are foolish and deluded mostly give rise to doubts and dissent, sometimes claiming that humans and devas are arbitrary fabrications and that hells are not true teachings, failing to infer the cause to verify the fruit, or failing to examine the fruit to trace the cause. Having failed to distinguish cause and effect, each clings to worldly understanding; not only do they discourse on emptiness and expound on existence, but they even compose chapters and write treatises, their minds straying from supreme goodness while never admitting error, and even if instructed and admonished, their clinging becomes ever more stubborn. Such persons throw themselves into the evil destinies; as quickly as an arrow shot, they fall into hell, where compassionate parents and filial children cannot save one another. They can only advance into the fiery cauldrons, where body and mind are crushed and their spirits suffer agonizing torment. At such a time, how could regret be of any avail?

4.17

Today, members of the assembly sharing this karmic endeavor! Good and evil condition each other just like shadows and echoes; punishments and blessings fall in different places, each having been strictly determined in advance. Fortunately, each of you clearly believes this without harboring any doubts. What is meant by hell? The sūtras state: The pitch-black darkness between the two enclosing mountains of the Great Iron Ring in the trichiliocosm is called hell. The iron city is sixteen million li in length and breadth, with eighty-four thousand compartments within the city. Below, iron forms the ground; above, iron forms a net. Fire burns this city so that inside and out it is blazing red; the fire above penetrates below, and the fire below penetrates above. Their names include: Assembling Darkness, Knife Wheels and Sword Forests, Iron Traps and Thorn Forests, Iron Nets and Iron Caves, Iron Pellets and Sharp Stones, Charcoal Pits and Burning Forests, Tigers, Wolves, and Shrieking, Cauldrons of Boiling Liquid and Ovens of Embers, Mountains of Knives and Trees of Swords, Fire Mills and Fire Cities, Bronze Pillars and Iron Beds, Fire Carts and Fire Wheels, Drinking Molten Bronze and Vomiting Fire, Great Heat and Great Cold, Ripping Tongues and Nailing Bodies, Plowing and Ax Hacking, Weapons of War and Butchering Mutilation, Ash Rivers and Boiling Excrement, Freezing Ice and Mud, Foolish Weeping, Deafness, Blindness, Mutism, and Dumbness, and Iron Hooks and Iron Beaks. There are furthermore the Greater and Lesser Nirayas, and the Avīci Hell. The Buddha said to Ānanda: "Why is it called the Avīci Hell? 'A' means without; 'vīci' means obstruction. 'A' means without; 'vīci' means rescue. Together they mean 'without obstruction and without rescue.' Furthermore, 'A' means without intermission (avīci); 'vīci' means without motion. 'A' means extreme heat; 'vīci' means extreme torment. 'A' means not at leisure; 'vīci' means not abiding; not at leisure and not abiding is named the Avīci Hell. Furthermore, 'A' means great blaze; 'vīci' means fierce heat; fierce fire entering the heart is named the Avīci Hell." The Buddha said to Ānanda: "The Avīci Hell is exactly three hundred and twenty thousand li in length and breadth, with seven tiers of iron walls and seven layers of iron nets. Below are eighteen compartments, completely encircled in seven tiers, all possessing forests of knives. Inside the seven tiers of walls are further forests of swords. The eighteen compartments below each have eighty-four thousand layers. At its four corners are four great bronze dogs, whose bodies are sixteen thousand li in length and height, with eyes like lightning flashes, fangs like sword trees, teeth like knife mountains, and tongues like iron thorns; all the hairs on their bodies emit fierce fire. Their smoke is foul and repulsive, such that no foul substance in the world can serve as an analogy. There are also eighteen hell wardens with heads like rākṣasa heads and mouths like yakṣa mouths, each with sixty-four eyes, their eyes shooting forth iron pellets the size of ten-li carts. Their hooked fangs protrude upward to a height of one hundred and sixty li, and streams of fire from the tips of their fangs burn the iron carts before them, causing each rim of the iron carts' wheels to transform into a hundred million fires, with blades, edges, swords, and halberds all emerging from the blazes. Streams of fire such as these burn the city of Avīci, making the city of Avīci red like molten bronze. On the heads of the hell wardens are eight ox heads; each ox head has eighteen horns, and from the tip of each horn bursts forth a mass of fire. The masses of fire further transform into eighteen fire rims, and the fire rims further turn into great knife wheels as large as cart wheels; wheel after wheel in succession amidst the blazes fills the Avīci Hell. The bronze dogs open their mouths and stick their tongues out onto the ground, their tongues like iron thorns; when their tongues come out, they transform into countless tongues filling the city of Avīci. Inside the seven tiers of walls are seven iron banners; from the tops of the banners fire surges like a boiling spring, its molten iron splashing forth and filling the city of Avīci. In the four gates of Avīci, above the thresholds of the gates, are eighteen cauldrons; boiling bronze wells forth and overflows from the gates, filling the city of Avīci. Between each compartment are eighty-four thousand great iron pythons and serpents, spewing poison and fire, their bodies filling the interior of the city. These serpents roar like thunder in the heavens, raining down great iron pellets that fill the city of Avīci. The agonizing torments in the city number eighty thousand billion thousand; the bitterest of all bitters gather in this city. There are also fifty billion insects, each insect possessing eighty-four thousand beaks; from the tips of their beaks streams of fire fall like rain, filling the city of Avīci. When these insects descend, the fierce fire of Avīci blazes with great fury; its red radiant blazes shine for three million three hundred and sixty thousand li. Surging upward from the Avīci Hell, it strikes the Great Ocean down beneath Mount Wojiao; droplets of seawater as large as cart axles turn into great iron spikes that fill the city of Avīci."

4.18

The Buddha said to Ānanda: "If there are sentient beings who kill their fathers, harm their mothers, or revile and disgrace their six relations, when those who commit these crimes approach the end of their lives, the bronze dogs open their mouths and transform into eighteen carts, resembling golden carts with jeweled canopies above them, and all the blazes transform into jade maidens. The sinners see them from afar and give rise to joy in their hearts, thinking: 'I want to go inside! I want to go inside!' The wind-knives dismember their bodies, and shivering with extreme cold they cry out: 'If only I could get some good fire to sit on in the cart and warm myself by burning fire!' Having formed this thought, their lives immediately end. In an instant, they are already seated in the golden carts. Looking at the jade maidens, they see them all brandishing iron axes to chop and sever their bodies. Beneath their bodies fire blazes up like a whirling firebrand; just like a strong person flexing or extending an arm, they plunge straight down into the Great Hell of Avīci. From the upper compartment down to the lower compartment they spin like a whirling firebrand, their bodies filling the compartment. The bronze dogs roar loudly, biting their bones and sucking their marrow. The rākṣasa hell wardens take great iron forks, forking them by their heads to make them rise, their entire bodies ablaze with flames filling the city of Avīci, while the iron nets rain down knives that enter through their pores. A manifested King Yama commands them in a loud voice: 'Foolish persons, hell-seed! While you were in the world, you were unfilial to your parents and deviously arrogant without the Way. The place where you are born now is called the Avīci Hell. You did not recognize kindness and had no shame or conscience; is experiencing this torment and anguish pleasurable or not?' Having spoken these words, he vanishes and is no longer seen. At that time, the hell wardens drive the sinners again from the lower compartment up to the upper compartment, passing through the eighty-four thousand compartments, dragging their bodies along until they reach the iron net, taking a full day and night to traverse it completely. A single day and night in the Avīci Hell equals sixty small kalpas in the solar, lunar, and annual reckoning of this Jambudvīpa, and their lifespan lasts for an entire great kalpa. Sinners guilty of the five heinous offenses have no shame and no conscience; having committed the five heinous offenses, by virtue of these crimes, when their lives come to an end, eighteen wind-knives like iron fire-carts dismember and sever their bodies. Tormented by intense heat, they then say: 'If only I could find lovely flowers and a cool, great tree to play beneath, would that not be delightful!' When they form this thought, the eighty-four thousand terrible sword forests of the Avīci Hell transform into jeweled trees, their flowers and fruits flourishing and standing in rows before them, while the fiercely hot blazes transform into lotus flowers beneath those trees. Seeing them, the sinners say: 'What I desired has now borne fruit!' As soon as they utter these words, faster than torrential rain they sit upon the lotus flowers. Soon after they sit, various iron-beaked insects arise from the fire-blossoms, boring through bones and entering marrow, piercing the heart and perforating the brain. When they climb the trees, all the sword branches shave their flesh down to the bone, and countless knife forests descend from above. Fire carts, charcoal pits, and the eighteen torments arrive all at once to greet them. When these signs appear, they sink and plunge beneath the earth. Rising from the lower compartment, their bodies spread out like blossoming flowers, filling the lower compartment; from the lower compartment the fierce fire blazes up to the upper compartment. Arriving at the upper compartment, their bodies fill it, and pressed by scorching torment, they widen their eyes and stick out their tongues. Due to this person's sins, tens of billions of measures of molten bronze and hundreds of thousands of knife wheels fall from the sky, entering through the head and exiting through the feet. All the agonies surpass what was spoken above a hundred thousand myriad-fold. Those fully guilty of the five heinous offenses undergo punishment for five full kalpas. Furthermore, there are sentient beings who break the Buddha's prohibitive precepts, consume the offerings of the faithful in vain, hold slandering and deviant views, fail to recognize cause and effect, abandon the study of prajñā, defame the Buddhas of the ten directions, steal property of the Buddha and the Dharma, engage in various foul and impure conduct, lack shame and conscience, insult and dishonor their kin, and commit a multitude of evil deeds. As retribution for their sins, when their lives approach the end, the wind-knives dismember their bodies; they toss and turn without rest, as though being whipped and thrashed. Their minds become deranged, producing mad and foolish thoughts; they see their own houses, men, women, young and old, as nothing but impure filth, with feces, urine, and foul stenches overflowing outside. At that time, the sinner says: 'Why is there no fine city or splendid mountain forest here for me to roam and play in, instead of having to dwell amidst such impurities?' Having spoken these words, the rākṣasa hell wardens lift the Avīci Hell and its knife forests on great iron forks, transforming them into jeweled trees and cool pools, the blazes into golden-leaved lotus flowers, the iron-beaked insects into ducks and geese, and the screams of hell into the sound of singing. Hearing this, the sinner thinks: 'I will go and roam in such a wonderful place!' With this thought, they instantly sit upon the fiery lotus flowers; various iron-beaked insects burrow through their pores and devour their flesh, hundreds of thousands of iron wheels enter from the crowns of their heads, and iron forks as numerous as the sands of the Ganges gouge out their eyes. The bronze dogs of hell transform into ten billion iron dogs, competing to tear apart their bodies, snatching their hearts to eat. In an instant, their bodies spread like iron flowers filling the eighteen compartments, each petal numbering eighty-four thousand, with bodies, hands, and limbs on each petal tip within a compartment. The hell is not large, yet this body is not small, filling this entire great hell. These sinners fall into this hell and pass through eighty-four thousand great kalpas. When this niraya is exhausted, they enter the eighteen compartments of the east, undergoing suffering as before. This Avīci Hell likewise has eighteen compartments in the south, eighteen compartments in the west, and eighteen compartments in the north. Slandering the Vaipulya sūtras, completing the five heinous offenses, destroying the noble and holy, and severing all wholesome roots—such sinners, having accumulated a multitude of crimes, have their bodies fill the Avīci Hell, their four limbs filling the eighteen compartments. This Avīci Hell burns only sentient beings who are of such hell-seed. When the kalpa is about to end, the eastern gate opens, and outside the eastern gate, clear springs, running streams, flowers, fruits, and forest groves all appear together. When these sinners see this from the lower compartment, the fire in their eyes briefly subsides. Rising from the lower compartment, twisting and crawling on their bellies, dragging their bodies along, they run up into the upper compartment, grasping knife wheels with their hands while hot iron pellets rain down from the sky. They run toward the eastern gate, and once they reach the threshold, the rākṣasa hell wardens grasp iron forks and stab them backward through their eyes, and bronze dogs bite their hearts so that they swoon and die; having died, they revive. Seeing the southern gate open, it is no different from before; the western and northern gates are also like this. They spend half a kalpa in this manner. Dying in the Avīci Hell, they are reborn in the Hell of Freezing Ice; dying in the Hell of Freezing Ice, they are born in a place of pitch darkness, seeing nothing with their eyes for eighty million years. Assuming the bodies of large worms, twisting and crawling on their bellies, their senses darkened and blocked with no understanding, hundreds of thousands of foxes and wolves drag, tear, and eat them. After their lives end, they are born among the animals, undergoing the forms of birds and beasts for fifty million lifetimes. When their retribution is finished in this way, they are reborn among humans, adorned with deafness, blindness, mutism, dumbness, scabies, leprosy, boils, ulcers, poverty, baseness, and all manner of decline. Experiencing such lowly forms for five hundred lifetimes, they are subsequently reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts. In the realm of hungry ghosts, they encounter kalyāṇamitras, great bodhisattvas, who rebuke them, saying: 'In your past bodies across immeasurable lifetimes, you committed boundless crimes, slandering and lacking faith, and fell into the Avīci Hell, undergoing torments and anguishes that cannot be fully recounted. You should now generate a mind of compassion and loving-kindness.' When the hungry ghosts hear these words, they chant, 'Namo Buddhāya.' Relying on the power of the Buddha's grace, they immediately die and are born in the abode of the Four Heavenly Kings. Having been born in that heaven, they repent their faults, reproach themselves, and generate the bodhicitta. The radiant light of the Buddhas' minds does not abandon them; it gathers and embraces them, holding them in loving pity as though they were Rāhula, teaching them to avoid hell just as one cherishes one's own eyes." The Buddha said to the Great King: "If you wish to know what the radiant light of the Buddha's mind illuminates, it constantly illuminates such suffering sentient beings who are without intermission and without rescue. That which the Buddha's mind contemplates constantly contemplates such extremely evil sentient beings. Because the Buddha's mind-power adorns itself, across kalpas beyond reckoning, it causes those evil persons to generate the bodhicitta."

4.19

Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! Having heard the Buddha, the Bhagavat, expound the various sufferings above, we ought all the more to collect our minds and not give rise to heedlessness. If together we are not once again diligent in skillful means and practicing the bodhisattva path, then in each and every hell we will have a share of guilt. Today, equally on behalf of all sentient beings presently enduring the sufferings of the Avīci Hell and the like, all sentient beings who will endure the sufferings of the Avīci Hell and the like, and broadly extending to all sentient beings, infinite and inexhaustible, presently enduring and destined to endure [suffering in] all the hells throughout the ten directions, with identical acute sorrow, let us throw our five limbs to the ground, taking refuge in the Great Compassionate Father of the world:

4.20

Namo Maitreya Buddha. Namo the Seven Buddhas. Namo the Ten Buddhas of the Ten Directions. Namo the Thirty-Five Buddhas. Namo the Fifty-Three Buddhas. Namo the One Hundred and Seventy Buddhas. Namo the Thousand Buddhas of the Glorious Kalpa. Namo the Thousand Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa. Namo the Thousand Buddhas of the Nakṣatrakalpa. Namo the Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas of the Ten Directions. Namo the Twelve Bodhisattvas. Namo Anantakāya Bodhisattva. Namo Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva.

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We also take refuge in the immeasurable images throughout the ten directions and exhaustively to the ends of empty space: the golden image of King Udayana, the sandalwood image, the bronze image of King Aśoka, the stone image of Wuzhong, the jade image of Siṃhala, and within all lands the gold images, silver images, vaidūrya images, coral images, amber images, tridacna images, agate images, pearl images, maṇi jewel images, and purple-tinged, finest Jambūnada gold images;

4.22

We also return our lives to all the hair stūpas, all the tooth stūpas, all the canine-tooth stūpas, all the nail stūpas, all the uṣṇīṣa bone stūpas, all the bodily relic stūpas, kāṣāya stūpas, spoon and alms-bowl stūpas, water-pot stūpas, and khakkhara stūpas of the Tathāgatas of the ten directions, and all such objects used in the Buddha's work;

4.23

We also return our lives to the stūpas of the places where the Buddhas were born, attained the Way, turned the wheel of the Dharma, and entered parinirvāṇa; the stūpa of Prabhūtaratna Buddha; the eighty-four thousand stūpas erected by King Aśoka; the stūpas in the heavens; the stūpas in the human realm; and all the jewel stūpas within the palaces of the dragon kings. We also take refuge in all the Buddhas throughout the ten directions and exhaustively to the ends of empty space;

4.24

We take refuge in all the honored Dharma throughout the ten directions and exhaustively to the ends of empty space;

4.25

We take refuge in all the noble and holy beings throughout the ten directions and exhaustively to the ends of empty space.

4.26

We look up and pray that, united by the power of compassion and loving-kindness, the power of consoling sentient beings, the power of immeasurable sovereignty, and the power of immeasurable great spiritual penetrations, you will embrace and receive us. In the bodhimaṇḍa today, we repent together on behalf of all sentient beings suffering in the great Avīci Hell, up to and including repenting on behalf of the ineffably many sentient beings in all hells throughout the ten directions, as well as repenting today on behalf of our parents, teachers, elders, and all kin. With the water of great compassion, wash away the defilements of sin from all sentient beings presently enduring the suffering of the Avīci Hell and the other hells today, so that they may attain purity; wash away the defilements of sin from those repenting together in the bodhimaṇḍa today, as well as their parents, teachers, elders, and all kin, so that they may attain purity; and furthermore wash away the defilements of sin from all sentient beings of the six destinies, so that they may reach the bodhimaṇḍa and attain ultimate purity. From this day forward until they reach the bodhimaṇḍa, may they all cut off and eradicate the sufferings of the Avīci Hell and the sufferings of the ineffably, ineffably many hells throughout the ten directions and exhaustively to the ends of empty space; may they ultimately never again enter the three wretched paths, ultimately never again fall into hell, and ultimately never again commit the ten unwholesome actions or perpetrate the five heinous sins to suffer various torments. May all of their myriad offenses be utterly extinguished; abandoning rebirth in hell, may they obtain rebirth in the pure lands; abandoning hell life, may they obtain wisdom life; abandoning hell bodies, may they obtain vajra bodies; abandoning hell suffering, may they obtain the joy of nirvāṇa. Recalling the suffering of hell, may they generate the bodhicitta, with the four immeasurables and six pāramitās ever manifesting before them, the four unobstructed eloquence and six spiritual penetrations at their command, perfected in wisdom and practicing the bodhisattva path, courageous and vigorous without rest or pause, up to and including advancing in practice to fulfill the stages of the ten grounds, entering the vajra-like mind to attain equal and perfect awakening, returning to deliver all sentient beings of the ten directions.

4.27

Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! The variegated retributions of suffering in the other various hells cannot be recorded in full; their names and agonizing torments are immeasurable, and as we perused the scriptures together, we have seen these matters in detail. A sutra states: 'Due to a single evil thought, King Yama was put in charge of hell affairs, and the suffering his own body endures is also beyond telling.' Long ago, the Great King Yama was the king of the kingdom of Piśā, and fought against King Vaidhyāśva. His military forces were unequal, so he made a vow: 'May I in a future life become the lord of hell to punish these sinners.' His eighteen ministers and million followers all made the same vow. The king of Piśā was none other than the present King Yama, the eighteen ministers are the present eighteen hell lords, and the million followers are the present ox-headed demons (āpām) and others. All these officials and subordinates are subject to the Heavenly King Vaiśravaṇa of the north. The Dīrgha Āgama states: 'The dwelling place of the Great King Yama is located inside the Vajra Mountains south of Jambudvīpa, with a royal palace six thousand yojanas in length and breadth.' The Hell Sutra states: 'Dwelling among the hells, his palace-city is thirty thousand li in length and breadth, made of copper and iron. Three times a day and three times a night, a great copper caldron full of molten copper spontaneously appears before him. A great hell warden lays the king upon a bed of hot iron, uses iron hooks to pry his mouth open, and pours the molten copper into it, which passes straight through from his throat down to his lower body, leaving nothing unscorched and unrotted. His ministers undergo the same.' The eighteen hell kings are: the first is named Kātyāyana, who oversees the Niraya Hell; the second is named Quzun, who oversees the Mountain of Swords Hell; the third is named Feishou, who oversees the Boiling Sand Hell; the fourth is named Feiqu, who oversees the Boiling Excrement Hell; the fifth is named Kāśya, who oversees the Black Ear Hell; the sixth is named Yicu, who oversees the Fire Cart Hell; the seventh is named Tangwei, who oversees the Boiling Caldron Hell; the eighth is named Tiejaran, who oversees the Iron Bed Hell; the ninth is named Esheng, who oversees the Crags Mountain Hell; the tenth is named Shenyin, who oversees the Cold Ice Hell; the eleventh is named Vikā, who oversees the Skinning Hell; the twelfth is named Yaotou, who oversees the Animal Hell; the thirteenth is named Dibo, who oversees the Weapons Hell; the fourteenth is named Yida, who oversees the Iron Mill Hell; the fifteenth is named Yuetou, who oversees the Cold Ice Hell; the sixteenth is named Chuangu, who oversees the Iron Stakes Hell; the seventeenth is named Shen, who oversees the Maggot Hell; the eighteenth is named Guanshen, who oversees the Molten Copper Hell. Each of these has immeasurable hells as its retinue. Each hell has a warden, and the ox-headed demons are by nature fierce and cruel, without a shred of compassion or forbearance; seeing sentient beings undergo these evil retributions, they worry only that the suffering is not severe enough, they fear only that the cruelty is not fierce enough. Someone asked the hell wardens: 'The suffering sentient beings undergo is exceedingly pitiable, yet you always harbor fierce cruelty and have no compassionate mind.' The hell wardens answered, saying: 'These sinful, evil ones undergoing suffering were unfilial to their parents, slandered the Buddha, slandered the Dharma, slandered all the noble and holy beings, insulted their six relations, despised their teachers and elders, and defamed and framed all beings. With harsh speech and double-tongued speech, flattery, deviousness, and jealousy, they estranged others' kith and kin; with anger, they killed and harmed; with greed, they cheated and deceived; with wrong livelihood, wrong seeking, and wrong views, in indolence and heedlessness they forged myriad enmities. When such people come here to undergo suffering, whenever the day of release arrives, we constantly admonish them: "The extreme suffering here cannot be endured. Now that you are able to get out, do not commit offenses again." Yet these sinners have not the slightest repentance from the start; having gotten out today, in a brief moment they return again, turning round in transmigration without recognizing the pain and suffering, exhausting my strength and wearing me out for these sentient beings, facing them from kalpa to kalpa. Because of this, I have not an ounce of compassion toward these sinners, and therefore inflict agonizing torments on them, hoping that they will know the suffering, know shame, and know remorse, and never return again. Looking at these sentient beings, they can endure the utmost suffering yet will never avoid it, and absolutely will not cultivate goodness to proceed toward nirvāṇa. Since they are ignorant creatures who do not know how to avoid suffering and seek happiness, the severity of their pain is doubled compared to the human realm; how could one give rise to compassion and forbearance toward them?' Today, assembly sharing this karmic endeavor in the bodhimaṇḍa! If we compare this with earthly prisons, we can immediately know that this is truly no empty talk. If someone falls into the gates of prison three times, even their close relatives and associates no longer feel sorrow, not to mention the ox-headed demons; seeing these sentient beings get out and enter again, the torment they bear is protracted, and the relief they gain is momentary. They should only cultivate their minds to change their habits. If they do not repent, they will sink forever into places of suffering, falling into them and experiencing them one after another, entering from suffering into suffering without any rest. Therefore, the enmity and retribution of the three times arise mutually from cause and effect; the two rings of good and evil never cease for a moment, and the signs of retribution are clearly visible. Doing evil brings suffering, which is returned in retribution; in hell they exhaust years and utmost kalpas fully enduring severe suffering. When their hell offenses are exhausted, they fall again into animals; when their animal offenses are exhausted, they are reborn as hungry ghosts. Experiencing immeasurable births and deaths and immeasurable pain like this, how can everyone not practice the Way in time? Today, with identical acute sorrow, let us throw our five limbs to the ground, universally on behalf of the hell kings, ministers, ox-headed demons, and each of their retinues in the hell realm; the hungry ghost spirits and each of their retinues in the hungry ghost realm; the animal spirits and each of their retinues in the animal realm; and broadly extending to all infinite and inexhaustible sentient beings of the ten directions, seeking mercy and repenting, reforming the past and cultivating the future, never doing evil again. May the offenses already committed be eradicated, and offenses not yet committed never be perpetrated again. We only pray that all the Buddhas of the ten directions, with their inconceivable, sovereign spiritual power, will together grant protection and aid, pitied and embraced, causing all sentient beings to attain liberation in due time. We also pray to the Great Compassionate Father of the world:

4.28

Namo Maitreya Buddha. Namo Śākyamuni Buddha. Namo Huari Buddha. Namo Junli Buddha. Namo Huaguang Buddha. Namo Ren'ai Buddha. Namo Daweide Buddha. Namo Fanwang Buddha. Namo Liangming Buddha. Namo Longde Buddha. Namo Jianbu Buddha. Namo Buxujian Buddha. Namo Jingjinde Buddha. Namo Shanshou Buddha. Namo Huanxi Buddha. Namo Buitui Buddha. Namo Shizixiang Buddha. Namo Shengzhi Buddha. Namo Fashi Buddha. Namo Xiwang Buddha. Namo Miaoyu Buddha. Namo Aizuo Buddha. Namo Debi Buddha. Namo Xiangxiang Buddha. Namo Guanshi Buddha. Namo Yunyin Buddha. Namo Shansi Buddha. Namo Siṃhadhvaja Bodhisattva. Namo Siṃhakṛti Bodhisattva. Namo Anantakāya Bodhisattva. Namo Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva.

4.29

With sovereign spiritual power, rescue and pull out the hell kings and ministers of the hell realm, as well as the eighteen partition hells and their retinues of various hells. Such eighteen partition hells each have hells as retinues, including all the ox-headed demons and all suffering sentient beings of all the hells throughout the hell realm; may these sentient beings all attain liberation today, and may the causes of their offenses and the results of their suffering be extinguished together. From this day forward, may they ultimately and forever sever the karma of the hell realm, ultimately never again fall into the three wretched paths; abandoning hell rebirth, may they obtain rebirth in the pure lands; abandoning hell life, may they obtain wisdom life; abandoning hell bodies, may they obtain vajra bodies; abandoning hell suffering, may they obtain the joy of nirvāṇa; abandoning hell suffering, may they generate the bodhicitta, with the four immeasurables and six pāramitās ever manifesting before them, the four unobstructed eloquence and six spiritual penetrations at their command, courageous and vigorous without rest or pause, up to and including advancing in practice to fulfill the stages of the ten grounds, returning to deliver all boundless sentient beings, entering the vajra-like mind to attain equal and perfect awakening. (One bow.)

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Repentance Rite of the Compassionate Bodhimaṇḍa, Fascicle 4

Linked texts (1)

慈悲道場懺法 — Classical Chinese