慈悲道場懺法 4.27

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: