轉經行道願往生淨土法事讚 1.60

1.60

We, the assembly of disciples, from distant kalpas in the past down to this present life and this very day, have in the interim committed such sins, delighting in committing and abundantly creating them immeasurably and boundlessly, capable of causing us to fall into hell with no time of emergence. Therefore the sūtra states: the Avīci Hell, the eighteen Freezing Ice Hells, the eighteen Pitch Darkness Hells, the eighteen Minor Heat Hells, the eighteen Blade-Wheel Hells, the eighteen Sword-Wheel Hells, the eighteen Fire-Cart Hells, the eighteen Boiling Excrement Hells, the eighteen Boiling Cauldron Hells, the eighteen River of Ashes Hells, the fifty billion Blade-Forest Hells, the fifty billion Sword-Forest Hells, the fifty billion Thorn-Forest Hells, the fifty billion Copper-Pillar Hells, the fifty billion Iron-Hook Hells, the fifty billion Iron-Net Hells, the eighteen Iron-Cave Hells, the eighteen Iron-Pellet Hells, the eighteen Fire-Stone Hells, the eighteen Molten-Copper-Drinking Hells, and numerous hells such as these. The Buddha said: The Avīci Hell is eighty thousand yojanas across and long, exactly square, with sevenfold iron walls and seven layers of iron nets. Below are eighteen compartments, encircled by sevenfold blade-forests all around. Within the sevenfold walls there are further sword-forests; the eighteen compartments below have eighty-four thousand tiers. At its four corners there are great copper dogs, their bodies forty yojanas in width and length, their eyes like flashing lightning, their fangs like sword-trees, their teeth like blade-mountains, their tongues like iron thorns, and fierce flames issuing from every hair on their bodies, with an evil stench of smoke such that nothing foul in the world can serve as an analogy. There are eighteen wardens of hell, with heads like rākṣasa heads and mouths like yakṣa mouths, having sixty-four eyes from which iron pellets scatter and burst forth like carts of ten li; their curved fangs jut upward four yojanas high, and streams of fire at the tips of their fangs incinerate the iron carts in front of them, causing each wheel-rim of the iron carts to transform into one hundred million fiery blade-edges, with sharp points, swords, and halberds all emerging from the fire. In this way the flowing fires burn the city of Avīci, making the city of Avīci red like molten copper. On the wardens' heads are eight ox-heads, each ox-head having eighteen horns, and from each horn-tip bursts a mass of fire. The masses of fire further transform into eighteen rims, and the fire-rims further turn into wheels of fiery blades about the size of cart-wheels, wheel after wheel in succession amidst the flames of fire, filling the city of Avīci. The copper dogs open their mouths and spit their tongues out onto the ground, tongues like iron thorns. When their tongues come out, they transform into limitless tongues, filling the city of Avīci. Inside the sevenfold walls are four iron banners, from whose tops fire flows like a gushing fountain, its molten iron splashing and filling the city of Avīci. At the four gates of Avīci, upon the lintels of the gates are eighty caldrons, boiling copper surging forth and overflowing from the gates to fill the city of Avīci. In each compartment are eighty-four thousand great iron pythons, spitting venom and vomiting fire, their bodies filling the interior of the city, their roars like thunder in the heavens, raining down fiery iron pellets that fill the city of Avīci. The agonizing torments of this city number eighty-four thousand billion; the most bitter of bitters are gathered in this city. There are fifty billion worms, each worm with eighty-four thousand beaks, and streams of fire pour from their beaks like rain, filling the city of Avīci. When these worms descend, the fierce fires of Avīci blaze intensely, their red light and flames illuminating eighty-four thousand yojanas, rushing upward from the Avīci Hell to the base of Mount Wojiao beneath the great ocean. The water droplets of the great ocean, the size of axle-trees, turn into great iron flames, filling the city of Avīci. The Buddha said: If there are sentient beings who kill or harm the Three Jewels, steal from or rob the Three Jewels, defile the Three Jewels, deceive the Three Jewels, slander the Three Jewels, or destroy the Three Jewels; who kill or harm their parents, steal from or rob their parents, defile their parents, deceive their parents, slander their parents, or destroy their parents; or who curse and revile their six relations, committing such murderous and rebellious sins, when their lives come to an end, the copper dogs will open their mouths and transform into eighteen carriages, appearing like golden carriages with jeweled canopies above them, and all the flames of fire will turn into jade maidens. Seeing them from afar, the sinners feel delight in their hearts, thinking, 'I wish to go among them, I wish to dwell among them.' When the wind-knives dismember them, freezing in distress, they lose their voices, thinking, 'If only I could get good fire, sit upon the carriage, and kindle a fire to warm myself!' Having formed this thought, their lives immediately end, and in the twinkling of an eye they are already seated in a golden carriage. Looking around at the jade maidens, they see them all holding iron axes, chopping and slicing their bodies, while beneath their bodies fires arise like whirling fire-wheels. Just as quickly as a strong man bends and stretches his arm, they fall straight down into the Great Hell of Avīci. From the upper compartment, like a whirling fire-wheel, down to the edge of the lower compartment, their bodies fill the compartment. The copper dogs roar loudly, biting bones and sucking marrow, while the rākṣasa wardens seize great iron pitchforks, stabbing them in the neck to make them rise up, flames of fire over their entire bodies filling the city of Avīci, and the iron nets rain down blades that enter through their pores. A manifested King Yama proclaims in a loud voice: 'Foolish persons, seeds of hell! When you were in the world, you were unfilial to your parents and were perversely arrogant without the Way. The place of your rebirth now is called the Avīci Hell. You knew not kindness and felt no shame or remorse, and now you suffer this pain and affliction. Is it pleasant or not?' Having spoken these words, he vanishes and is no longer seen. At that time, the wardens drive the sinners once again from the lower compartment up to the upper compartment, passing through the eighty-four thousand compartments, their bodies dragged along until they reach the iron nets. One day and one night corresponds to 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 deeds have neither shame nor remorse, and having created the five heinous sins, when their lives are about to end, eighteen wind-knives dismember and slice their bodies like iron fire-carts. Pressed by the heat, they then speak these words: 'If only I could get fair blossoms and a cool, great tree to sport beneath—would that not be pleasant?' When they form this thought, the eighty-four thousand evil sword-forests of the Avīci Hell transform into jeweled trees, their blossoms and fruits luxuriant, arrayed in rows before them, and the fiercely hot flames transform into lotus blossoms beneath those trees. The sinners, seeing them, say: 'That which I wished for has now borne fruit!' As soon as they speak these words, swifter than a torrential downpour, they sit upon the lotus blossoms. Having sat down, in an instant, iron-beaked worms emerge from the fiery blossoms, piercing bones and entering marrow, penetrating hearts and boring through brains. Climbing the trees, all the sword-branches pare flesh down to the bone, and countless blade-forests fall directly down from above. The fire-carts, furnace coals, and eighteen bitter tribulations arrive simultaneously to welcome them. When this mark appears, they sink down into the ground, and from the lower compartment upward, their bodies like blossoming flowers spread to fill the lower compartment; rising from the lower compartment, the fiercely blazing fire reaches the upper compartment. Arriving at the upper compartment, their bodies fill it, and pressed by intense torment, they open their eyes and stick out their tongues. Due to these persons' sins, ten thousand billion streams of molten copper and hundreds of thousands of blade-wheels descend from the sky, entering their heads and exiting their feet, with all the bitter tribulations exceeding what was spoken above by hundreds of thousands of myriad times. For those possessing the five heinous sins, they suffer fully for five kalpas.