宗鏡錄 63.10

63.10

答曰。偈言。畜生生天中。地獄不如是。以在於天上。不受畜生苦。此偈明何義。彼畜生等生天上者。彼於天上器世間中。有少分業。是故於彼器世間中。受樂果報。彼地獄主及烏狗等。不受諸苦。以是義故。彼地獄中無有實主。及烏狗等。除罪眾生。又寶生論云。如上所言。得差別體。地獄苦器。不同受之。或諸猛火。由業力故。便無燒苦。斯則自非善友。誰能輒作斯說。凡是密友性善之人。不論夷險。常為思益。為欲顯其不受燒苦。故致斯言。然於此時。助成立義。即是顯出善友之意。由其不受彼之苦故。意欲成立非那洛迦。今復更云。由其業力。說有大火。言不燒者。斯則真成立唯識義。由無實火。但唯業力能壞自性。既定不受如斯苦故。便成此火。自性元無。然有實性。是宗所許。若也許其是識現相。事體元無。此由業力故無火。斯成應理。由其先業為限劑。故若異此者。彼增上業所招之果。既現在彼。如何不見。如無智者。欲求火滅。更復澆酥。今唯識宗。轉益光熾。由斯眾理。證此非成那洛迦類。故知唯心所現。正理無差。如觀佛三昧海經觀佛心品云。是時佛心。如紅蓮華。蓮華葉間有八萬四千諸白色光。其光遍照五道眾生。此光出時。受苦眾生皆悉出現。所謂苦者。阿鼻地獄。十八小地獄。十八寒地獄。乃至五百億刀林地獄等。

The answer is: A verse states, / 'Animals are born in the heavens, / But hell is not like this; / Because when dwelling in heaven, / They do not suffer the pain of animals.' / What does this verse explain? Those animals and the like that are born in heaven have a small portion of karma pertaining to the receptacle world of heaven, and therefore in that receptacle world they experience pleasant retributions. The hell masters, crows, dogs, and the like do not experience various sufferings. For this reason, in that hell there are no real masters, crows, dogs, or the like, apart from the sinful sentient beings. Furthermore, the Ratnagotravibhāga-śāstra states: 'As said above, they attain distinct bodily substances, and they do not together experience the vessels of suffering in hell. Or, by the power of karma, the fierce fires simply cause no burning pain. If one were not oneself a good friend, who could make such a statement arbitrarily? Anyone who is a close friend and fundamentally kind by nature, irrespective of smooth or perilous circumstances, constantly deliberates what will benefit. Wishing to show that they do not undergo the pain of burning, they therefore express these words. Yet at this time, to help establish the doctrine is precisely to reveal the intent of a good friend. Because they do not experience that suffering, the intention is to establish that they are not naraka beings. Now it is further said: "By their karmic power, although there is said to be great fire, it does not burn." This truly establishes the doctrine of consciousness-only. Because there is no real fire, it is merely the power of karma that can destroy its own nature; since they definitely do not experience such pain, it follows that this fire originally lacks inherent nature. Yet the existence of a real nature is what is accepted by that school. If it is also admitted that it is an appearance manifested by consciousness and that the actual entity originally does not exist, then that there is no fire due to karmic power becomes logically sound. This is because their prior karma sets the limit. If it were otherwise, since the result brought about by that sovereign karma is already present there, how could it not be seen? It is like an ignorant person who, wishing to extinguish a fire, pours more clarified butter upon it. Now the Consciousness-Only school becomes all the more radiant. Due to these various reasons, this proves that they do not constitute the category of naraka beings. Therefore we know that it is merely manifested by citta; the correct principle is without error.' As the Chapter on Contemplating the Buddha's Citta in the Guan fo sanmei hai jing states: 'At that time, the Buddha's citta was like a red lotus flower. Between the petals of the lotus flower there were eighty-four thousand white rays of light. Their light illuminated everywhere the sentient beings of the five destinies. When this light came forth, the sentient beings undergoing suffering all appeared. As for those sufferings, they were the Avīci Hell, the eighteen minor hells, the eighteen cold hells, up to the five hundred billion sword-forest hells, and so forth.'