宗鏡錄 67.31

67.31

Answer: Sentient beings, encompassing ordinary persons up to noble ones, have sixty-two bodies of sentient beings, and in terms of supporting bases, there are forty-two dwelling places. According to the general approach, because they are bound by karma, both pleasant and unpleasant places are established as dwelling places. Below, in the example of the seven stations of consciousness, it is because the conscious mind only takes pleasure in dwelling in seven places. The forty-two dwelling places are: the eight hells, animals, hungry ghosts, the four continents, the six desire-realm heavens, eighteen in the form realm, and four in the formless realm, totally forty-two dwelling places. The seven stations of consciousness are: First, diverse in body and diverse in perception. 'Diverse in body' refers to humans and devas of the desire realm, who have high and low, superior and inferior. 'Diverse in perception' refers to having the three perceptions of painful, pleasant, and neutral sensations. Second, diverse in body and unified in perception. 'Diverse in body' refers to the first dhyāna, where the Brahmā King is superior and the Brahmā assembly is inferior; hence there are diverse bodies. 'Unified in perception' refers to having the single perception of grasping at precepts and vows (śīlavrataparāmarśa): the Brahmā King thinks himself capable of producing all the Brahmās, and all the Brahmās consider themselves to have arisen from the Brahmā King; mistaking what is not a cause for a cause is grasping at precepts and vows. Third, unified in body and diverse in perception. 'Unified in body' refers to the stage of the second dhyāna, where there is no superior and inferior, high and low. 'Diverse in perception' refers to having perceptions of joy and pleasure. Fourth, unified in body and unified in perception. 'Unified in body' refers to the third dhyāna having no superior and inferior, high and low. 'Unified in perception' refers to having only the perception of pleasure. Above the stations of space and consciousness, there is no body, only a single perception: Fifth, the station of space, with only the perception of space. Sixth, the station of consciousness, with only the perception of consciousness. Seventh, the station of nothingness, with only the perception of wisdom. These above seven stations of consciousness counteract sentient beings' conceiving consciousness as a self and taking pleasure in dwelling in the seven places; their substance is the five defiled aggregates. In the fourth dhyāna there is the absorption of non-perception (asaṃjñisamāpatti), and in the stage of neither-perception-nor-non-perception there is the absorption of cessation (nirodhasamāpatti). In the three bad destinies, one endures various sufferings, so consciousness does not take pleasure in dwelling there; hence they are not spoken of. Furthermore, although consciousness is extinguished in the fourth dhyāna and the stage of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, they are not eliminated as dwelling places for nominal sentient beings, which is why they are not established [among the stations of consciousness]. In the three evil destinies, sentient beings are oppressed by suffering and do not take pleasure in dwelling there, which is why they are not established.