佛祖統紀 32.32

32.32

阿鼻地獄。縱廣八千由旬。七重鐵城。七重鐵網。有十八鬲子（郎的切鼎屬）周匝七重。皆是刀林。四大銅狗。十八獄卒。八頭六十四角。六十四眼。有七鐵幢火涌如沸。若有罪逆。命終之時銅狗化十八車狀如寶蓋。一切火焰化為玉女。罪人遙見心喜欲往。風刀解體寒急作聲。寧得好火。安在車上。即便火然。罪人命終來生火車。屈申臂頃直入阿鼻。從上鬲下如旋火輪至於下鬲。化閻羅王大聲告勅。癡人獄種。汝在世時不孝父母邪見無道。汝今生處名阿鼻獄。如是大苦一日一夜。如人間六十小劫。如是壽命盡一大劫。具五逆者受罪五劫。復有眾生。犯四重禁虛食信施。誹謗邪見不識因果。斷學般若毀十方佛。偷僧祇物婬逸無道。此人罪報經八萬四千大劫。復入東方十八鬲子。如前受苦。南西北方亦復如是。阿鼻即無救也（觀佛三昧正海經○鼻音毘。智炬經。阿毘地獄應時破壞。當知毘音無疑。楞嚴經。既言阿鼻。又出無間。今阿鼻自云無救。當知阿鼻大獄在無間之外）。

The Avīci Hell is eight thousand yojanas in length and breadth. It has seven tiers of iron walls and seven tiers of iron nets. It contains eighteen cauldrons (*li*; pronounced *li-di*, a type of tripod kettle). Encircling them in seven tiers are forests of sword trees. There are four great bronze hounds, eighteen hell wardens with eight heads, sixty-four horns, and sixty-four eyes, and seven iron banners from which fire wells up like boiling water. When an evil transgressor approaches the end of life, the bronze hounds transform into eighteen carriages resembling canopies, and all the flames transform into jade maidens. Seeing them from afar, the sinner rejoices and wishes to approach. As wind knives dismember their body, they shiver with piercing cold and cry out, 'If only I could get good fire and be placed upon that carriage!' Thereupon fire blazes up; when the sinner dies, they are reborn on the fiery carriage, and in the space of bending or stretching an arm, they plunge straight into Avīci. Falling from the upper cauldrons like a whirling wheel of fire down to the lower cauldrons, King Yama's manifestation proclaims in a loud voice: 'Foolish person, seed of hell! When in the world, you were unfilial to your parents and followed wrong views without morality. The place you are now born in is called the Avīci Hell.' Such great suffering lasts for one day and night, which equals sixty small kalpas in the human world. Such is the lifespan, lasting an entire great kalpa. Those who have committed all five heinous transgressions suffer punishment for five kalpas. Furthermore, there are sentient beings who violate the four grave prohibitions, vainly consume offerings made in faith, harbor slanderous wrong views without recognizing cause and effect, sever their study of prajñā, disparage the Buddhas of the ten directions, steal property of the Saṃgha, and indulge in depraved and unprincipled lust. The karmic retribution of such persons lasts for eighty-four thousand great kalpas; then they re-enter the eighteen cauldrons of the east to endure suffering as before, and likewise in the south, west, and north. 'Avīci' thus means 'beyond relief' (*Sūtra on the Ocean of Samādhi Contemplation of the Buddha*; note: 'bī' is pronounced 'pí'. The *Jñānolkā Sūtra* says that the *Apí* hell is destroyed in an instant, from which one should know that the pronunciation *pí* is without doubt. The *Śūraṅgama Sūtra* mentions both *Ābī* and *Wújiàn* [Avīci]; since *Ābī* here explains itself as 'beyond relief', one should know that the great Ābī hell is distinct from the Uninterrupted Hell).