廣弘明集 9.37

9.37

Your servant laughs, saying: According to the Jiku jing, heaven and earth are one hundred million and five thousand li apart, which is completely different from the preceding Wenshi zhuan. The Wenshi zhuan says that the circumference of the sun and moon is six thousand li and their diameter is three thousand li; according to mathematical principles, the circumference should be nine thousand li—how could it be only six thousand? Furthermore, that heaven is round and earth is square is a constant assertion of Daoists. Now if the four corners are equal in measure to the sides of the square, then heaven and earth are both round! The Huahu jing says: 'The upper limit of the Buddha-dharma reaches only as far as the Heaven of the Thirty-Three; it does not reach the eighty-one heavens of the Dao.' It also says: 'Mount Kunlun has nine tiers, each tier nine thousand li apart. The mountain has four faces, and each face has one heaven; hence four times nine makes thirty-six heavens. In the first tier Śakra resides.' Now calculating that Mount Kunlun is fifteen thousand li high and has nine tiers, if each tier is nine thousand li high, then its height must be eighty-one thousand li; yet to say it is fifteen thousand li—how could they diverge so greatly? It is extremely laughable!