經律異相 50.7

50.7

Regarding the Eighteen Cold Hells: there are ice mountains in the eight directions, with eighteen compartments per mountain. There are also eighteen small ice mountains. Between the cold ice mountains it is like earthen lotus flowers, eighteen yojanas high. Above are ice wheels, exactly twelve yojanas in length and breadth, falling from the sky like falling hail. [Those who] robbed, plundered, stripped, and froze sentient beings to death—when the karmic retribution of such persons brings them near death, all knife-winds turn into searing fire. The sinner thinks, 'Why do I not now lie upon the ice?' When they form this thought, the hell-warden rākṣasas, holding ice wheels in their hands, tread upon the void and arrive. Having seen them, the sinner feels affection and longing for them. Their breath ceases, their life ends, and they are born upon the ice mountains. Once born, the eighteen ice mountains seem as if fanned with fans; all the cold ice enters through their pores. Among the eighteen compartments, they fill one compartment completely. They split, tear, and burst open like red lotus flowers. The ice wheels, above and below, completely cover their body. The ice mountains of the eight directions collapse together all at once. Without any other words, [the sinner] can only say, 'A-la!' At that time, the sinner there thinks: 'When shall I be free of cold ice and be born into searing fire?' At that time, there are iron-beaked birds in the sky that vomit fire to break the ice and peck at their brain. The sinner then dies. The hell-wardens again strike the ground with iron tridents, shouting, 'Live, live!' At the sound, [the sinner] immediately revives. The fire on their body rages fiercely, and they wish to obtain the previous ice to extinguish this fire. The hell-wardens again welcome them with ice wheels and place them into the hell. In this way, there is none of the eighteen compartments they do not pass through. The lifespan and years of this cold hell are equal to eighty million years by the sun and moon of the Cāturmahārājakāyika heaven. When the punishment is completed, they are reborn below into poverty, baseness, and ugliness. For fifty lifetimes they are slaves to others; their clothes do not cover their forms, and their food does not fill their mouths. When this punishment is completed, they meet a good friend and arouse the bodhicitta.