經律異相 50.8

50.8

Regarding the Dark Hell: there are eighteen tiers of dark mountains, eighteen tiers of dark nets, eighteen tiers of iron beds, and eighteen tiers of iron curtains. Each mountain is eighty-four thousand yojanas high, and each curtain is also eighty-four thousand yojanas thick. Between each curtain are eighteen tiers of Iron Enclosure Mountains, where rākṣasas are as numerous as a forest. These mountains are somber and dark. [Those who] stole the lamps and lights of the Buddha and the Saṅgha; stole from parents, teachers, and elders; slandered those who preach the Dharma; also reviled worldly debate masters and the like; and showed no respect for the noble and base, feeling no shame or remorse—because of these sins, when they are about to die, lightning flashes swiftly and ceaselessly before their eyes. They immediately think: 'What sin have I committed to constantly see this fire?' They immediately close both eyes, not wishing to see it. When they are about to die, the hell-warden rākṣasas lift up great iron beds and spread great iron wheels, arriving through the sky like a great flock of clouds, formless yet with sound. The sinner wishes to go there, and at the end of life, they sit upon the iron bed and fall into the dark place. Knife-wheels, above and below, sever and slice their body. There are great iron crows with long and sharp beaks and claws that fly down from the mountains to tear at the sinners. Pressed by urgent pain, they run swiftly seeking light but find none. Caltrops beneath their feet pierce through their bones to the marrow. Flustered and terrified in this way, they pass five million billion years, with days and months as before. That person's head strikes the dark mountains; their brains flow and their eyes pop out. The hell-warden rākṣasas spear their eye sockets with iron tridents and reset them. When their punishment is completed, they then emerge and become poor people, squint-eyed, blind, and unable to see in darkness, or driven away by people with leprosy. Such karmic retribution lasts for five hundred lifetimes. After this has passed, they meet a good friend and arouse the bodhicitta.