法苑珠林 1.35

1.35

依起世經云。爾時復經無量久遠不可計數日月。時起大重雲。乃至遍覆梵天世界。既遍覆已注大洪雨。其滴甚麁。或如車軸。或復如杵。經歷百千萬年彼雨水聚漸漸增長。乃至天所住世界其水遍滿。然彼水聚有四風輪之所住持。何等為四。一名為住。二名安住。三名不墮。四名牢主。彼雨斷已復還自退。下無量百千萬億由旬。當於爾時四方一時有大風起。其風名為阿那毘羅。吹彼水聚混亂不停。水中自然生大沫聚。大風吹沫擲置空中。從上造作梵天宮殿。微妙可愛七寶間成。所謂金銀琉璃玻𭺇赤珠硨璖碼碯。有斯梵天世間出生。彼大水聚復更退下無量百千萬億由旬。如前四方風起名阿那毘羅。由此大風吹擲水沫復成宮殿。魔身天牆壁住如梵身天無異。唯有寶色精麁異耳。如是次造他化自在天。展轉至夜摩天。六天次第具足如梵天無異精麁異耳。時彼水聚轉復減少。乃更退下無量百千億萬由旬。湛然渟住。彼水聚中四方浮沫水上厚六十八億由旬。周闊無量。大風吹沫復造須彌山四寶所成。復吹水上浮沫為三十三天七寶所成。又吹水沫。於須彌山半腹之間四萬二千由旬。為日月天子宮殿皆七寶成。以是因緣。世間便有七日宮殿安住現在。又吹水沫於海水上高萬由旬。為空居夜叉造玻𭺇宮殿城郭亦爾。又吹水沫於須彌山四面。各去山一千由旬。大海之下作四面阿脩羅城七寶莊嚴。又復大風吹水聚沫造作餘大寶山。如是展轉吹水沫過四大洲八萬小洲須彌山王。并餘一切大山之外周匝安置。名大輪圍山。高廣正等六百八十萬億由旬。牢固真實。金剛所成難可破壞。如是大風吹掘大地漸漸深入。乃於其中置大水聚湛然渟積。以此因緣便有大海。又起世經云。此大海水。何因緣故。如是鹹苦不堪飲食。此有三因緣。何等為三。一者從火災後經無量時。起大重雲彌覆凝住。後降雨滴注滿世界。彼大雨汁洗梵身天一切宮殿。次洗廣天宮殿。次洗他化自在天化樂天兜率天夜摩天宮殿洗已。洗彼宮時所有鹹辛苦味悉皆流下。次復洗須彌山及四大洲八萬小洲諸餘大山等。如是洗時浸漬流蕩其中。以是因緣令大海鹹不堪飲食。第二此大海水大神大身眾生在其中住。所有屎尿流出海中。以是因緣其水鹹苦不堪飲食。第三此大海水古昔諸仙曾所呪故。願海成其鹽味不堪飲食。以是因緣令大海鹹不堪飲食。又依順正理論云。所言成劫者。謂從風起。乃至地獄始有情生。謂此世間災所壞已。二十中劫唯有虛空。過此長時次應復有等住世。成劫便至一切有情業增上力。空中漸有微細風生。是器世間將成前相。風漸增盛成立如前所說風輪水輪金輪等。然初成立大梵天宮乃至夜摩天宮復起風輪等。是謂成立外器世間。由有情力。謂光淨久集有情。天眾既多。居處迫迮。諸福減者應散居下。此器世間初一有情。極光淨歿生大梵處空宮殿中。後諸有情亦從彼歿有生梵輔。有生梵天。有生他化自在天宮。漸漸下生乃至人趣。後生餓鬼傍生地獄。法爾後成壞必最初。若初一有情生無間獄。二十中成劫應知已滿。此後復有二十中劫。名成已住。次第而起。立世阿毘曇論云。一切器世界起作已成。時二種界起長。謂地火兩界。風界起吹火界蒸鍊地界。風界恒起吹一切物使成堅實。既堅實已一切諸寶種類皆得顯現。如是多時六十小劫究竟已度。

Relying on the *Sūtra on the Origin of the World* (Qishi jing), it says: At that time, after the passage of an immeasurable, distant, and innumerable [period of] suns and moons, heavily laden clouds then arose, ultimately spreading over and covering the world of the Brahmā Heaven. Having completely covered it, they poured down torrential rains. The drops were extremely coarse, some like cart axles and some like pestles. After hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of years, the accumulation of that rainwater gradually increased until the worlds where the devas dwell were filled with water. Yet that accumulation of water was upheld by four wind-mandalas. What are the four? The first is named Abiding; the second is named Firm Abiding; the third is named Non-Falling; the fourth is named Solid Master. When that rain ceased, it receded again of itself, dropping down by immeasurable hundreds of thousands of koṭis of yojanas. At that time, a great wind arose simultaneously from the four directions. That wind was named Anabila. It blew upon that accumulation of water, churning it without stopping. A great mass of foam naturally arose within the water. The great wind blew the foam and cast it into the air, creating from above the palaces of the Brahmā Heaven, subtle, lovely, and formed of the seven treasures, namely: gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, red pearls, carnelian, and agate. Thus this Brahmā Heaven world came forth and arose. That great accumulation of water receded further down by immeasurable hundreds of thousands of koṭis of yojanas. As before, a wind named Anabila arose from the four directions. From this great wind blowing and casting up the water foam, palaces were again formed. The walls and dwellings of the Devas of the Māra Body were no different from those of the Devas of the Brahmā Body; there was only a difference in the fineness or coarseness of the colors of the treasures. In this way, next were created the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven, and so on progressively down to the Yāma Heaven. The six heavens were completely provided in sequence, no different from the Brahmā Heaven, differing only in fineness and coarseness. At that time, that accumulation of water decreased further, receding even further down by immeasurable hundreds of thousands of koṭis of myriads of yojanas, settling and standing clear and still. In that accumulation of water, floating foam from the four directions lay upon the water to a thickness of sixty-eight hundred million yojanas, its circumference and breadth immeasurable. The great wind blew the foam and further created Mount Sumeru, formed of the four treasures. It again blew the floating foam upon the water to make the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, formed of the seven treasures. It also blew the water foam at the mid-slope of Mount Sumeru, at forty-two thousand yojanas, to make the palaces of the sun and moon devaputras, all formed of the seven treasures. Due to these causes and conditions, the world then had seven sun palaces securely abiding and existing. It also blew the water foam ten thousand yojanas high above the ocean water to make crystal palaces and city walls for the space-dwelling yakṣas in the same way. It also blew the water foam on the four sides of Mount Sumeru, each one thousand yojanas away from the mountain, beneath the great ocean, to make the four-sided asura cities, adorned with the seven treasures. Furthermore, the great wind blew the accumulated foam of the water to create the other great treasure mountains. Progressively blowing the water foam in this manner, past the four great continents, the eighty thousand small continents, and Sumeru the king of mountains, and outside all the other great mountains, it established all around what is named the Great Cakravāla Mountain, six million eight hundred thousand koṭis of yojanas in height and breadth, firm and real, formed of adamantine diamond and difficult to destroy. In this way, the great wind blew and scooped out the great earth, gradually going deeper, and then placed within it a great accumulation of water, settling and collecting still and clear. Due to these causes and conditions, there came to be the great ocean. Further, the *Sūtra on the Origin of the World* says: For what cause and condition is the water of this great ocean so salty and bitter, unfit for drinking? There are three causes and conditions for this. What are the three? First: after the disaster of fire, after an immeasurable time, heavily laden clouds arose, spreading over and condensing, and afterward dropped rain that poured down and filled the world. That great rainwater juice washed all the palaces of the Devas of the Brahmā Body; next, it washed the palaces of the Expansive Heaven; next, it washed the palaces of the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven, the Nirmāṇarati Heaven, the Tuṣita Heaven, and the Yāma Heaven. Having washed them, when it washed those palaces, all the salty, pungent, and bitter flavors flowed downward. Next, it washed Mount Sumeru, the four great continents, the eighty thousand small continents, and the other various great mountains. As it washed in this manner, it soaked and washed down among them. Due to these causes and conditions, the great ocean was made salty and unfit for drinking. Second: in this ocean water dwell sentient beings of great divine power and great bodies; all their feces and urine flow out into the ocean. Due to these causes and conditions, its water is salty, bitter, and unfit for drinking. Third: this ocean water was cursed in ancient times by various ṛṣis, who wished that the ocean become a salty flavor, unfit for drinking. Due to these causes and conditions, the great ocean was made salty and unfit for drinking. Further, relying on the *Nyāyānusāra-śāstra*, it says: What is called the kalpa of formation refers to the period from the arising of the wind up to when sentient beings first arise in the hells. That is to say, after this world is destroyed by the calamities, for twenty intermediate kalpas there is only empty space. Past this long time, next there should again be an equal abiding world. When the kalpa of formation arrives, through the predominant power of the karma of all sentient beings, a subtle wind gradually arises in the air. This is the omen of the imminent formation of the receptacle world. The wind gradually increases and flourishes, establishing the wind-mandala, water-mandala, gold-mandala, and so forth as explained previously. However, first the palace of Mahābrahmā is established, and down to the Yāma Heaven palaces, the wind-mandalas and so forth arise again. This is called establishing the external receptacle world. Due to the power of sentient beings—that is, sentient beings have long gathered in the [Ābhāsvara Heaven of] Pure Radiance, and since the heavenly host is numerous, their dwelling places become cramped; those whose merits decrease should scatter and dwell below. The very first sentient being of this receptacle world dies in the Heaven of Ultimate Pure Radiance and is born in the empty palace of the Mahābrahmā realm. Later sentient beings also die from there and some are born as the Retinue of Brahmā (Brahmapurohita), some are born in the Brahmā Heaven, and some are born in the palace of the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven, gradually taking rebirth downward even to the human destiny, and later taking rebirth as hungry ghosts, animals, and in the hells. By the nature of things, that which is formed last must be destroyed first. If the first sentient being is born in the Avīci Hell, one should know that the twenty intermediate kalpas of formation are already complete. After this, there are again twenty intermediate kalpas named 'Abiding After Formation,' which arise in sequence. The *Lokasthitābhidharma-śāstra* says: When the entire receptacle world has arisen and finished forming, at that time two elements arise and grow, namely the earth and fire elements. The wind element arises to blow upon them, and the fire element steams and smelts the earth element. The wind element constantly arises to blow upon all things, making them firm and solid. Once they are firm and solid, all the various kinds of treasures become manifest. In this way, after a long time, sixty small kalpas have completely passed.