法苑珠林 2.53

2.53

According to the Lokotthāna-sūtra, it says: 'Below Mount Sumeru there are separately three tiers where various spirits dwell. The lowest tier is exactly sixty yojanas in length and breadth. The second tier is exactly forty yojanas in length and breadth. The highest tier is exactly twenty yojanas in length and breadth. All have sevenfold tiers of enclosing walls, and even various birds singing wondrous sounds, all fully complete. In these three tiers yakṣas dwell. Halfway up Mount Sumeru, at a height of forty-two thousand yojanas, there are the palaces inhabited by the Four Great Heavenly Kings. Atop Mount Sumeru are the palaces of the Thirty-Three Heavens where Śakra dwells. Doubling the distance above the Thirty-Three Heavens, there is the Yāma Heaven. Doubling it again, there is the Tuṣita Heaven. Doubling it again, there is the Nirmāṇarati Heaven. Doubling it again, there is the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven. Doubling it above the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven, there is the Brahmakāyika Heaven. Below the Brahmakāyika Heaven, in between, are the various palaces of Māra Pāpīyas. Doubling the distance above the Brahmakāyika Heaven, there is the Ābhāsvara Heaven. Doubling the distance above the Ābhāsvara Heaven, there is the Śubhakṛtsna Heaven. Doubling the distance above the Śubhakṛtsna Heaven, there is the Bṛhatphala Heaven. Doubling the distance above the Bṛhatphala Heaven, there is the Atṛha Heaven. Below the Atṛha Heaven, in between, there are separately the celestial palaces inhabited by what is called the Asañjñisattva (beings without ideation). Doubling the distance above the Atṛha Heaven, there is the Atapa Heaven. Doubling the distance above the Atapa Heaven, there is the Sudṛśa Heaven. Doubling the distance above the Sudṛśa Heaven, there is the Sudarśana Heaven. Doubling the distance above the Sudarśana Heaven, there are the palaces of the Akaniṣṭha devas. Above the Akaniṣṭha Heaven, there are yet other heavens, named the Sphere of Boundless Space (Ākāśānantyāyatana), the Sphere of Boundless Consciousness (Vijñānānantyāyatana), the Sphere of Nothingness (Ākiñcanyāyatana), and the Sphere of Neither Ideation nor Non-Ideation (Naivasañjñānāsañjñāyatana). These are all named dwelling places of the devas. Within these realm divisions, sentient beings dwell, coming and going, being born and dying, up to the ultimate boundary. All sentient beings in this world, undergoing birth, aging, illness, and death, fall into these destinies, not extending beyond this. This is named the Sahā World. The countless realms in the other ten directions are also like this.' Furthermore, the Lokasthitābhidharma-śāstra states: 'Going downward twenty thousand yojanas from Jambudvīpa, there is the Avīci Hell. Going downward ten thousand yojanas from Jambudvīpa, there is the realm of the Yama world of hells. In between these two, there are other hells (they are also reckoned to have distances, which this treatise does not describe). Going upward forty thousand yojanas from here, there is the dwelling place of the Four Heavenly Kings. Going upward eighty thousand yojanas from here, there is the dwelling place of the Thirty-Three Heavens. Going upward one hundred and sixty thousand yojanas from here, there is the dwelling place of the Yāma Heaven. Going upward three hundred and twenty thousand yojanas from here, there is the dwelling place of the Tuṣita Heaven. Going upward six hundred and forty thousand yojanas from here, there is the dwelling place of the Nirmāṇarati Heaven. Going upward one million two hundred and eighty thousand yojanas from here, there is the dwelling place of the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven. A bhikṣu asked the Buddha: "World-Honoured One, how near or far is it from Jambudvīpa to the Brahma realm?" The Buddha said: "Bhikṣu, from Jambudvīpa to the Brahma realm is extremely far and extremely high. For example, on the fifteenth day of the ninth month when the moon is full, if a person at that Brahma realm drops a square stone of one hundred zhang downward to the lower realm without any obstruction in between, by the time of the full moon of the ninth month in the following year, it reaches the ground of Jambudvīpa. The Apramāṇābha Heaven is again twice as far. From the Apramāṇābha Heaven to the Ābhāsvara Heaven is again twice as far. From the Ābhāsvara Heaven to the Parīttaśubha Heaven is again twice as far. From the Parīttaśubha Heaven to the Apramāṇaśubha Heaven is again twice as far. From the Apramāṇaśubha Heaven to the Śubhakṛtsna Heaven is again twice as far. From the Śubhakṛtsna Heaven to the Anabhraka Heaven is again twice as far. From the Anabhraka Heaven to the Puṇyaprasava Heaven is again twice as far. From the Puṇyaprasava Heaven to the Bṛhatphala Heaven is again twice as far. From the Bṛhatphala Heaven to the Asañjñisattva Heaven is again twice as far. From the Asañjñisattva Heaven to the Sudarśana Heaven is again twice as far. From the Sudarśana Heaven to the Sudṛśa Heaven is again twice as far. From the Sudṛśa Heaven to the Atapa Heaven is again twice as far. From the Atapa Heaven to the Atṛha Heaven is again twice as far. From the Atṛha Heaven to the Akaniṣṭha Heaven is again twice as far." And he spoke a gāthā:'