法苑珠林 3.29

3.29

According to the Loutan jing: Between the Kāmadhātu and Rūpadhātu, there is separately the palace of Māra. That Māra harbours jealousy, just like a grindstone that grinds down and destroys merit. It is six thousand yojanas in length and breadth, with seven tiers of palace walls, all adorned just like the lower heavens. The seven heavens above possess ten attributes: First, they fly here without limitation; second, they fly there without limitation; third, their going is unimpeded; fourth, their coming is unimpeded; fifth, the bodies of devas have no skin, flesh, sinews, veins, blood, or bone; sixth, their bodies have no impurities, such as faeces or urine; seventh, their bodies are free from extreme exhaustion; eighth, devanārīs do not give birth; ninth, the eyes of devas do not blink; tenth, their bodies change according to their will: if they prefer blue-green, they become blue-green; if they prefer yellow, they become yellow; and likewise for other colours. They also have ten matters: First, flying without limit; second, coming and going without limit; third, the devas have no thieves; fourth, they do not speak of the good or evil of bodies; fifth, there is no mutual encroachment; sixth, the teeth of the devas are uniform and continuous; seventh, their hair is dark blue-green, glossy, and eight cubits long; eighth, when a deva's body is blue-green, their hair is also blue-green; ninth, if they desire to be white, their body immediately becomes white; tenth, if they desire to be black, their body immediately becomes black. The Qishi jing also states: All devas have ten distinct attributes. What are the ten? First, when the devas travel, their coming and going is boundless; second, when the devas travel, their coming and going is unimpeded; third, when the devas travel, there is neither slowness nor haste; fourth, when the devas travel, their feet leave no footprints; fifth, the physical strength of the devas suffers no fatigue; sixth, the bodies of the devas have form but no shadow; seventh, all devas are without faeces and urine; eighth, all devas are without mucus and saliva; ninth, the bodies of the devas are pure, subtle, and without skin, flesh, sinews, veins, fat, blood, marrow, or bone; tenth, if the bodies of the devas desire to manifest long or short, blue-green, yellow, red, or white, large or small, coarse or fine, they can do so entirely as they wish, and all are beautiful, dignified, and extraordinary, inspiring love and delight. All devas have these ten kinds of inconceivable attributes. Furthermore, the bodies of devas are well-filled and plump, their teeth white, square, and close-set, their hair blue-green and even, soft and lustrous. Their bodies have radiance and divine power; they soar through the void, fly and roam, their eyes gazing without blinking, with natural necklaces and garments free from grime. As the Nyāyānusāra states: The host of the Four Heavenly Kings can ascend to see the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, but the Trāyastriṃśa devas do not ascend to see the Yāma Heaven and so on. However, if they attain the supernatural powers born of meditative absorption, all of them can ascend to see those above. Or, relying on the power of another, they can ascend to see the higher heavens—meaning that by obtaining supernatural powers and being guided and received by the beings of the higher heavens, they go there as appropriate. Or when a higher deva comes down, they are also able to see them. When a being from a higher realm/ground comes downward, unless they transform into a lower body, they cannot be seen by lower eyes, because it is not their sensory domain, just as one does not perceive their touch. Therefore, when one from a higher realm/ground comes downward, they must transform into a lower body to allow the earth-dwelling devas below to see them. The Lokasthitābhidharma-śāstra states: If humans of Jambudvīpa are devoid of supernatural power or the power of others, they cannot see colours/forms beyond obstructions. If humans of the other three continents are devoid of the power of others, they cannot see colours/forms beyond obstructions. If the devas of the six Kāmadhātu heavens are devoid of supernatural power and the power of others, they cannot see colours/forms beyond obstructions from their own places; when looking into the distance, they only see within the Iron Ring Mountains and cannot see colours/forms outside the mountains. If King Mahābrahmā in his own palace is devoid of supernatural power and the power of others, he cannot see colours/forms beyond obstructions; when looking into the distance, he sees only within a single thousand-world system.