法苑珠林 4.61

4.61

According to the Lokotpatti-sūtra: There are four kinds of clouds in the world: first, white; second, black; third, red; fourth, yellow. Among these four clouds, if it is a white cloud, it has an abundance of the earth element; if it is a black cloud, it has an abundance of the water element; if it is a red cloud, it has an abundance of the fire element; if it is a yellow cloud, it has an abundance of the wind element. There are clouds that rise from the earth and abide in the sky at one krośa, two, three, up to seven krośas; or there are clouds that ascend into the sky and abide at one yojana up to seven yojanas; or there are clouds that ascend into the sky and abide at a hundred yojanas up to seven hundred yojanas; or there are clouds that ascend into the sky from the earth and abide at a thousand yojanas up to seven thousand yojanas, even until the end of the kalpa. The Dīrgha-āgama says that at the beginning of the kalpa there were clouds that could reach the Ābhāsvara Heaven. (According to the sūtras, clouds are of many kinds: sometimes auspicious five-coloured clouds appear, or red clouds and black clouds appear in various forms that cannot be exhaustively described, as fully recorded in the Kāruṇikarājā-sūtra and others.)