一切經音義 53.45

53.45

分級 (first character, fanqie: 墳 + 問, [fèn]. The sūtra text explains that Mount Sumeru has three tiers, broad below and narrow above; its measurement in yojanas differs from the Abhidharmakośa-śāstra. The verses of the Abhidharmakośa-śāstra state: 'Protruding outwards by sixteen thousand, eight, four, and two thousand in measure; from the bottom to the top it decreases by half each time, all in measures of yojanas.' This sūtra, however, states that the lower tier is sixty, the middle tier forty, and the upper tier twenty yojanas. In my, Huilin's, humble opinion, I suspect that this sūtra is describing the ramparts and cities, not the dimensions of the ground itself.)