翻譯名義集 3.37

3.37

The Śūraṅgama says: "*Shi* (time/world) is flux and change; *jie* (realm/boundary) is spatial orientation. You should now know that east, west, south, north, southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest, above, and below constitute *jie*. Past, future, and present constitute *shi*." There are two kinds of worlds: first, the world of sentient beings, which is the primary retribution; second, the container world, which is the dependent retribution. Therefore the Śūraṅgama says: "Because of being bound by the world of sentient beings from beginningless time, one cannot transcend the container world." The Great Commentary explains three kinds of worlds: first, the five skandhas; second, sentient beings; third, lands. Between *jian* (interval/world) and *jie* (realm), the names differ but the meaning is the same. *Jian* means separation and differentiation; *jie* means boundary and distinction. There are two kinds of realms: first, the ten realms; second, the three realms. The ten realms are hells, hungry ghosts, animals, asuras, humans, and devas—these are called the six ordinary realms; śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas—these are called the four noble realms. The Zhiyue chao states: "Question: 'What clear textual basis is there for the name ten realms?' Answer: 'The Great Commentary states: "Sentient beings receive prediction within the nine paths, namely the paths of the three vehicles and the paths of the six destinies." Thus we know that the nine paths are the nine realms. With the prediction of becoming a buddha, the ten realms are clearly established.'" Second, regarding the three realms: first is the desire realm. Desire is of three kinds: eating and drinking, sleeping, and sexual desire. Craving and longing for these three things is called desire. As for the realm of sentient beings, it spans from the Heaven of Freely Enjoying Others' Emanations down to the Avīci Hell. As for the container world, down to the wind circle, all is subsumed under the desire realm. Second is the form realm: having pure physical substance and supreme bodily marks, yet not having transcended the cage of form, it is therefore called the form realm. Third is the formless realm: because form does not exist in that realm. Furthermore, taken collectively, these three realms comprise the six destinies; divided separately, they comprise the twenty-five states of existence. Jingxi's verse says: "The four continents and four evil destinies, / The six desire [heavens] along with the Brahmā heaven, / The four dhyānas and four formless realms, / Non-conception and the five anāgāmins." Furthermore, throughout these three realms there are three scales: the small-thousand, medium-thousand, and great-thousand [world systems]. As the Kośa says: "The four great continents, suns and moons, / Mount Sumeru and the desire heavens, / And the Brahmā worlds, each a thousand, / Are called a small-thousand realm. / A thousand times this small-thousand / Is said to be a medium-thousand; / A thousand times this is a great-thousand, / All sharing a common creation and destruction." Formerly, the Venerable of Nanshan asked the Heavenly General Weitian: "I have heard that the number of suns, moons, and years in the three-thousand realm of a single buddha's field of conversion is said to be ten billion (baiyi) by some, and a hundred billion (qianbaiyi) by others." He answered: "As for the ten billion or hundred billion that the master asks about, the sutra texts clearly state: 'The hundred billion transformation-body Śākyamuni Buddhas.' Since a single buddha converts [a realm] beneath a single sun and moon, how could one speak of only one out of a hundred parts? It is only that colloquial phrasing has led to confusion and abbreviated it like this. In general, ten thousand billion suns and moons make one great-thousand [world]." The Xunwen says: "It is feared that in the Western Heaven's reckoning, there are large and small billions (*yi*). One should take one hundred small billions as one large billion, thus completing ten billion suns and moons." Such a great-thousand realm is entirely the field of conversion of the World-Honoured Śākya. As the Lotus Sutra says: "The Tathāgata is also like this: being the father of all the world, who appears in the three realms, the rotten old burning house, in order to save sentient beings from the fires of birth, old age, sickness, death, worry, sorrow, pain, distress, delusion, obscurity, and the three poisons, teaching and transforming them to attain anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi."