佛說觀佛三昧海經 5.14

5.14

The Buddha said to Ānanda: "What are called the eighteen cold hells? As for the cold hells: in the eight directions there are ice mountains, with eighteen compartments per mountain; furthermore, there are eighteen minor ice mountains, colored like crystal. Such cold ice fills the spaces between the ice mountains like ordinary lotus flowers, eighteen yojanas high; above them are ice wheels, twelve yojanas in length and breadth, falling from the sky like hail raining from heaven. In the world there are naturally those who lack compassion, who violently rob, pillage, plunder, strip people bare, and freeze sentient beings to death. As the retribution for such a person's sins, when their life is about to end, all the knife-winds transform into blazing fire. The sinner thinks: 'Why do I not now lie upon ice?' Pressed by the fire, as they form this thought, the rākṣasa hell-wardens hold ice wheels and tread the air, arriving like white cranes in flight. Seeing them, the sinner feels the heat dispelled and a sense of cool relief; love and desire arise in their mind, and when their breath ceases and life ends, they are born upon an ice mountain. After being born, the eighteen ice mountains seem to fan them as with fans; all the cold ice enters through their pores, filling one compartment out of the eighteen compartments. They crack open and split apart like red lotus flowers; ice wheels above and below cover their bodies completely. The ice mountains of the eight directions crash together simultaneously; they can utter no other words, only crying out, 'Aṭ-aṭa!' At that time, the sinner immediately has this thought: 'When shall I escape this cold ice and be born amidst hot fire?'