阿毘達磨俱舍論

Part 11

The preceding section has finished explaining the world of sentient beings; this section will explain the container world (bhājanaloka).

[The formation of the container world:

The wind-wheel lies at the very bottom,

Its breadth is immeasurable,

Its height is sixteen hundred thousand.

Above it is the water-wheel.

Its height is one million one hundred twenty thousand;

The water in the lower part is eight hundred thousand deep,

The remainder congeals into gold.

The water-wheel and the gold-wheel

Have a diameter of one million

Two hundred three thousand four hundred fifty;

Their circumference is three times as great.]

Treatise: It is said that the great trichiliocosm is constituted in this way, with its components differing in shape and size. First, through the predominant force of sentient beings’ karma, the wind-wheel arises at the lowest level, resting upon empty space. The thickness of the wind-wheel is sixteen hundred thousand lakṣas—that is, one million six hundred thousand yojanas—while its breadth is immeasurable.

Its substance is solid. Even if a great mahānagna were to hurl a vajra against it, the vajra would shatter while the wind-wheel would remain entirely undamaged. Likewise, through the predominant force of sentient beings’ karma, masses of snow and a rain whose drops were as large as chariot axles fell upon the surface of the wind-wheel.

This quantity of water formed the water-wheel, one million one hundred twenty thousand yojanas deep.

(Question) Why does this water not overflow?

(Answer) Some masters say that the water is held in place by the karmic force of sentient beings, just as food and drink do not descend immediately into the bowels (pakvāśaya) before being digested. Other masters hold that the water is retained by the wind, just as grain is held in a basket (kusūlanyāyena, koṣṭhanyāyena).

Thereafter, acted upon by a kind of wind set in motion by karma, the upper portion of the water crystallized into gold, just as heated milk thickens into cream. Consequently, the water-wheel remained only eight hundred thousand yojanas high. The layer of golden earth (kāñcabamayī bhūmi) above it is three hundred twenty thousand yojanas thick.

The water-wheel and the gold-wheel are equal in breadth, having a diameter of one million two hundred three thousand four hundred fifty yojanas; their circumference is three times this figure, namely three million six hundred ten thousand three hundred fifty yojanas.

[Upon it are the mountains Meru,

Yugandhara,

Īṣādhara,

Khadiraka,

Sudarśaṇa,

Aśvakarṇa,

Vinataka,

And Nimindhara;

Beyond the great continents

Stands Mount Cakravāda.

Mount Meru has four faces made of precious substances.

The portion of the mountain beneath the water is eighty thousand,

And the portion of Mount Meru rising above it is the same.

Each of the other eight ranges is successively half as low;

And their breadth is equal to their height.]

Treatise: Upon the gold-wheel stand nine great mountains. At the center is Mount Meru (Sumeru, “Marvelously High”), surrounded by seven other mountains concentric with it. The Nimindhara range forms a wheel-like ring enclosing Mount Meru and the six mountains within it, and it is for this reason that it bears this name.

Beyond the Nimindhara range lie the great continents. Encircling all these mountain ranges and great continents is the Cakravāda range, the Iron Encircling Mountains. It is so named because it surrounds the great continents and gives the world the form of a wheel.

The Yugandhara range and the six ranges surrounding it are made of gold; the Cakravāda range is made of iron. The northern face of Mount Meru is made of gold, the eastern face of silver, the southern face of beryl, and the western face of crystal. Thus, the regions of space facing these sides each have a distinctive color corresponding to the substance composing that face of the mountain.

The front face of Mount Meru looks toward the continent of Jambudvīpa and is composed of beryl; hence, when we look up at the sky, we see the color of beryl.

(Question) What accounts for the different substances composing Mount Meru?

(Answer) The water that fell upon the gold-wheel possessed many different potencies; under the influence of winds having many different powers, this water was transformed and converted into precious substances. Because of this transformation, water was the cause and the precious substances were the result of that cause; it was not an action occurring simultaneously. This is entirely different from the Sāṃkhya doctrine of transformation (pariṇāma).

(Question) What is the Sāṃkhya doctrine of transformation?

(Answer) The Sāṃkhyas maintain that within an enduring substrate (dharmin, dravya), dharmas arise and disappear. Why is such a doctrine unreasonable? Because one cannot maintain, on the one hand, that the substrate is permanent and, on the other, that the dharmas arise and cease.

The Sāṃkhyas, however, do not assert that there is a substrate apart from the dharmas. They say that when a dharma undergoes transformation, it becomes the basis for various qualities and is therefore called a substrate; in other words, this transformation (pariṇāma) is merely a modification of the substance (dravya). But this assertion cannot be accepted, because it involves a contradiction in terminology: they admit that the former thing, the cause, is the latter thing, the result, yet say that the latter is unlike the former.

Gold, silver, precious substances, and earth, formed in this way, were gathered together by winds produced through karmic force; and from them the mountains and great continents were formed.

Thus, the lower portions of all the mountains upon the gold-wheel are submerged eighty thousand yojanas beneath the water. The part of Mount Meru rising above the water is equally high; thus, Mount Meru has a total height of one hundred sixty thousand yojanas. The portion of Mount Yugandhara rising above the water is forty thousand yojanas; that of Mount Īṣādhara is twenty thousand, and so on, down to Mount Cakravāda, which is three hundred twelve and a half yojanas high. The higher they rise above the water, the broader they are. [The word ghana in the verse means “broad.”]

[Between the mountain ranges are eight seas;

The first seven are called the “inner” seas.

The first sea is eighty thousand wide,

And at its outer rim is three times as wide;

The remaining six become successively half as narrow.

The eighth sea is called the “outer” sea,

And is three hundred twenty-two thousand

Yojanas wide.]

Treatise: Between the mountain ranges, from Meru to Nimindhara, are seven seas filled with water possessing eight qualities: it is sweet, cool, pleasant-tasting, light, clear, free from foul odor, does not cause thirst, and does not cause stomachache.

The first sea, lying between Mount Meru and Yugandhara, is eighty thousand yojanas wide. At its outer edge, where it adjoins Mount Yugandhara, it is three times as wide, namely two hundred forty thousand yojanas.

The breadth of each remaining sea is successively reduced by half. The second sea, lying between Mount Yugandhara and Īṣādhara, is forty thousand yojanas wide, and so on down to the seventh sea, lying between Mount Vinataka and Nimindhara, which is one thousand two hundred fifty yojanas wide. The outer rims are not calculated here, as doing so would be excessively cumbersome. These seven are the inner seas. The remaining sea, lying between Mount Nimindhara and Cakravāda, is called the great outer sea. It consists entirely of salt water and is three hundred twenty-two thousand yojanas wide.

[Within it are the great continents:

Jambudvīpa is shaped like a chariot,

Three sides are two thousand wide,

The southern side is three point five wide.

Pūrvavideha

Is shaped like a half-moon,

Three sides are as wide as Jambudvīpa,

The eastern side is three hundred and fifty wide;

Godānīya is circular,

Its diameter is two thousand five hundred,

Its circumference is three times that;

Uttarakuru is square,

Each side is two thousand yojanas wide.

There are also eight intermediate continents;

Two each lie adjacent to the four continents above.]

Treatise: Situated in the outer ocean, facing the four sides of Mount Meru, are the four great continents (dvīpas): (1) Jambudvīpa, the Southern Continent, has three sides each two thousand yojanas wide and one side three point five yojanas wide; it is therefore shaped like a carriage. At its center is the vajra seat, resting upon the golden wheel. It is there that a bodhisattva, seated, enters the vajropama-samādhi and becomes an arhat and a Buddha, because no other place and no other person has sufficient power to sustain this concentration of the bodhisattva.

(2) Pūrvavideha, the Eastern Continent, is shaped like a half-moon. Three sides are two thousand yojanas wide, the same dimensions as Jambudvīpa; the remaining side is three hundred and fifty yojanas wide.

(3) Godānīya, the Western Continent, facing the eastern side of Mount Meru, is round like the moon. Its circumference is seven thousand five hundred yojanas, and its diameter is two thousand five hundred yojanas.

(4) Uttarakuru, the Northern Continent, facing the northern side of Mount Meru, is square like a seat. Each side is two thousand yojanas wide, making a circumference of eight thousand yojanas. The word “equal” indicates that the four sides of this continent are all alike.

The faces of the beings dwelling on these great continents resemble the respective shapes of those continents.

There are also eight additional continents of intermediate size, called intermediate continents. These continents bear the names of the beings who dwell there. Cāmaras and Avaracāmaras lie beside Jambudvīpa; Dehas and Videhas lie beside Pūrvavideha; Śāṭahas and Uttarakuru lie beside Godānīya; Kurus and Kauravas lie beside Uttarakuru.

All these continents are inhabited by human beings. However, one tradition says that one of these continents, namely Cāmara, is the abode of the Rākṣasas.

[North of the nine Black Mountains

Is Mount Gandhamādana, where there is

Lake Anavatapta, measuring

Fifty yojanas across.]

Treatise: In Jambudvīpa, proceeding northward, one encounters three Ant Mountains, [so called because they are shaped like ants] (Black Mountains); next come three more Ant Mountains; then another three Ant Mountains; and finally the great Snow Mountain, Himavat.

Farther north is Mount Gandhamādana, where Lake Anavatapta is situated. From it issue four great rivers: the Gaṅgā, the Sindhu, the Sītā, and the Vakṣu.

This lake is fifty yojanas wide and fifty yojanas deep, and is filled with water possessing eight qualities, as described above. Only those endowed with supernormal powers can reach this place. Beside the lake stands the Jambu tree. Our great continent is called Jambudvīpa after either this tree or its fruit.

(Question) Where are the hells situated, and what are their dimensions?

The verse replies:

[Twenty thousand yojanas beneath this continent

Is the Avīci Hell, equal in depth and breadth;

Above it are seven other hells.

Each of these eight hells has sixteen “adjuncts”:

Hot ashes, putrid mire,

Sharp blades, and a boiling river,

On all four sides.

The remaining are the eight intensely cold hells.]

Treatise: Twenty thousand yojanas beneath Jambudvīpa lies the great Avīci Hell. This hell is twenty thousand yojanas both in height and in width; thus its floor lies forty thousand yojanas beneath the surface of Jambudvīpa.

(Question) Why is this hell called Avīci, “without interval”?

(Answer) There are two explanations: (1) In this hell there is no interruption (vīci) of suffering, whereas in the other hells suffering may be interrupted. In the Saṃjīva Hell, for example, although the bodies of beings are crushed into dust, they revive when a cold wind blows upon them; hence the name Saṃjīva, “Revival.” (2) In this hell, suffering is never interrupted by a pleasant sensation. Although the other hells have no pleasant sensations born of karmic maturation, it is held that pleasant sensations resulting from a homogeneous outflow may still occur there.

Above the Avīci Hell are seven other hells, stacked one upon another. Counting upward from below, they are Pratāpana, Intense Heat; Tapana, Burning Heat; Mahāraurava, Great Wailing; Raurava, Wailing; Saṃghāta, Crushing; Kālasūtra, Black Line; and Saṃjīva, Revival. According to another tradition, these seven hells are situated on the same level as the Avīci Hell.

Each of the eight hells has sixteen kinds of “adjuncts” (utsadas). This is based on a teaching of the Blessed One: “The eight kinds of hell that I have described are extremely difficult to escape from, filled with beings who have committed evil, and each has sixteen ‘adjuncts.’ They have four walls and four gateways; their breadth is equal to their length; they are surrounded by iron walls; their floors are likewise made of iron; the ground is blazing iron; and they are engulfed in flames extending for hundreds of yojanas.” (Dīgha, 19, 19; Ekottara, 36, 4; Saṃyukta, 47, 4).

(Question) What are the sixteen kinds of “adjuncts”?

(Answer) At each gateway of these hells there are:

(1) A pit of hot ashes (kukūla), reaching to the knees. When beings set foot in it, their skin, flesh, and blood are entirely burned away; only when they emerge are these restored as before.

(2) A mass of putrid mire (kuṇapa), inhabited by aquatic worms called “Sharp-Mouthed.” Their bodies are white and their heads black. Whenever beings fall into it, these worms pierce them through to the bones.

(3) A great road filled with sharp blades (kṣuramārga, kṣuradhārāmārga). When beings enter it, they bleed and their skin and flesh are torn to pieces.

There is a forest whose leaves are like swords (asipattravana). When these sword-leaves fall, they sever the hands and feet of those reborn there; afterward, Śyāmaśabala dogs fight one another to devour all these severed limbs.

There is a thorn forest (ayaḥśalmalīvana), in which sharp thorns grow to a length of sixteen finger-breadths. When beings climb the trees, the thorns turn their points downward; when the beings fall from above, the thorns turn their points upward again. There are also iron-beaked birds (ayastuṇḍa) that vie with one another to peck out the eyes of the beings reborn there.

These three places of torment together constitute one kind of “adjunct,” because they share a single type of punishment that inflicts wounds.

(4) A river of boiling water (Vaitaraṇī) contains burning hot ashes. On both banks are persons (puruṣa), the wardens of hell (narakapāla), holding swords, spears, and javelins to drive back any beings who seek to escape from this river. Within the river, whether beings dive beneath the water or rise to the surface, swim upstream or downstream, swim across or struggle about, they are all boiled by the seething water, like sesame seeds or grains of rice poured into a great cauldron set over a fire.

This river flows around the great hell like a deep moat.

These four “additional hells” constitute sixteen kinds according to their different locations, for at each of the four gates of the great hell there are these four kinds of “additional hells.”

(Question) Why are they called “additional hells” (utsada)?

They are called “additional” because they are places that increase suffering. Within hell, all beings already undergo many torments, but in these places called “additional hells” they must undergo still more torments. One explanation (Manoratha) holds that after beings have been confined in hell, they must then fall into these places and undergo further suffering; hence they are called “additional hells.”

From this issue arises another question:

(Question) The wardens of hell guarding the two banks of the Vaitaraṇī River were mentioned above. Are these wardens sentient beings?

(Answer) They are not sentient beings.

(Question) If so, how can they move?

(Answer) It is due to the karmic power of beings, just like the wind that produces the material world, the wind of the kalpa.

(Question) If so, how should the following statement by the venerable Dhārmika Subhūti be explained: “Those whose minds harbor anger and resentment, who delight in committing evil and sinful karma and rejoice in the suffering of others, will be reborn as the wardens of King Yama (Yamarākṣasas)”?

(Answer) These beings are called Yama’s wardens because they are all subordinates of King Yama and are charged with casting beings into hell at his command. This does not mean that they are the “guards of hell” charged with torturing the beings who have fallen there.

However, another school holds that the wardens of hell are sentient beings.

(Question) If so, where will the ripened result of the evil karma created by the wardens of hell be experienced?

(Answer) In hell itself. Since the ripened results of the uninterrupted offenses all arise in hell, why could the ripened results of the wardens’ karma not also arise there?

(Question) But why are the wardens of hell not burned, although they remain in the midst of fire?

(Answer) Because the karmic power that causes their rebirth in the fire also prevents the fire from touching them; or because this very karmic power causes the wardens’ bodies to be formed from great elements of a different kind.

The foregoing are the eight extremely hot hells. In addition, there are eight extremely cold hells: Arbuda, Nirarbuda, Aṭaṭa, Hahava, Huhuva, Utpala, Padma, and Mahāpadma. Among these hells, some are named after the forms of the beings who have fallen into them—that is, beings shaped like an arbuda, a lotus blossom, and so forth—while others, such as Aṭaṭa, are named after the cries uttered by beings tormented by the cold.

All these hells lie beneath Jambudvīpa and on the same level as the great hells.

(Question) How can there be sufficient space beneath this single continent of Jambudvīpa for hells larger than the continent itself?

(Answer) The great continents are shaped like heaps of grain: the farther downward they extend, the broader they become. Nor does the ocean extend straight down around the continents. (Vibhāṣā, 172, 7; Cullavagga, 9, 1.3).

These sixteen hells are all formed by the karmic power of beings. Other hells, such as the isolated hells (prādeśika), are formed by the karmic power of one, two, or many persons. They are of numerous kinds and have no fixed location: they may be found in rivers, mountains, deserts, and so forth.

The principal abode of the hells lies below. Animals have three abodes: on land, in water, and in the air. Their principal abode is the great ocean, while those that came later went to other places.

The king of the pretas is named Yama. The dwelling of King Yama, which is also the principal abode of the pretas, lies five hundred yojanas beneath Jambudvīpa and has the same dimensions in depth and breadth. The pretas found elsewhere are the surplus population from this place, and they differ greatly from one another. Some possess supernormal powers and majesty like those of the devas. The sutra speaks very clearly about the distinctions among these beings.

(Question) What are the dimensions and other characteristics of the sun and moon?

The stanza answers:

[The sun and moon are at half the height of Mount Meru;

Their breadth is fifty-one and fifty yojanas.

Midnight on this continent is when the sun sets

Or rises on another;

It is thus for all four continents.

From the ninth day of the latter half

Of the second rainy-season month, the nights gradually lengthen;

And from that same day of the fourth cold-season month,

The nights gradually shorten; the days are the reverse of the nights.

Day and night each increase by one lava

As the sun moves southward or northward.

When the moon draws near the sun, it is obscured by shadow and thus appears to wane.]

Treatise: The sun and moon rest upon the wind. Through the collective karmic power of beings, winds arise and form (nirmā) the moon, sun, and stars in midair (antarikṣe). All these celestial bodies revolve around Mount Meru as though carried along by a whirlpool.

(Question) How far away are the sun and moon?

(Answer) They are at a distance equal to half the height of Mount Meru and move on a level with the summit of Mount Yugaṃdhara.

(Question) What are their dimensions?

(Answer) The circular disk of the sun measures fifty-one yojanas, and that of the moon measures fifty yojanas.

The smallest “palace” (vimāna) among the palaces of the stars measures one krośa; [the largest measures sixteen yojanas].

Through the karmic power of beings, a circular disk of fire-stone, emitting heat and light, has formed on the lower outer surface of the sun’s palace; likewise, a circular disk of water-stone, emitting cold and light, has formed on the lower outer surface of the moon. According to the circumstances, their functions are to cause the growth, preservation, or destruction of eyes, bodies, flowers, fruits, crops, grasses, and trees.

In the world of the four great continents, there is only one moon and one sun; nevertheless, the sun cannot act upon all four great continents at the same time.

When it is midnight in Uttarakuru, the sun is just setting in Pūrvavideha; and when it is midnight in Jambudvīpa, the sun is just rising in Godānīya. And so it continues.

Because the course of the sun changes, days and nights differ in length.

The nights become longer beginning on the ninth day of the latter half of the second rainy month (bhādrapada), and gradually become shorter beginning on the ninth day of the latter half of the fourth cold month (phālguna). For the days, the reverse is true: when the nights grow longer, the days grow shorter, and when the nights grow shorter, the days grow longer. The gradual lengthening of day and night depends on whether the sun moves toward the south or the north of Jambudvīpa.

(Question) Why does the face of the moon appear incomplete at the beginning of the bright fortnight?

(Answer) The Śāstra of Designations states: “When the lunar palace moves close to the solar palace, the sun’s shadow falls upon the lunar palace. Therefore, when the shadow obscures the opposite face, the luminous face appears incomplete.” However, the ancient masters (the Yogācāras) maintain that the moon appears now full and now incomplete according to its movements.

(Question) To what class do the beings dwelling in the palaces of the sun and moon belong?

(Answer) They are devas subordinate to the Four Great Kings (Cāturmabhārājakāyikas), and only this class of devas dwells separately in these palaces. Nevertheless, a great many subordinates of the Four Great Kings also dwell upon the land, on the terraces (pariṣaṇḍās) of Mount Meru and the other mountains.

(Question) How many such terraces are there, what are their dimensions, and which devas dwell there?

The verse answers:

[Mount Meru has four terraces,

Separated by ten thousand yojanas;

They project sixteen thousand,

Eight thousand, four thousand, and two thousand yojanas.

The Firm-Handed, the Garland-Bearers,

The Ever-Intoxicated, and the Great Kings’ devas

Dwell successively upon the four levels;

And they also dwell upon the other seven mountains.]

Exposition: Mount Meru has four terraces. The first terrace is ten thousand yojanas above the surface of the water; the second is ten thousand yojanas above the first; and so on up to the fourth terrace. These terraces reach halfway up Mount Meru.

The first terrace projects (nirgata, ḥphags) sixteen thousand yojanas from Mount Meru; the remaining terraces project, in the order given above, eight thousand, four thousand, and two thousand yojanas. The first terrace is the dwelling place of the yakṣas called the Firm-Handed (ardham ākṣiptam = ardham avastabdham); those on the second terrace are called the Garland-Bearers; and those on the third are called the Ever-Intoxicated (Sadāmatta [the verse reads sadāmada]).

All these devas are subordinates of the Four Great Kings. On the fourth terrace dwell the Four Great Kings and their retinues; collectively, they are all called the devas of the Four Great Kings.

Just as the subordinates and retinues of the Four Great Kings dwell upon Mount Meru, other subordinates dwelling upon the seven Golden Mountains also possess cities and towns. This is the most numerous class of beings in the heavenly realm.

(Question) Where do the Thirty-Three Devas dwell?

The verse answers:

[The summit of Meru is eighty thousand yojanas wide

And is the dwelling place of the Thirty-Three Devas;

At its four corners are four peaks,

The abodes of the Vajrapāṇīs.

At the center is the city of Sudarśana,

Ten thousand yojanas in circumference,

One and a half yojanas high and made of gold,

Many-colored, with soft ground.

Within it stands the excellent palace,

One thousand yojanas in circumference.

Outside the city, four ornamenting parks are found:

Caitraratha, Pāruṣyaka, Miśraka, and Nandana;

On the four sides are the delightful grounds,

Twenty yojanas apart.

To the northeast stands the Pārijātaka tree;

To the southwest stands the Hall of the Excellent Dharma.]

Exposition: The Thirty-Three Devas (Trāyastriṃśas) dwell upon the summit of Mount Meru. Each side of this summit is eighty thousand yojanas long. Some masters say that each side is only slightly more than ten thousand yojanas long and that its circumference is eighty thousand yojanas.

At the four corners are four peaks (kuṭa), each five hundred yojanas in height and width. These are the abodes of the yakṣas called Vajrapāṇīs.

At the center of Mount Meru is the golden city of Śakra, the Lord of the Devas and sovereign of the heavenly realm, called Sudarśana. Each side of this city is two thousand five hundred yojanas long, so its circumference is ten thousand yojanas; it is one and a half yojanas high. Both the city and its ground are adorned with one hundred and one colors. The ground is soft like the leaf of a cotton plant and yields and rises again beneath each footstep.

At the center of the city stands the palace of Śakra, Lord of the Devas. This palace is called Vaijayanta because its splendor and jewels shine even into the other dwellings of the devas. Each side of the palace is two hundred and fifty yojanas long, so its circumference is one thousand yojanas. The foregoing describes all the delightful features of the city.

Adorning the exterior of the city are four parks in which the devas amuse themselves: Caitraratha, Pāruṣyaka, Miśraka, and Nandana. On the four sides, twenty yojanas from these parks, are four other pleasure grounds (krīḍāsthānāni) of the devas. The ground in these places is wondrously beautiful, captivating the devas and causing them to contend with one another.

A kind of magnolia called the Pārijātaka tree is a source of sensual enjoyment for the Thirty-Three Devas. Its roots extend fifty yojanas, its trunk rises one hundred yojanas, and its branches, leaves, and petals (śakhāpattrapalāśa) spread over fifty yojanas. Its fragrance travels one hundred yojanas with the wind and fifty yojanas against the wind.

(Question) The fragrance may travel one hundred yojanas with the wind, but how can it travel against the wind?

(Answer) Some masters maintain that the statement that it travels fifty yojanas with the wind means that this fragrance does not extend beyond the limit of the tree’s canopy, which itself spreads fifty yojanas. [This explanation, however, is unreasonable,] because the scripture says that the fragrance travels against the wind. We may therefore say that the fragrance does not “travel” against the wind, since it ceases at the very place where it arises; rather, this fragrance has the characteristic of being able to produce a continuous succession of similar fragrances despite being obstructed by the gentle breezes of the heavenly realm. Thereafter, however, the fragrance gradually weakens until it ceases entirely and cannot travel as far as it does when borne with the wind.

(Question) Does this continuous succession of fragrances have as its support the primary elements that constitute fragrance? Or is it the wind that is transformed into fragrance? [That is, has the wind produced a new fragrance that is no longer the fragrance of the flower, just as sesame seeds become permeated with the fragrance of flowers?]

(Answer) This cannot yet be determined. Nevertheless, the Blessed One said: “The fragrance of flowers cannot travel against the wind; neither can the fragrance of sandalwood, Tagara, or jasmine. But the fragrance of virtue can travel against the wind; that of a good person (satpuruṣa) spreads throughout all directions.” (Saṃyukta, 28, 31; Ekottara, 13, 17; Udānavarga, vi. 14)

(Question) How, then, can the assertion that fragrance “travels against the wind” accord with the teaching above?

(Answer) The Blessed One taught this with reference to the fragrances of the ordinary world, for everyone knows that fragrance cannot travel against the wind.

The Mahīśāsakas say that the fragrance [of the flowers of the Pārijātaka tree], when carried downwind, can spread as far as one hundred yojanas, and when there is no wind, as far as fifty yojanas.

To the southwest is the Sudharmā Hall, where the assembly of devas (devasabhā) gathers to examine the good and evil deeds performed by sentient beings.

The foregoing describes the arrangement of the inhabited world of the Thirty-three Gods. Next comes the account of the dwelling places of the other devas possessing form.

[Above are the devas possessing form,

Dwelling in palaces in midair.]

Treatise: The devas higher than the Thirty-three Gods dwell in “palaces in midair” (vimānas). These devas are the Yāmas, Tuṣitas, Nirmāṇaratis, and Paranirmitavaśavartins, together with the devas of the Form Realm, namely, the sixteen classes of devas beginning with the Brahmakāyikas. Thus, there are altogether twenty-two classes of devas in the receptacle world (bhājanaloka), dwelling in the specific places described above. [There are also many other devas, such as the Krīḍāpramoṣakas, Prahāsakas, and so forth, but this treatise has passed over them without discussion.]

[The six classes of devas who enjoy sensual pleasure consummate desire through intercourse, embracing,

Holding hands, smiling, and gazing at one another.]

Treatise: The devas of the Four Great Kings, the Thirty-three Gods, the Yāma gods, the Tuṣita gods, the Nirmāṇarati gods, and the Paranirmitavaśavartin gods all belong to the Desire Realm. The devas above them do not belong to the Desire Realm.

The devas of the Four Great Kings and the Thirty-three Gods dwell upon solid ground and therefore engage in intercourse like ordinary human beings. They calm the fire of desire, however, by emitting only wind rather than seminal fluid. The Yāma gods calm the fire of desire by embracing one another; the Tuṣita gods by holding hands; the Nirmāṇarati gods by smiling at one another; and the Paranirmitavaśavartin gods merely by gazing at one another. The foregoing is the explanation given in the Lokaprajñāpti (Chapter VI).

According to the Vibhāṣā (113, 9), the explanations given above by the Prajñāpti concerning embracing, holding hands, and so forth do not refer to modes of intercourse, because these classes of devas engage in intercourse only in the same manner as ordinary human beings. Rather, they indicate the duration of the act. The greater the sensual pleasure resulting from desirable objects, the longer the intercourse lasts.

If a boy or girl is seated upon the lap of a being in a heavenly realm, that child is the offspring of that being. All these beings are spontaneously born.

[Newborn devas resemble children from five to ten years of age;

In the Form Realm they are fully developed and clothed.]

Treatise: When the devas of the six heavens of the Desire Realm are newly born, they resemble children five, six, seven, eight, nine, or ten years of age, respectively, according to the order of those six realms; afterward, however, they develop very rapidly.

When devas of the Form Realm are newly born, their bodies are already fully developed, and they are already clothed. All devas use the language of the noble ones (ārya speech).

(Question) How is the distinction between the births of sensual pleasure and the births of happiness known?

The stanza answers:

[The three births of sensual pleasure comprise humans and devas.

The three births of happiness comprise the nine planes of the three stages of dhyāna.]

Treatise: In the Desire Realm, there are beings who freely enjoy such objects of sensual pleasure as arise before them. These are the beings of the human realm and the devas of the first four of the six heavens of the Desire Realm.

There are beings who freely enjoy objects of sensual pleasure that they themselves have created. These are the beings of the realm of the Nirmāṇarati gods.

There are also beings who freely enjoy objects of sensual pleasure created by others. These are the beings of the realm of the Paranirmitavaśavartin gods.

The first class enjoys objects of sensual pleasure that appear before them; the second enjoys objects of sensual pleasure that they have wished to create; and the third enjoys objects of sensual pleasure that others have wished to create. These are the three kinds of “arising” or “existence of sensual pleasure” (births of sensual pleasure, kāmopapattis) in the Desire Realm.

In the Form Realm, the nine planes belonging to the first three stages of dhyāna constitute the three kinds of “births of happiness” (sukhopapattis). For long periods, the devas of these three stages pass their time in bliss through the happiness born of separation from the afflictions (kleśa)—the happiness born of seclusion (vivekaja sukha); through the happiness that includes the joy born of meditative concentration (samādhija); and through the happiness in which joy has been relinquished (happiness free from joy, niḥprītikasukha). Because these modes of birth are free from suffering and endure for a long time, they constitute the three kinds of “births of happiness.”

There is no joyful happiness in the intermediate dhyāna (dhyānāntara), so why is it nevertheless called a heaven of the birth of happiness? This is a point requiring discussion.

(Question) At what elevations are the twenty-two heavenly realms mentioned above, from the heaven of the Four Great Kings to the highest heaven of the Form Realm, situated?

The stanza answers:

[As far as one must travel downward from one realm,

So far must one travel upward to the realm above it.]

Treatise: It is not easy to calculate the elevations of these realms in yojanas. Nevertheless, the distance that must be traversed in descending from a certain heavenly realm may be taken as an example for inferring the distance that must be traversed in ascending from that realm to the next realm above it. In other words, however far a heavenly realm lies above Jambudvīpa, it lies that same distance below the realm immediately above it.

For example, the fourth terrace of the Four Great Kings—the abode of those four heavenly kings—is forty thousand yojanas above sea level. Thus, the distance descended from that heavenly realm to this world is the same as the distance ascended from it to the heaven of the Thirty-three Gods [because the summit of Mount Meru is eighty thousand yojanas above sea level]. The number of yojanas one must traverse in descending from the heaven of the Thirty-three Gods to sea level is the same as the number one must traverse in ascending from there to the heaven of the Yāma gods.

And so it continues: the number of yojanas by which the Akaniṣṭha heaven lies above the Sudarśana heaven is the same as the number by which the Sudarśana heaven lies above Jambudvīpa.

Above the Akaniṣṭhas there is no further dwelling place. Because this place is higher than all the others and no other place lies above it, it is called the Akaniṣṭha heaven, the Highest Heaven of the Form Realm. Some masters hold that this realm is called the Aghaniṣṭha heaven, because the word agha means “accumulated form,” and this realm is the ultimate limit of such form.

(Question) Can beings born in a lower realm ascend to a higher palace and see the beings dwelling there?

The stanza answers:

[Without supernormal powers or the assistance of another,

Beings of a lower realm cannot see a higher realm.]

Treatise: When they have attained supernormal powers, or when assisted by a being possessing supernormal powers or by a being from the heaven of the Yāma gods, beings of the Heaven of the Thirty-three can travel to the heaven of the Yāma gods.

A being born in a lower abode can see beings in a higher abode and can travel to that higher abode; however, this cannot occur if those beings belong to a higher realm (dhātu) or plane (bhūmi). It is just as higher forms of tangible objects—belonging to a higher realm or plane—cannot be perceived, because such tangible objects do not fall within the range of a lower faculty. For this very reason, beings belonging to a higher realm or plane cannot descend in their own bodies into lower realms or planes, but must employ apparitional bodies belonging to the realms or planes to which they wish to go. (Dīgha, ii. 210)

Another school (the Mahāsaṃghikas) maintains that beings on a lower plane can see a being on a higher plane just as they see other beings on their own plane, provided the being on the higher plane wishes to allow them to be seen.

(Question) What are the dimensions of the palaces of the Yāma gods and the other heavenly realms?

(Answer) Some masters state that the palaces of the upper four among the six heavens of the Desire Realm are as large as the summit of Mount Meru. Some masters state that each higher palace is twice as large as the palace below it. Others state that the first dhyāna is as large as the four great continents; the second dhyāna, as large as a small chiliocosm; the third dhyāna, as large as a medium chiliocosm; and the fourth dhyāna, as large as a great chiliocosm. Still other masters say that the first three dhyānas correspond, in order, to a small, medium, and great chiliocosm, while the fourth dhyāna is immeasurable.

(Question) What are the small, medium, and great chiliocosms?

The stanza answers:

[The four great continents, the sun, the moon,

Mount Meru, the heavens of the Desire Realm,

And the Brahmā world—one thousand of each of these

Constitute a small chiliocosm.

One thousand small chiliocosms

Constitute a medium chiliocosm;

One thousand medium chiliocosms constitute a great chiliocosm.

Their periods of destruction and formation are equal.]

Treatise: A small chiliocosm (sāhasra cūḍika lokadhātu) consists of one thousand continents of Jambudvīpa, one thousand continents of Pūrvavideha, one thousand continents of Avaragodānīya, one thousand continents of Uttarakuru, one thousand moons, one thousand suns, one thousand Mount Merus, one thousand of each heaven of the Desire Realm, and one thousand of each Brahmā world. One thousand small chiliocosms constitute a medium chiliocosm (dvisāhasro madhyamo lokadhātu). One thousand medium chiliocosms constitute a great chiliocosm (trisāhasramahāsāhasro lokadhātu).

The period of their destruction and the period of their formation are equal. Here the stanza uses the word saṃbhava (arising) in the sense of vivarta (formation).

(Question) These worlds differ, but do the beings inhabiting them also differ?

The stanza answers:

[The people of Jambudvīpa

Are four or three and a half cubits tall;

The people of the eastern, western, and northern continents

Are successively twice as tall.

The gods of the Desire Realm

Are from one-quarter to one and a half krośas tall.

Among the gods of the Form Realm, the first four increase successively by one-half,

Thereafter they double.

For the Cloudless gods, subtract three yojanas.]

Treatise: The people of Jambudvīpa are for the most part about three and a half cubits tall—a cubit being the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger—and sometimes four cubits. The people of Pūrvavideha, Avaragodānīya, and Uttarakuru are, in that order, about eight, sixteen, and thirty-two cubits tall. The gods of the Four Great Kings are one-quarter of a krośa tall; the gods in each of the other heavens of the Desire Realm are successively one-quarter krośa taller: the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-three are one-half krośa tall, the Yāma gods three-quarters of a krośa, the Tuṣita gods one krośa, the gods Who Delight in Creating one and one-quarter krośas, and the gods Who Exercise Power over the Creations of Others one and a half krośas.

The Brahmā Hosts, the first gods of the Form Realm, are one-half yojana tall; the Brahmā Ministers are one yojana tall; the Great Brahmās are one and a half yojanas tall; and the gods of Limited Radiance are two yojanas tall. Above the gods of Limited Radiance, their height successively doubles: the gods of Immeasurable Radiance are four yojanas tall, the gods of Radiant Purity are eight yojanas tall, and so on, up to the gods of Universal Purity, who are sixty-four yojanas tall.

The height of the Cloudless gods would likewise be twice this amount, but three yojanas are subtracted, leaving only one hundred and twenty-five yojanas; it then continues to double in this manner, from the Merit-Born gods at two hundred and fifty yojanas up to the gods of the Ultimate Form Realm at sixteen thousand yojanas.

The lifespans of the beings in these realms also differ.

[On the northern continent, one thousand years;

On the western and eastern continents, successively half as many;

On this continent, the lifespan is not fixed:

At the end it is ten years, while at the beginning it is beyond reckoning.

Fifty human years

Equal one day and night in the lowest heaven of the Desire Realm;

There the lifespan is five hundred years.

In the five heavens above, both the day and the lifespan double.

In the Form Realm there are neither days nor nights;

The number of kalpas equals the measure of the body.

In the Formless Realm, the first realm is twenty thousand,

Thereafter each increases by that same number.

Below and above the gods of Limited Radiance,

It is one great kalpa and one-half great kalpa, respectively.]

Treatise: The lifespan on Uttarakuru is one thousand years; on Godānīya, five hundred years; and on Pūrvavideha, two hundred and fifty years.

The lifespan on Jambudvīpa is not fixed, being sometimes long and sometimes short. At the end of the kalpa, the shortest lifespan is ten years; but at the beginning of the kalpa (prāthamakalpika), it is incalculable: it cannot be counted in hundreds, thousands, and so forth.

As for the gods of the Desire Realm, their lifespans are calculated according to the duration of their days.

Fifty human years constitute one day in the heaven of the Four Great Kings; the lifespan there is five hundred years—each year consisting of twelve months and each month of thirty days. In the Heaven of the Thirty-three, one day equals one hundred human years, and the lifespan is one thousand years. In the heaven of the Yāma gods, one day equals two hundred human years, and the lifespan is two thousand years; and this progression continues in the same manner.

(Question) Since there are no sun and moon above Mount Yugandhara, how are day and night determined in these heavens, and how do the gods obtain light?

(Answer) Day and night are determined by the opening and closing of flowers, just as we determine them by the white lotus (kumuda, câu-vật-đà) and the red lotus (padma, bát-đặc-ma); elsewhere, they are determined by whether birds sing or remain silent, or by periods of sleep and wakefulness. As for light, the bodies of the gods themselves emit radiance.

In the Form Realm, gods whose bodies are one-half yojana tall—such as the Brahmā Hosts—have a lifespan of one-half kalpa; and this progression continues in the same manner up to the Cloudless gods, whose bodies are sixteen thousand yojanas tall and whose lifespan is therefore also sixteen thousand kalpas.

In the Sphere of Infinite Space, the lifespan is twenty thousand kalpas; in the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness, forty thousand kalpas; in the Sphere of Nothingness, sixty thousand kalpas; and in the Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, also called the Summit of Existence, eighty thousand kalpas.

(Question) What does “kalpa” mean here? Is it an intermediate kalpa (antarakalpa), a kalpa of dissolution (saṃvartakalpa), a kalpa of formation (vivartakalpa), or a great kalpa (mahākalpa)?

(Answer) From the Heaven of Limited Radiance upward—that is, from the lowest heaven of the second dhyana—the measure is a great kalpa; below it—that is, in the Heavens of the Brahma Hosts, Brahma’s Ministers, and Great Brahma—the measure is half a great kalpa. This is because it takes twenty intermediate kalpas for the world to form [with Great Brahma appearing at the very beginning], twenty intermediate kalpas for the world to endure, and twenty intermediate kalpas for the world to be destroyed [with Great Brahma’s heaven being the last realm to be destroyed].

Thus, Great Brahma’s lifespan comprises the intervening sixty intermediate kalpas; these sixty intermediate kalpas constitute one and a half kalpas, because half a great kalpa—that is, forty intermediate kalpas—is reckoned as one kalpa.

(Question) What are the lifespans in the unfortunate destinies?

The stanza answers:

[In the six upper hells, Reviving and so forth,

The lifespans of the six heavens of the Desire Realm, successively,

Constitute one day and night;

Their lifespans are likewise determined.

In the Intensely Burning Hell, half an intermediate kalpa;

In the Uninterrupted Hell, one intermediate kalpa.

Among animals, the longest is one intermediate kalpa;

Ghosts live five hundred years,

With each day as long as a month.

The lifespan in Arbuda

Is like sesame seeds in a basket:

One seed is removed every hundred years until none remain;

Each of the remaining hells is twenty times longer.]

Treatise: One day in each of the six hells—Reviving (Saṃjīva), Black Thread (Kālasūtra), Crushing (Saṃghāta), Wailing (Raurava), Great Wailing (Mahāraurava), and Burning (Tapana)—corresponds, in this order, to the lifespan of the devas in the six heavens of the Desire Realm, beginning with the Four Great Kings.

Beings who fall into the Reviving Hell have a lifespan measured like that of the devas of the Four Great Kings: five hundred years, with twelve months in a year and thirty days in a month; however, each day there is as long as the entire lifespan of the devas of the Four Great Kings. The correspondence between the Black Thread Hell and the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, and between the Burning Hell and the Heaven of Devas Who Exercise Power over the Creations of Others, is determined in the same way.

In the Great Burning Hell (Pratāpana), the lifespan is half an intermediate kalpa; in the Uninterrupted Hell, it is one intermediate kalpa. The longest-lived animals live for one intermediate kalpa; this is the case with the great naga kings such as Nanda, Upananda, Aśvatara, and so forth. The Blessed One said: “Bhikshus, there are eight great naga kings who live for a kalpa and uphold the great earth…”. (Mahāvyutpatti, 167, 14, 51, 66, 58, 44)

One day for a ghost is equal to one human month, and ghosts live for five hundred years, with each day of every year being as long as one human month.

Concerning the lifespans in the extremely cold hells, the Blessed One offered only a simile by way of comparison: “Bhikshus, suppose a basket (vāha) of Magadha, used to hold sesame seeds and having a capacity of eighty khāris, were filled with sesame seeds, and one seed were removed every hundred years. Even when all those sesame seeds had been removed, the lifespan of a being fallen into the Arbuda Hell would still not have come to an end; this I myself declare. And, bhikshus, the lifespan in the Nirarbuda Hell is twenty times the lifespan in the Arbuda Hell;…”. (Saṃyutta, i. 152; Mahāvyutpatti, 215, 1-8)

(Question) Do all those whose lifespans have just been described live out those lifespans in full?

The stanza answers:

[In all realms there is premature death,

Except in Uttarakuru.]

Treatise: The lifespan of human beings on the continent of Uttarakuru is fixed; they live for one thousand years, and all live out their full lifespan. Elsewhere, however, premature death (antarāmṛtyu) may occur. Nevertheless, there are sentient beings who do not die prematurely: the bodhisattva in Tushita Heaven who has only one more birth to undergo; those in their final birth—that is, those who will not die before attaining arhatship; those who have received a prediction from a Buddha; those whom a Buddha has appointed as messengers; followers through faith (Śraddhānusārin); followers through Dharma (Dharmānusārin); and mothers pregnant with a bodhisattva or a Wheel-Turning King, and so forth. These are cases in which premature death is impossible.