The Eighth Grade
This grade's own offenses are graver still: broken precepts, theft from the Saṅgha, the Dharma itself taught for corrupted gain. The fires of hell already stand before this being at death — until a good friend arrives, and Amitābha's own name turns that fire, kalpa by kalpa, into a cooling and fragrant wind.
Broken Precepts, a Corrupted Livelihood
次就下品中生位中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其七。一、從佛告阿難已下，總明告命。二、從下品中生者，正明辨定其位，即是破戒次罪凡夫人也。三、從或有眾生下，至應墮地獄已來，正明第五第六門中簡機造業，即有其七。一明總舉造惡之機。二明多犯諸戒。三明偷盜僧物。四明邪命說法。五明總無愧心。六明兼造眾罪內心發惡，外即身口為惡。既自身不善，又見者皆憎，故云諸惡心自莊嚴也。七明驗斯罪狀，定入地獄。
Next, within the position of the middle rebirth of the lower rank, the text likewise first raises the matter, next distinguishes it in detail, and finally concludes it. There are seven points in all.
First, from "the Buddha told Ānanda" onward, this generally makes plain the issuing of this command.
Second, as for "the middle rebirth of the lower rank": this makes plain the distinguishing and fixing of this grade's own position — this is itself the ordinary being who has broken the precepts, an offense of the next weight below.
Third, from "should there be sentient beings" down through "ought to fall into hell," this makes plain, within the fifth and sixth gates, the distinguishing of capacity and the committing of this karma. There are seven points within it. First, this makes plain the general raising up of the capacity for committing evil. Second, this makes plain violating the manifold precepts extensively. Third, this makes plain stealing property belonging to the Saṅgha. Fourth, this makes plain expounding the Dharma while sustaining a corrupted livelihood. Fifth, this makes plain that this being never once gives rise to any sense of shame at all. Sixth, this makes plain that, in committing these manifold offenses together, evil arises within this being's own mind, while evil is enacted outwardly through body and speech; since this being's own person is thus without goodness, and all who see them come to feel only revulsion, it is therefore said that every evil adorns this being's own mind. Seventh, this makes plain that, upon examining the true state of this offense, it is fixed that this being must fall into hell.
"Expounding the Dharma while sustaining a corrupted livelihood" names a distinctly religious failure, not merely a worldly one — a person who has taken up the very teaching meant to save others and turned it instead into a means of personal gain. Paired with theft from the Saṅgha's own property, this grade's offenses are those of someone positioned close to the Dharma, who nonetheless corrupted that position, rather than someone who never encountered it at all.
The Fires of Hell Turn to Wind
四、從命欲終時下，至即得往生已來，正明第九門中終時善惡來迎。即有其九。一明罪人命延不久。二明獄火來現。三明正火現時遇善知識。四明善人為說彌陀功德。五明罪人既聞彌陀名號即除罪多劫。六明既蒙罪滅火變為風。七明天華隨風來應，羅列目前。八明化眾來迎。九明去時遲疾。
Fourth, from "when life is about to end" down through "attains rebirth at once," this makes plain, within the ninth gate, good and evil coming to welcome this being at the moment life ends. There are nine points within it. First, this makes plain that this offender's own life is not long to continue. Second, this makes plain the fires of hell appearing before them. Third, this makes plain that, at the very moment these fires appear, this being happens to encounter a good friend. Fourth, this makes plain this good person expounding, on this being's behalf, the virtues of Amitābha. Fifth, this makes plain that, having heard Amitābha's own name, this offender at once has many kalpas of offense removed. Sixth, this makes plain that, once this offense has been dissolved, these fires transform into a cooling wind. Seventh, this makes plain heavenly flowers borne upon this wind, arriving in answer, arrayed before this being's own eyes. Eighth, this makes plain a transformation-assembly coming to welcome them. Ninth, this makes plain the speed with which they then depart.
The fire does not simply vanish or give way to a separate, unrelated vision of paradise — it transforms, point by point, into the very wind that carries the heavenly flowers arriving to welcome this being. The same karmic force that had manifested as punishment becomes, once the offense dissolves through calling the name, the vehicle of welcome itself. Nothing external replaces the offender's own hell; the name changes what that hell itself is made of.
Part 98 Complete
This closes Part 98. Part 99 completes the eighth grade: the lotus opening after six kalpas within the pool of seven jewels, and the benefits gained once it opens — Avalokiteśvara's own consoling voice, a profound teaching expounded, and the arising of the aspiration for supreme awakening.
Continue to Part 99 — Closing the Eighth Grade →