分別功德論 3.4

3.4

Mindfulness of the Dharma means [progressing] from desire to desirelessness, from desire to the path, from the contaminated (āsrava) to the uncontaminated (anāsrava), and from the conditioned to the unconditioned. How is this known to be so? Formerly, the World-Honoured One was teaching and transforming [beings] in the kingdom of King Udayana. At that time, he preached the Dharma above in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven for his mother Māyā, returning after ninety days and descending north of the city of Kāśī. At that time, the nun Utpalavarṇā thought in her heart that she wished to be the first to see the Buddha alone. At that time, the kings of various states had not seen the Buddha for ninety days; all harboured feelings of thirst and longing and assembled together like clouds. [The nun thought:] "I am a nun and should not be in the midst of this clamorous crowd. I must contrive a method to get ahead." Thereupon she magically transformed herself into a wheel-turning sage king (cakravartin), with an entourage conforming to the rules of a sage king. Seeing the sage king, the lesser kings all scattered and fled. The nun then returned to her original form, saw the Buddha, bowed down, and paid her respects. When the kings came to see the Buddha and no longer saw the sage king, they realised it was the nun's transformation and said to the nun, "Was what we saw just now a deception of this kind?" At that time, Utpalavarṇā thought in her heart, considering herself the very first to see the Buddha. The Buddha told Utpalavarṇā, "You claim yourself to be the first to see the Buddha, but there was someone who preceded you." "I wonder who it was?" The Buddha said, "It was Subhūti, in the eastern mountains of the city of Rājagṛha, mending his robes there. A deva told him, 'The Buddha has already descended.' Subhūti said, 'As a disciple, it is proper for me to go pay homage and ask after him.' But he reflected to himself: 'Where does the Buddha abide? Is the golden color the Buddha? But gold has no limits.' The Buddha has said: 'All phenomena are empty and non-existent. If one understands the twelve causes as empty—neither created nor made, neither person nor being, without life-principle and not a life-principle—that is seeing the Dharma. Seeing the Dharma as without life-principle, as not a life-principle, is seeing me.' Thereupon he pressed his palms together, rose, called out 'Vandāmi!', and right then sat back down to mend his robes. From this it is said that Subhūti preceded you in seeing the Buddha." The Buddha is the lord of all phenomena; to comprehend the emptiness of phenomena is mindfulness of the Dharma. Mindfulness of the Saṅgha refers to the assembly of noble sages. Ordinary assemblies are of several kinds; the ninety-five kinds of non-Buddhist traditions also each have their own assemblies, some harmonious and some divergent, and they also protect themselves with moral disciplines. Some practise meditative concentration (dhyāna), and some regard non-conceptualisation as the ultimate refinement, each trusting in what they serve and considering themselves true. Yet they do not attain the true noble eightfold path; therefore they cannot reach nirvāṇa. Although they may have the five supernormal knowledges, stay their lifespans, or prolong kalpas in non-conceptualisation, none escape birth and death. Only the noble Saṅgha of the Tathāgata, the persons of the four pairs and eight stages, are no longer swept away by the four torrents (ogha) or sought out by the nine abodes [of beings]. Therefore a sūtra says: "Among the ninety-six kinds of monastic assemblies, the Buddha's Saṅgha is the truest." The fourfold assembly of the Tathāgata are all equally of the Śākya clan, just as the four Gaṅgā rivers each have their five hundred tributaries, yet all merge into the great ocean to become of a single taste. The assembly is also like this: whether of kṣatriya clan, brāhmaṇa clan, gṛhapati clan, or householder clan, those among the four castes who leave the household life to learn [the Dharma] all equally become of the Śākya clan as one surname, without having various distinct names. Because of this, what it encompasses is ever more vast, and its meaning ever deeper. The monastic Saṅgha contains the Three Vehicles: the arhat Saṅgha arises from within it, the solitary awakened ones (pratyekabuddha) are also within it, and the Mahāyāna Saṅgha is also within it; therefore it is called a fine and auspicious field of merit. In aiding and benefiting sentient beings within the three realms, none surpasses this excellent, beautiful ground. Although the Tathāgata has attained complete awakening, he always turns to the monastic Saṅgha to repent, because the ground of the Saṅgha is weighty. None of the Buddhas and solitary awakened disciples of the three periods of time fail to attain extinction through the Saṅgha, just as the monk Brahmadatta relied upon the noble Saṅgha to be completely delivered.