分別功德論 3.9

3.9

Mindfulness of respiration (ānāpāna) refers to stilling the restless wandering [of the mind] while seated. The paths tending toward the Way are not of a single track; the ways of awakening each have their respective places. How is this known to be so? Formerly, Śāriputra made offerings to one billion four hundred million Buddhas and heard the Dharma from the Buddhas, yet never synthesised and practised ānāpāna. When he came to the time of Śākyamuni, it was only from the monk Aśvajit that he first comprehended the Dharma of emptiness and thereupon saw the traces of the path. The Buddha fully expounded wisdom to him, his contaminants were exhausted and fetters untied, and now he is foremost in wisdom. It was not through ānāpāna that he attained nirvāṇa. Maudgalyāyana formerly made offerings to Buddhas for thirty kalpas and cultivated the Mahāyāna practice without being able to complete it; encountering the World-Honoured One, he withdrew to seize the exhaustion of contaminants. From the past until now, he never practised ānāpāna. The monk Kāśyapa formerly made offerings to thirty thousand Tathāgatas and likewise never practised ānāpāna; he was destined to become a pratyekabuddha, but now has withdrawn to become an arhat. The monk Aśvajit formerly also made offerings to seven Buddhas and likewise did not practise ānāpāna, yet now he too has exhausted his contaminants. Ānanda formerly made offerings to twenty thousand Tathāgatas, inquiring and receiving teachings of the Dharma from those Buddhas, and likewise did not practise ānāpāna. Only Rāhula and Mahākapphiṇa have constantly practised ānāpāna from ancient times, and now they too have reached the path. From this it is said that the paths tending toward the Way are not of a single track. As for ānāpāna, one knows the breath as long or short, cold or warm, slow or fast; proceeding from coarse to subtle, one gradually governs chaotic thoughts until finally arriving at the wondrous. Some awaken through the breath, some through analytical comprehension, some through dhūta ascetic restraint, some through extensive learning and strong memory, some through ṛddhi discerning subtleties, and some through model discipline and instruction—what is called different paths leading to the same destination.