大般若波羅蜜多經般若理趣分述讚 3.193

3.193

The commentary says: In the first recurrence, the above was the fruition and benefit attained with passion and the rest as cause; here it is the fruition and benefit attained with wisdom as cause. 'Skill in means' (upāya) means that through the power of wisdom, according with the diseases, behavior, faculties, and inclinations of sentient beings, one immediately manifests preaching the Dharma and other deeds according to the occasion; hence it is called 'means.' Flexibly adapting to the appropriateness of the time to cause them to enter the Path through preliminary application is called 'means.' For example, when walking on a road and seeing someone chasing a rabbit, if another asks whether one has seen it, one should sit down and answer: 'I truly do not see it.' To prevent an act of killing, one manifests the seated posture and says 'I do not see it,' which means not while seated, rather than 'I did not see it when standing.' One does not violate false speech, and the protection from killing is accomplished. The bodhisattva is also like this: desiring to cause sentient beings to renounce the false and enter the true, for the sake of nameless dharmas one speaks with names, expounding according to capacity and in accordance with gravity, timing, and what is fitting, causing them to enter the Path. Expressing the markless by means of marks, expressing the ineffable by means of words, though these do not match the truth itself, it is therefore called 'means.' Wonderfully grasping the underlying intent, adapting to beings according to the times, and never erring in handling matters is called 'skill.' 'Establish supreme wisdom': because this skill serves as cause, in fruition one attains supreme wisdom. Supreme wisdom is the perfection of skill in means subsumed under the two wisdoms. There are two distinctions of wisdom: 1) dedication, and 2) deliverance; here it is dedication, because it ultimately resolves into omniscience. 'Skillfully accomplish all pure deeds' refers to the three kinds: supernormal powers, reading minds, and exhaustion of effluents. The two causes of merit and wisdom, and the two benefits of self and other—all wholesome matters are skillfully accomplished. 'Able to cause all realms of existence to become pure': cause and effect in the three existences and nine existences are both negated, and the defilements of birth and death are completely dissolved; therefore they are called 'pure.' That is, all evil is completely eradicated. Although the previous section with passion and the rest as causes had both benefits, its principal aim lay in giving rise to the four kinds of minds to benefit others; here, with wisdom as cause, one is able to cultivate all good to the end and eliminate all evil to the end. Since the mind of bodhi has three kinds, the fruits and benefits attained also have three kinds. Although the preceding section spoke of passion and the rest as causes, their substance is precisely wisdom, spoken of under different names; all take wisdom as their nature. All of the above is the explanation of the first recurrence.