金剛經纂要刊定記 1.40

1.40

或曰：「如是起惑造業，受報輪轉、時劫長短耶？」故次云：「塵沙劫波莫之遏絕也。」塵即碎十方世界之微塵。沙即殑伽河中如麵之沙，謂此河周四十里沙細如麪。劫波者梵音，此云時分，大劫小劫長時短時延促雖殊，通名時分。莫之者猶不能也。遏絕者止滅也。意言六道眾生起惑造業受生輪轉已來，將一沙為一劫波，沙盡而劫波不盡，又將一塵為一劫波，塵盡而劫波無盡，塵沙有限劫波無窮，相續至今，不能止之滅之，故云莫之遏絕也。然此二段字句雖多，若論實事不過五字，謂：心、識、惑、業、報。其餘並是顯敘真妄成立輪迴之辭。意謂本是一心，不覺成識，起惑造業，生死無窮；是故如來現身說教。故大科云起教緣也。

Someone might ask: 'Such arising of afflictions, performing of karma, and undergoing retribution in cyclic turning—how long or short are the time kalpas?' Hence it next says: 'For kalpas like dust motes and sands, it has not been checked or severed.' 'Dust motes' refers to fine dust motes from pulverizing the worlds of the ten directions. 'Sands' refers to the sands fine as flour in the Ganges River; this river is said to be forty leagues in circumference, with sand as fine as flour. 'Kalpa' is a Sanskrit word, here translated as 'time period'; although great kalpas and small kalpas differ in length and brevity, they are all collectively termed time periods. 'None can' (mo zhi) means being unable to. 'Checked or severed' means stopped and extinguished. The meaning is that ever since sentient beings of the six destinies arose afflictions, performed karma, and received rebirth in cyclic turning, if one took a single grain of sand as one kalpa, the sand would be exhausted while the kalpas would not; and if one took a single dust mote as one kalpa, the dust motes would be exhausted while the kalpas would remain endless. The dust motes and sands are finite, but the kalpas are infinite; continuing down to the present, they could not be stopped or extinguished, hence it says 'it has not been checked or severed.' Although the words and sentences of these two passages are numerous, if one speaks of the actual matters, they do not exceed five words: namely, mind, consciousness, affliction, karma, and retribution. The rest are all phrases clearly describing truth and falsity and establishing cyclic existence. The intention is that originally there is only the one mind; through non-enlightenment it becomes consciousness, which gives rise to afflictions and creates karma, with birth and death being endless; therefore, the Tathāgata manifested his body and taught the doctrine. Hence the major section heading calls this 'the occasion for the arising of the teaching.'