金剛經纂要刊定記 1.46

1.46

'Manifesting signs' refers to the signs of the transformation body. 'Among humans' refers to the place of manifesting the transformation. He manifested signs only among humans because in the heavens beings are attached to pleasure and have no cause to generate the mind [for bodhi], while the three bad paths are states of extreme suffering, being precisely places of hardship; only among humans are suffering and pleasure mixed, and confronting suffering, one is sure to be able to generate the mind [for bodhi]. Therefore, the Buddha appeared to transform them. In the heavens, it is like a disease that has not yet broken out—why would it need acupuncture and moxibustion? The three bad paths are like a disease that has reached the vitals, beyond treatment. Humans are like those afflicted by a slight ailment, capable of receiving medicine; therefore the Buddha appeared. In general, there are four kinds of manifestations of the Tathāgata: the other-enjoyment reward body, the great transformation body, the small transformation body, and the manifestation body according to species. Here, the one who taught this doctrine was the small transformation body. It has eight phases: 1. Descending from Tuṣita Heaven. 2. Entering the womb. 3. Abiding in the womb. 4. Emerging from the womb. 5. Leaving home [Note: at age nineteen]. [Root text:] 6. Attaining the Way [Note: at age twenty-five]. [Root text:] 7. Turning the wheel of the Dharma [Note: spanning fifty-five years]. [Root text:] 8. Entering nirvāṇa [Note: at age eighty]. [Root text:] This discussion of manifesting the body explains only the phase of attaining the Way; next, explaining the teaching of the Dharma refers to the phase of turning the wheel of the Dharma. The Buddha's sign of attaining the Way is a body sixteen feet tall, of purple-burnished gold complexion, his neck adorned with a circular halo and his chest marked with the svastika, having the thirty-two marks and eighty minor signs, flanked and protected by the eight classes [of beings] and revered by the four assemblies, towering and sublime, his radiance outshining the sun and moon; his virtuous marks are extensive and cannot be fully recounted. This small transformation body is inferior and frail in its marks; compared to the enjoyment body, the difference is like clouds and mud. Thus the Lotus Sūtra says: 'The elder removed his necklaces and fine garments and put on ragged, dirty clothes.' The fine garments metaphorically represent the enjoyment body; the ragged, dirty clothes illustrate the body of purple-burnished gold. Because sentient beings' defilements are heavy, they are incapable of seeing the superior and sublime body. Being unable to see it, they would also hear nothing, and thus there would be no benefit to sentient beings at all; out of great compassion to guide beings, he therefore manifested the small transformation. It is also as the Lotus Sūtra says: 'The poor son saw his father sitting on a lion throne, resting his feet on a jeweled footstool, abundantly rich and extraordinarily noble, august and especially revered. Seeing him, the poor son secretly thought: "This may be a king or someone like a king; this is no place for me to hire out my labor and earn something." The elder saw his son and recognized him in silence,' and so on, until: 'He immediately took off his necklaces, soft, fine upper garments, and adornments, and put on coarse, ragged, dirty, and greasy clothes, holding a dung-removal vessel in his right hand, by this skillful means managing to approach the poor son.' This metaphorically illustrates the Tathāgata concealing that superior body and manifesting inferior signs.