仁王般若經疏 3.3

3.3

Among the six chapters of the main teaching, the three chapters above clarified the prajñā that is capable of protecting, discriminating the power and function of the sūtra, generating the bodhisattva's twofold benefit, capable of protecting the cause and fruit of Buddhahood, and knowing the characteristics of the four modes of birth to be utterly tranquil, stating that cause and fruit are fundamentally non-dual, thus attaining supramundane benefits—this has already been completed above. Now this single chapter clarifies the state that is protected, discriminating worldly benefits. Above, at the beginning of the 'Chapter on Emptiness', the sixteen kings wished to ask about the methods and functions of protecting the state; the Buddha first answered by expounding for the bodhisattvas the conditions of the practices of the daśabhūmi that protect the fruit of Buddhahood. The various gates of contemplation expounded in the three chapters above clarify that understanding arises through the prajñā that is capable of protecting; when inner virtue is perfected, outward transformation is further manifested, and the awesome power of the sūtra causes the state to be free from calamity and the ruler and people to obtain peace; hence it is called 'protection'. What is protected? The title designates it as 'the state'. 'State' refers to the territory governed by the king's transformation, which is called a state. Because this meaning is extensively expounded, it is named accordingly; hence it is called 'Chapter on Protecting the State'.