仁王護國般若波羅蜜多經疏 1.36

1.36

Question: Are discernment (hui) and cognition (zhi) identical or different? Answer: Both being the specific-object mental factor of discernment, their two substances are truly identical; in selecting dharmas and making decisive judgments, their two functions are different. Therefore the Suvikrāntavikrāmiparipṛcchā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra states: "The bodhisattva is fully endowed with prajñā and fully endowed with jñāna." Furthermore, below that it states: "Obtaining the gateway of prajñā, one discriminates words and meanings; obtaining the gateway of jñāna, one is able to penetrate the sharpness and dullness of sentient beings' faculties." If speaking generally, preaching discernment where cognition applies, or preaching cognition where discernment applies, are both without contradiction. Although giving (dāna) and the others all equally obtain the name of pāramitā, in the title, based on what is supreme, only prajñā is explicitly designated. The word *pāram* is a Sanskrit word, translated here as "the other shore". In contrast to "the other", "this" is spoken of. What is "this shore"? Among the four truths, suffering and origination that have already arisen constitute this shore; suffering and origination that have not yet arisen constitute the midstream; nirvāṇa and bodhi, namely the truths of cessation and the path, constitute the other shore. The six pāramitās and myriad practices are taken as the raft; the nominal person of the five skandhas is the one capable of riding it; the various practitioners ride upon the six pāramitās, cutting across the current to cross over this [shore], soaring high on the path of awakening to arrive at the ultimate stage, which is reaching the other shore. However, when matching them with teaching, principle, practice, and fruition in the sūtra, the other shore is exclusively the fruition, while practice is exclusively in the cause; teaching and principle pervade both cause and fruition; the title indicates the fruition virtue, calling it *pāra*. The word *mita* is a Sanskrit word; it possesses two meanings: the meaning of departing and the meaning of arriving; that is, giving and the rest possess the seven supremacies, as will be explained in full below. Amid saṃsāra, one departs this shore and arrives at that shore. The word *jing* is Chinese. If rendered in Sanskrit sounds as *xiuduoluo* or *xiudulu*, both are erroneous. The Tripiṭaka Master of Ci'en says: *sūtra* designates four meanings: clothing, thread, mat, and warp/scripture, just as the word *go* possesses multiple referents. Here we take only the meaning of scripture (warp) and the meaning of thread. How is this known to be so? The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya states: "Just as various flowers placed upon a table are strung and held together by thread, so that although blown by the wind they are not scattered." Thus the Buddha's preaching of the teaching is like the many flowers, and the conscious mind of sentient beings is like the table; if not connected and held together by thread, the violent winds of wrong views might scatter them. Therefore the compilers connected the Buddha's words, like a thread stringing flowers, or like a warp holding the weft. The Buddhabhūmi-śāstra states: "By means of the Buddha's holy teaching, it threads through and holds together the meanings that should be spoken and the living beings who are to be transformed." "Threading through" is the thread; "holding together" is the warp/scripture. Moreover, the word *jing* is identical to the name of canonical texts (jingji) in this land. In worldly explanations, *jing* means "constant" and "standard": changeless from antiquity to the present, it is called "constant"; standardising right and wrong, it is called "standard". In the Miśrakābhidharmahṛdaya Śāstra, five meanings explain *sūtra*, such as a gushing spring and so forth, which lecturers recount. Now it is explained: *jing* is the teaching capable of expressing [meaning]. In the section on manifesting the essence, relying on the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, it also takes the principle expressed as the meaning; thus both teaching and principle are collectively called *jing*. "Prajñāpāramitā of the Benevolent Kings for the Protection of the State" also pervades both teaching and principle; comparing the above ten characters against the single character *jing*, looking at each other from alternate angles, there are four explanations in total: namely, the "Prajñāpāramitā of the Benevolent Kings for the Protection of the State" is itself the scripture, or the scripture of [the Benevolent Kings...]; karmadhāraya and tatpuruṣa compounds should be understood according to these explanations.