仁王護國般若波羅蜜多經疏 3.302

3.302

Explanation: 'Attain skillful subduing' means being skillfully subdued in the stage of the three ranks of worthies. 'Samādhis' translates as 'equipoise' (samādhi); they always correspond with the cultivation of various superior concentrations. 'Abide in superior contemplation' means cultivating superior wisdom at the inferior, middling, and superior grades, in order to induce the practice of renunciation of the first bhūmi. Alternatively explained: 'cultivate the practices of the two benefits, bringing vast and great benefit' concludes above how in the stage of accumulation one mostly abides at the external door cultivating bodhisattva practices; the text from 'attain skillful subduing' downward clarifies the stage of application. The upper two phrases clarify the concentrations relied upon. 'Attain skillful subduing' means having already attained a superior mind of subduing. 'All samādhis' refers to the concentrations relied upon such as the attainment of clarity and so forth. Because these four are not one, they are called 'all samādhis'. The lower two phrases clarify the stages of warmth and so forth. Relying on the four thorough inquiries and the four cognitions of reality as it is, it is called 'superior contemplation'. To briefly clarify these: First, the stage of warmth relies on the concentration of the attainment of clarity, gives rise to inferior thorough inquiry, and contemplates the nonexistence of the grasped. That is, in this stage, one begins to contemplate the four factors of the grasped—name, referent, intrinsic nature, and distinction—as all being conceptual designations transformed by one's own mind, truly unfindable. Because this is the preliminary aspect of first obtaining the sun of wisdom, it is designated with the name 'attainment of clarity'. Because it is also the preliminary sign of the fire of the path obtained, it is also called 'warmth'. Second, the stage of the summit relies on the concentration of the increase of clarity, gives rise to superior thorough inquiry, and contemplates the nonexistence of the grasped. That is, in this stage, one repeatedly contemplates the four factors of name and so forth as being conceptual designations transformed by one's own mind, truly unfindable. Because the sign of clarity becomes increasingly radiant, it is named 'increase of clarity'. Because it is the culmination of the stage of thorough inquiry, it is again named 'summit'. Third, the stage of kṣānti relies on the concentration of confirmation and compliance, gives rise to inferior cognition of reality as it is, and completely knows the four factors of name, referent, intrinsic nature, and distinction as they are; one definitively confirms and upholds that there is no grasped, and also compliantly delights in and assents to the absence of the grasper. Since there is no real object apart from the grasping consciousness, how could there be a real consciousness apart from the grasped object? Confirming the former and complying with the latter, it is named 'confirmation and compliance'; because one assents to the emptiness of object and consciousness, it is also named 'kṣānti'. Fourth, the stage of supreme worldly dharmas relies on uninterrupted concentration, gives rise to superior cognition of reality as it is, which is the emptiness of both grasped and grasper. That is, the preceding superior kṣānti only confirmed the emptiness of the grasper, whereas now the supreme worldly dharmas doubly confirms both emptinesses; because from this one will uninterruptedly enter the path of seeing, it is designated as 'uninterrupted'. Because this is the most superior among the dharmas of ordinary beings, it is named 'supreme worldly dharmas'. Thus, warmth and the summit rely on the grasping consciousness to contemplate the emptiness of the grasped; when inferior kṣānti arises, it confirms the sign of the object's emptiness; when middling kṣānti transforms its stage, it compliantly delights in and assents to the grasping consciousness being empty just like the object; when superior kṣānti arises, it confirms the emptiness of the grasper; and the supreme worldly dharmas doubly confirms the sign of emptiness. Because all retain characteristics, they cannot yet realize the real. Therefore, to establish this meaning, the Ghanavyūha Sūtra says in a verse: 'A bodhisattva in the stage of concentration / contemplates that reflections are mind alone. / When thoughts of referents are eliminated, / one closely examines that they are only one's own thought. / Abiding thus in the inner mind, / one knows the grasped does not exist; / next, the grasper is also absent; / subsequently, one touches the unfindable.' In this stage, the bodhisattva contemplates the four [truths] of suffering and so forth in the conventional truths, and in the unestablished truth, contemplates the single reality in general and the two emptinesses in particular, training in both contemplations to induce the two future viewings. Although when these wholesome roots of warmth and so forth are generated by the bodhisattva, they generally apply across all dhyānas at the time of skillful means, they are accomplished and fulfilled only by relying on the fourth [dhyāna]; because one enters the path of seeing based on the most superior support, they arise only relying on a body in the good destinies of the desire realm. Therefore, the Prakaraṇāryavācā Śāstra, fascicle sixteen, says: 'Extreme revulsion does not occur in the bad destinies; extreme delight does not occur in the upper two. Only among humans and gods of the desire realm, when a buddha appears in the world, is there direct realization.' All the above describes abiding in superior contemplation and cultivating the practice of renunciation that accords with the path of seeing. If based on the three incalculable kalpas of the Yogācāra, all of the above completely clarifies the end of the first kalpa. Ancient masters formulated these four aids, saying: 'The preparatory expedient for the first dhyāna is not subsumed under the desire realm; the preparatory expedient for the first bhūmi is not subsumed under the first kalpa.' One should challenge them, saying: 'If the preparatory expedient for the first bhūmi is not subsumed under the first kalpa, then the preparatory expedient for the first bhūmi is not subsumed under ordinary beings.' If they say: 'Because they have not yet realized the real, they are not noble ones,' one should reply: 'Because they have not yet realized the real, they are not subsumed under the second kalpa.' If one examines this text, there is no need to raise such an objection. Next, the third [part] concludes with the superior bhūmi that follows.