妙法蓮華經玄義 7.115

7.115

八、本涅槃妙者，經又復言其入於涅槃非實滅度，而便唱言當取滅度。非實滅度者，常住本寂也。唱言滅度者，調伏眾生也。悉本時涅槃，非迹涅槃。迹者，《大經》明聲光所集，始諸弟子，終于蝮蠆。無邊身菩薩，弟子之位，身量無邊，豈有大師倚臥背痛？此乃生身示病、示滅；法身無疾，常存不變。或取析空，因滅果亡，明有餘、無餘涅槃。或取體法空，因滅果亡，明有餘、無餘涅槃。生身迹滅者，如《阿含》中結業之身父母所生，棄國捐王，六年苦行，三十四心斷結成道，八十二歲老比丘身，詣純陀舍，持鉢乞食，食檀耳羹，食訖說法，果報壽命，中夜而盡，入無餘涅槃，以火闍毘，收取舍利者，此三藏涅槃相。若《釋論》云：六地菩薩見思已盡，七地去誓扶餘習，受生死身，乃至上生下降，一念相應慧，斷習成佛，可度眾生，緣盡息化，入無餘涅槃，此通佛涅槃相也。若地人云：緣修顯真，修菩提，果滿成大涅槃，亦稱為方便淨涅槃。《大經》云：「因滅是色，獲得常色，受、想、行、識，亦復如是。」是名色解脫，受、想、行、識解脫，乃是分段、變易因盡，獲常住有餘涅槃，兩處陰果身盡，獲常住無餘涅槃，此與前異，是別佛涅槃相也。《大經》云：「大般涅槃，常住不變。」能建種種，示現調伏眾生。如《首楞嚴》廣說，名大涅槃，常樂我淨，此與前異，即圓涅槃相也。

Eighth, as for the wonderfulness of the original nirvāṇa, the sūtra further states that his entering into nirvāṇa is not an actual extinction, yet he proclaims that he will take extinction. Not actually taking extinction refers to constantly abiding in the original quiescence. Proclaiming extinction refers to taming sentient beings. These are all the nirvāṇa of the original time, not the trace nirvāṇa. As for the traces, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra clarifies that gathered by his voice and radiance were, from the disciples at the beginning, down to the vipers and scorpions at the end. Ananta-kāya Bodhisattva, holding the rank of a disciple, had a body of boundless measure; how could the Great Master lean recumbent with back pain? This is merely displaying illness and extinction in the birth-body; the dharma-kāya has no illness, constantly enduring and unchanging. Alternatively, taking the analysis of emptiness, where causes are extinguished and results perish, one clarifies nirvāṇa with residue and without residue. Alternatively, taking the embodiment of the emptiness of phenomena, where causes are extinguished and results perish, one clarifies nirvāṇa with residue and without residue. As for the trace extinction of the birth-body: as in the Āgamas, the body of defiling karma born of father and mother abandons kingdom and renounces royal status, undergoes six years of ascetic practices, cuts off defilements with thirty-four mental moments and attains the Path, an eighty-two-year-old body of an elderly monk; he proceeds to the house of Cunda, holds his alms bowl to beg for food, eats the mushroom soup, and after eating expounds the Dharma; his karmic retribution of life-span comes to an end at midnight, he enters nirvāṇa without residue, is cremated with fire, and his relics are gathered—this is the aspect of nirvāṇa of the Tripiṭaka [teaching]. As the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: a bodhisattva of the sixth stage has extinguished illusions of views and thought; from the seventh stage onward, supported by the residual habits of vows, he assumes bodies of life and death, up to ascending to birth and descending to rebirth, and with wisdom associated with a single thought cuts off habits and becomes a Buddha; he can deliver sentient beings, and when the conditions are exhausted, his teaching ceases, and he enters nirvāṇa without residue—this is the aspect of nirvāṇa of the shared Buddha. As the Dilun masters say: cultivation through conditions reveals the true, and cultivating bodhi, with results fulfilled, accomplishes Great Nirvāṇa, which is also called the purely expedient nirvāṇa. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: "Because this form is extinguished, one attains permanent form; feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness are also like this." This is called the liberation of form, and the liberation of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness; this is the exhaustion of the causes of both fragmentary and transformative [samsāra], attaining the constantly abiding nirvāṇa with residue; and when the resulting bodies of the skandhas in both places are exhausted, one attains the constantly abiding nirvāṇa without residue. This is different from the former, and is the aspect of nirvāṇa of the distinctive Buddha. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: "Great Parinirvāṇa is constantly abiding and unchanging." It can establish various manifestations to tame sentient beings. As expounded at length in the Śūraṅgama-samādhi-sūtra, it is called Great Nirvāṇa, permanent, blissful, self, and pure. This is different from the former, and is the aspect of the perfect nirvāṇa.