妙法蓮華經文句 8.82

8.82

第二勸持，有長行、偈頌。長行有五：一、佛眼視，二、菩薩請告，三、佛默然，四、菩薩知意，五、發誓通經。眼視默勸而不告言者，上來雖不別命，而舉持經功德深厚引證分明，多寶分身遠來勸發，此之殷勤事義已足，有欲應命宜即發誓無煩復言，又將護聲聞他方之願故不稱揚也。偈有二十行請護持經，不復細分，尋文可解。前十七行，被忍衣弘經；次第二，一行，入室弘經；次第三，一行，坐座弘經；次第四，一行，總結請加。《中阿含》第六云「阿蘭若此翻無事，頭陀此翻抖擻。」《寶雲經》第六云「阿練兒處比丘，見王王子婆羅門及一切人來，比丘唱善來可就此坐，彼即共坐，彼不坐比丘亦不坐，當為說法令歡喜。」佛滅後末惡世不應式比丘，雖說戒法而得活，而於戒法不樂行，歷五分法身，餘一切道法亦如是，說如齆鼻人說栴檀自既無香亦不自聞，天人、龍神、鳩槃茶終不供養無戒人，餘四分亦如是說，無有能將妙法來，必由淨戒之所起，餘四亦如是。若遇垂死最重病，痛惱逼迫極無瘳，念佛三昧常不捨，一切苦切奪其心，彼人自解是法故，則知一切諸法空。「忍辱鎧」者，《中阿含》第五云「黑齒比丘訴佛云：『舍利弗罵我說我。』佛疾喚舍利弗。『實罵說不？』舍利弗言：『心不定者或說罵，我心已定云何說罵？如折角牛不觸嬈人，如殘童子恥不惱彼，我心如地水火風，淨與不淨大小便利涕唾受而不罵，心如掃帚，淨不淨俱掃，又如破器盛脂置之日中，渧渧恒漏，自觀九孔常漏不淨，云何罵說於他？又如死蛇狗等繫淨童子頸，慚恥自愧不罵說他。』佛問：『如是惡人汝云何觀？』答：『人有五：一、身善、口意不善，但念其善不念不善，如納衣比丘見糞聚弊帛，左捉右舒，截棄不淨而取於淨，念用其身淨以規我身，棄其口意以誡我口意。又口行淨、身意不淨，亦念其口、棄其身意，如熱渴者值多草池披草掬水涼身止渴。又意淨、身口不淨，亦念其意、不用其身口，如行路熱渴唯牛跡少水，我若用掬若手水則渾濁，應兩膝跪兩手憑口就吸之以除熱渴。又三業皆不淨者，雖無可用當痛念之，如路見病人安置使穩，念此不淨使得值善知識治其三業，勿令墮落三途。又三種皆淨，常念是人以自訓況，念齊願齊，如清涼池多諸花草，熱渴入中以自蘇息，常念境界以去我惡。』」此是三藏教中用苦、無常、不淨、無我、空為鎧也。《毘婆沙》第八云「念罵是一語，餘皆喚聲，終日喚聲於我何為？又此方是卑陋語，他方是稱讚語，我若念此卑語，無處得樂。又觀此字罵，若顛倒此字即成讚。又罵是一界少分，一入少分，一陰少分，罵少不罵多。又誰成就罵，罵者成就，成就自彼，於我何為？又罵是一字，一字不成罵，二字成罵，無有一時稱二字者，若稱後字，前字已滅。又能罵所罵一時，同一剎那俱滅，於我何為？」如是等用空為鎧也。十七云「凡聖俱有三受，云何差別？凡夫於苦受有二：一、身受苦，二、心受憂悲，如三毒箭，失樂則瞋、得樂則喜、不苦不樂則癡；聖人但有身受而無心受，於苦不瞋、於樂不愛、於不苦不樂不癡，三使不能使，於使得解脫，故有凡聖之異。」如此等有無差降者，此用別教為鎧也。今經明鎧者，以念佛為鎧，是念法佛第一義，佛即是法故。文云念佛告勅即法也，佛即是僧，僧即事理俱和，毘盧遮那遍一切處也，如此之鎧，一鎧一切鎧，即圓教鎧也。

Second, exhorting to uphold has prose and gāthās. The prose has five parts: 1. The Buddha looks with his eyes; 2. The bodhisattvas request instruction; 3. The Buddha remains silent; 4. The bodhisattvas know his intention; 5. Making vows to propagate the sūtra. As for looking with his eyes and silently exhorting without speaking: although he did not give a specific command above, he held up the profound and thick merits of upholding the sūtra and brought forth clear verification; Prabhūtaratna's emanations came from afar to exhort and inspire—the earnestness of this matter and principle was already sufficient. Those who wished to respond to the command should immediately make vows without troubling him to speak again; furthermore, to protect the śrāvakas' vow for other lands, he did not praise them. The verse has twenty stanzas requesting protection and upholding of the sūtra; we will not subdivide them further, for they can be understood by following the text. The first seventeen stanzas: donning the armor of patience to propagate the sūtra. The second, one stanza: entering the room to propagate the sūtra. The third, one stanza: sitting on the seat to propagate the sūtra. The fourth, one stanza: concluding generally and requesting empowerment. Fascicle 6 of the Madhyama Āgama says: "Araṇya is translated here as 'free of business'; dhūta is translated here as 'shaking off'." Fascicle 6 of the Ratnamegha-sūtra says: "A monk dwelling in an araṇya sees a king, a prince, a brāhmaṇa, or any person coming; the monk calls out, 'Welcome, you may take this seat.' If they sit together, good; if that person does not sit, the monk also does not sit, and should expound the Dharma for them to make them rejoice." After the Buddha's extinction, in the late evil age, monks who do not follow the rules may make a living by expounding the precepts, yet take no delight in practicing the precepts. Applying this across the fivefold Dharma-body, all other path dharmas are also like this: they are like a person with a diseased nose expounding on sandalwood—they themselves have no fragrance and do not smell it themselves; devas, humans, dragon gods, and kumbhāṇḍas will never make offerings to a precept-less person. The other four parts are also expounded like this: none can bring the wondrous Dharma, for it must arise from pure precepts; the other four are also like this. If one encounters a terminal, most severe illness, oppressed by intense pain without cure, one never abandons the mindfulness of the Buddha samādhi; though all kinds of bitter urgency seize one's mind, because that person understands this Dharma for themselves, they know all dharmas are empty. As for the "armor of patience", fascicle 5 of the Madhyama Āgama says: "The monk Black-Teeth complained to the Buddha, saying, 'Śāriputra reviled and spoke ill of me.' The Buddha quickly summoned Śāriputra: 'Did you truly revile and speak ill of him or not?' Śāriputra said: 'One whose mind is unsettled might speak ill and revile; my mind is already settled, how could I speak ill and revile? Like an ox with broken horns that does not gore people; like an impaired boy who feels ashamed and does not annoy others; my mind is like earth, water, fire, and wind, receiving pure and impure, feces, urine, mucus, and spittle without reviling; my mind is like a broom sweeping both clean and unclean; and like a broken vessel holding fat placed in the sun, constantly leaking drop by drop—observing my own nine apertures constantly leaking impurity, how could I revile and speak ill of another? And like a dead snake or dog tied to a pure boy's neck, being ashamed and self-reproachful, I do not revile or speak ill of others.' The Buddha asked: 'How do you view such evil people?' He answered: 'People are of five kinds: 1. Bodily good, but verbal and mental not good: I only contemplate their good and do not contemplate their ungood, like a monk in rag robes seeing a pile of dung with a tattered cloth, holding it with his left hand and spreading it with his right, cutting away and discarding the impure and taking the pure—contemplating using their bodily purity to regulate my body, and discarding their speech and thought to admonish my speech and thought. 2. Verbal action is pure, but bodily and mental are not pure: I also contemplate their speech and discard their body and mind, like a thirsty person encountering a grassy pond, parting the grass to scoop up water to cool the body and quench thirst. 3. Mental is pure, but bodily and verbal are not pure: I also contemplate their mind and do not use their body and speech, like a traveler thirsty on the road finding only a little water in a cow's footprint; if I scoop it with my hands the water will be muddied, so I should kneel on both knees, lean on both hands, and drink directly with my mouth to quench the heat and thirst. 4. All three karmas are impure: although there is nothing usable, I should deeply pity them, like seeing a sick person on the road and settling them comfortably, contemplating this impurity so they may meet a good spiritual friend to cure their three karmas and not fall into the three miserable destinies. 5. All three kinds are pure: I constantly contemplate this person to instruct and guide myself, with equal mindfulness and equal vows, like a cool pond with many flowers and grasses, where the hot and thirsty enter to rest and revive; I constantly contemplate the state to remove my evil.'" This is using suffering, impermanence, impurity, non-self, and emptiness as armor in the Tripiṭaka teaching. Fascicle 8 of the Vibhāṣā says: "Contemplate that 'scolding' is just one word, while the rest are calling sounds; what does a whole day of calling sounds do to me? Furthermore, here it is a base word, but in other lands it is a word of praise; if I dwell on this base word, nowhere will I find joy. Furthermore, observe this word 'scold': if one reverses this word, it becomes praise. Furthermore, scolding is a small part of one realm, a small part of one sense field, a small part of one aggregate; scolding is small, not scolding is much. Furthermore, who accomplished the scolding? The scolder accomplished it; the accomplishment belongs to them, what does it do to me? Furthermore, scolding is one syllable; one syllable does not make a scold, two syllables make a scold, yet there is no single moment when one pronounces two syllables: if one pronounces the latter syllable, the former syllable has already ceased. Furthermore, the one who can scold and the one who is scolded are of one moment, both ceasing in the same single kṣaṇa; what does it do to me?" In such ways, emptiness is used as armor. Fascicle 17 says: "Ordinary beings and sages both have the three feelings; what is the difference? For ordinary beings, regarding painful feeling there are two: 1. The body feels pain, 2. The mind feels sorrow and grief; like three poisoned arrows, losing joy brings anger, gaining joy brings delight, and neither-pain-nor-joy brings delusion. Sages only have bodily feeling and no mental feeling; they have no anger toward pain, no attachment toward joy, and no delusion toward neither-pain-nor-joy; the three defilements cannot drive them, and they attain liberation from the drives. Thus there is a difference between ordinary beings and sages." Having or not having such gradations: this uses the distinctive teaching as armor. In the present sūtra, clarifying the armor consists of using mindfulness of the Buddha as armor, which is mindfulness of the Dharma Buddha in the supreme sense, because the Buddha is precisely the Dharma. As the text says, mindfulness of the Buddha's decree is precisely the Dharma; the Buddha is precisely the Saṅgha, and the Saṅgha is the harmony of both phenomena and principle—Vairocana pervading all places. Such armor: one armor is all armor, which is the armor of the perfect teaching.