法華義疏 1.392

1.392

「阿修羅」者，此云無酒，或云過去持一不飲酒戒報得此身。或云集諸華釀海為酒而不成，故云無酒。《毘婆沙》云「阿之言無，修羅云端正，謂無端正，以男醜女好故也」。釋道安《道行經》「胡音云須羅，此云質諒，以其多諂曲，故為立此名，令其質直誠信也。諒即信也。」《婆藪傳》云「非天，亦言非善戲樂，諸天以善法戲樂，其多作不善戲樂也。」「婆稚」者，此言縛，其人是修羅中前峯，與帝釋鬪時被縛，因誓得脫，故以為名也。又翻為最勝。

"Asura": in Chinese, this means "without liquor"; or it is said that in the past, through the retribution of keeping a single precept of not drinking alcohol, they attained this body. Or it is said that they gathered various flowers and brewed the sea into wine, but it did not succeed, and therefore they are called "without liquor". The Vibhāṣā says: "'A' means without; 'sura' means upright and handsome. It means not handsome, because the males are ugly while the females are beautiful." Shi Dao'an's Daoxing jing says: "In foreign pronunciation it is sura, which here means honest and sincere; because they are given to much deceit and crookedness, this name was established for them to cause them to become honest, upright, and faithful. 'Sincere' (liang) means faithful." The Biography of Vasu says: "Non-god; it also means not having wholesome amusement and pleasure. The various gods make amusement and pleasure through wholesome dharmas, whereas they mostly make unwholesome amusement and pleasure." "Baly" (Vemacitrin / Bali) here means "bound"; this person was the vanguard among the asuras, and when fighting with Śakra he was bound; having made a vow he gained release, and so this was made his name. It is also translated as "most supreme".