法華義疏 11.81

11.81

次釋耳根。長行為三：初、總明五種法師為因；「得千二百耳功德」下，第二、明果；「以是清淨耳」下，第三、別歎耳用，則是明功德也。有三句，初、總明聞聲；「象聲」下，別明聞聲；「以要言之」下，總結聞聲。言而「不壞耳根」者，欲聞即聞隨意自在，故不壞也。又持經人悟法寂滅雖聞而無所聞，故稱又壞也。

Next is the explanation of the ear faculty. The prose has three parts: First, it generally clarifies taking the five kinds of Dharma masters as the cause; from 'attains one thousand two hundred merits of the ear' downward is the second, clarifying the result; from 'with this purified ear' downward is the third, separately praising the function of the ear, which clarifies the merits. There are three clauses: first, it generally explains hearing sounds; from 'sounds of elephants' downward, it separately explains hearing sounds; from 'in brief' downward, it concludes hearing sounds. As for the statement 'without impairing the ear faculty', if one wishes to hear one immediately hears, according with one's wish and being completely unimpeded, and so it is not impaired. Furthermore, because the person who upholds the sūtra awakens to the fact that dharmas are quiescent, although hearing, there is nothing heard; hence it is stated as not impaired.