妙法蓮華經玄贊 5.180

5.180

贊曰：宅宇危朽有四：一堂閣喻色，二牆壁喻想，三柱根喻行，四梁棟喻受。其宅即識能持此四，下言「久故而復頓弊」，故此如次即是唯明餘四種蘊四識住也。「堂閣朽故」者，堂喻身根大而為主，閣喻諸根依附身有，攬不淨以資持，久自生滅名朽故，朽爛故惡也。「牆壁隤落」者，「隤」音杜回反，牆墜下也。《切韻》作「墤」泰山基隤。《玉篇》作「隤，落駮也」。《切韻》作「穨」，暴風也，作頹禿也。若𤗯[自*貴]，舍破也。《說文》亦作「穨，從禿貴聲」，經亦為「墤」。此二皆古文。外御為牆，內捍為壁。想蘊外變諸像如牆，內變為像如壁。虛而不實，遠自遷流名隤落。「柱根腐敗」者，行蘊之中法有眾多，其最勝者謂命根，身之主故；如舍之柱，與餘為根。性是朽破名腐敗，腐朽敗破也。腐與父同聲，應言府敗或云撫敗，如里名勝母曾子不入。「梁棟傾危」者，棟者竪𭪝，梁者橫梁，內異熟果受為本如棟，外增上果受為末如梁，梁棟依柱而有，果受依命根、業故有，臨將崩落故名傾危，傾倒危落也。又《爾雅》云「杗瘤」謂之梁屋大梁也。《說文》「棟，屋極也。」棟，中也，居屋之中者，喻受所持之法。所以《瑜伽》第十六引經頌言「諸色如聚沫，諸受類浮泡，諸想同陽焰，諸行喻芭蕉，諸識猶幻事」也。日親之所說「諸行一時生亦一時住滅」，無垢稱亦言「色如聚沫不可撮摩，受如浮泡不得久住，想如陽焰從渴愛生，行類芭蕉都無有實，識如幻事顛倒所起」。如《瑜伽．攝異門分》釋。若說皮、肉、筋、骨舒緩變異等事，配此四句。如何三界皆具有之？上二界中無此事故。何故？煩惱能燒之火及所依宅，三界具喻，及說所燒異熟果喻，唯在欲界人趣等中，六欲天中尚說無彼皮肉壞故，故但應如此中所說。又解下合喻中為度眾生生老病死，即似配此，據實四相遍五蘊有。下云大火從四面起，四面准經是四相故，如是此中但是四蘊。或是病等，取欲界法以喻三界異相苦果為令生厭，苦因煩惱三界通喻，亦不違理，至下頌中當廣具顯。

Eulogy: The house being perilous and dilapidated has four parts: 1. The halls and pavilions illustrate form (rūpa); 2. The walls illustrate conception (saṃjñā); 3. The bases of the pillars illustrate karmic formations (saṃskāra); 4. The beams and ridgepoles illustrate sensation (vedanā). The house itself is consciousness (vijñāna), which can support these four. Below it says "having aged over a long time and abruptly fallen into decline"; therefore, in sequence, this specifically explains the other four aggregates as the four stations of consciousness. "The halls and pavilions were dilapidated and old": the halls illustrate the body sense-faculty, which is large and principal; the pavilions illustrate the other sense-faculties, which exist dependent on the body. Gathering impurities to sustain themselves, undergoing production and cessation over a long time, they are called "dilapidated and old"; "dilapidated" means decayed, "old" means worn out. "The walls were crumbling and falling": "crumbling" (tui) is pronounced du-hui in fanqie; it means a wall falling downward. The Qieyun writes it as tui, as in "the foundations of Mount Tai crumble." The Yupian writes: "Tui means falling in patches." The Qieyun writes it as tui, meaning a violent wind, or baldness. If written with the bamboo or self radical, it means a broken house. The Shuowen also writes it with tu (bald) and gui phonetic; in sūtras it is also written as tui. Both are ancient graphs. Facing outwards for defense is a qiang (exterior wall); facing inwards for protection is a bi (interior wall). The aggregate of conception externally manifests various images like an exterior wall, and internally manifests images like an interior wall. Empty and devoid of reality, shifting and flowing from afar, it is called "crumbling and falling." "The bases of the pillars were rotting and ruined": among the aggregate of karmic formations there are many phenomena, of which the most superior is the life-faculty, because it is the master of the body; like the pillars of a house, it serves as the root for the rest. Being of a decaying and broken nature, it is called "rotting and ruined"; "rotting" means decomposed, "ruined" means broken down. Fu (rotting) has the same sound as fu (father); one should pronounce it fu (granary) or fu (stroke), just as Zengzi would not enter a hamlet named "Surpassing Mother." "The beams and ridgepoles were tilting and precarious": a ridgepole is a vertical main post; a beam is a horizontal crossbeam. Sensation as the internal ripened result is the root, like the ridgepole; sensation as the external sovereign result is the branch, like the crossbeam. Beams and ridgepoles exist dependent on pillars; the sensation of results exists dependent on the life-faculty and karma. Approaching collapse, they are called "tilting and precarious"; "tilting" means leaning over, "precarious" means dangerously falling. Moreover, the Erya says: "The mangliu is called a beam, the main beam of a house." The Shuowen says: "A ridgepole (dong) is the summit of a house." Dong means center; that which resides in the middle of a house illustrates the phenomena supported by sensation. For this reason, Yogācārabhūmi fascicle sixteen cites the sūtra verse: "All forms are like a cluster of foam, all sensations resemble floating bubbles, all conceptions are like a mirage, all formations are illustrated by a plantain tree, and all consciousness is like an illusion." As spoken by the Kinsman of the Sun: "All conditioned phenomena arise together and likewise abide and cease together." Vimalakīrti also said: "Form is like a cluster of foam, which cannot be grasped; sensation is like a floating bubble, which cannot long endure; conception is like a mirage, born of craving; formations are like a plantain tree, completely devoid of reality; consciousness is like an illusion, arisen from delusion." This is as explained in the Compendium of Synonyms of the Yogācārabhūmi. If one were to assign conditions such as skin, flesh, sinews, and bones slackening and deteriorating to these four lines, how could all three realms possess them? For in the upper two realms such matters do not exist. Why? The fire of afflictions that can burn and the house it relies upon are illustrated throughout the three realms, while the illustration of the ripened fruit that is burned would only apply to the human destiny of the desire realm, for even in the six heavens of the desire realm it is said there is no decay of skin and flesh. Therefore, one should only follow what is explained here. Another explanation: below in the application of the metaphor, it mentions saving sentient beings from birth, old age, sickness, and death, which seems to correspond to this; in reality, the four characteristics pervade all five aggregates. Below it says the great fire arose from four sides; based on the sūtra, the "four sides" are the four characteristics; thus here it refers simply to the four aggregates. Alternatively, it refers to sickness and the like, taking phenomena of the desire realm to illustrate the differing suffering results of the three realms in order to inspire revulsion; the cause of suffering, affliction, universally illustrates the three realms, which also does not contradict reason. This will be fully elaborated in the verses below.