妙法蓮華經玄贊 6.8

6.8

The Commentary says: Maitreya explains, saying that the city refers to the eight consciousnesses; the bones serve as bricks and stones; the sinews substitute for ropes; the flesh serves as plaster; and the bodily frame serves as ramparts surrounding it. Within this city, it is sustained by four kinds of evil dharmas: two arise among householders, namely greed and anger; two arise among non-Buddhists, namely conceit and hypocrisy. Householders, due to attachment to desires, are conjoined with evil deeds, and do not even have faith and acceptance in the true Dharma, much less can they cultivate good; even if someone exhorts them, they react with anger and resentment. Non-Buddhists, relying on poorly expounded teachings, generate haughtiness and cannot naturally proceed to the place of the Three Jewels; when the Three Jewels go to convert them, because of hypocrisy they do not even repent and disclose their evil deeds, much less can they have faith, understanding, and cultivate good dharmas. They cannot even enter the city of the two kinds of minds, much less take it as their own. The Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] also says: 'This body is like a city, with blood, flesh, sinews, bones, and skin wrapped around it, the hands and feet serving as defensive watchtowers, the eyes as apertures, the head as a hall, and the mind-king dwelling within. Therefore, taking flesh as plaster, skin as thatch, and bones and sinews as rafters and eaves.' The above are the dharmas of impermanence of the physical body. 'Surrounding partitions winding and convoluted': zhang is pronounced with the fanqie zhi-shang. The Shuowen says: 'A screen is an obstruction; an enclosing barrier is called zhang.' The Yupian says: 'The two fanqie zhi-rang and zhi-yang. Some write it as zhang, meaning obstructing and blocking boundaries.' This is a metaphor for non-self. Inside the mansion, there are partitions all around, winding and difficult to traverse. This makes it clear there is no self; if there were a self, it would be purely uniform without bends, and without partitions. 'Mixed impurities filling it everywhere' is a metaphor for impurity. If it is a body in the desire realm, it is filled with thirty-six impure substances. Because of these three meanings, it is also empty.