觀音玄義 2.5

2.5

Question: According to the Tripiṭaka [teaching], Śākyamuni and Maitreya generated the [bodhi-]mind at the same time; one leapt over nine kalpas—how is it that both Buddhas became Buddhas within the Bhadrakalpa? Answer: Śākyamuni met Puṣya and compressed one hundred kalpas; when Maitreya met the various Buddhas, why must he not have compressed [them] to ninety-one kalpas? If so, then there would be no meaning to 'one hundred kalpas'. Answer: According to this doctrine, there indeed are one hundred kalpas, which were leapfrogged through the power of vigorous exertion. As for the shared teaching, as the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā explains, persons of the three vehicles equally cut off afflictions and enter nirvāṇa by means of the ineffable path of the primary-truth realm; they commonly focus on the single principle, and the use of contemplation to cut off delusion is shared [among them], hence it is also called the teaching of shared prajñā. This is different from the Tripiṭaka. The Commentary refutes it, saying: 'How could one cultivate the bodhisattva practices with an impure mind? It is like a poisoned vessel holding food: eating it kills a person.' Giving has superior, middling, and inferior, referring to giving away wealth, body, and life. Brave warriors and heroic women are also able to give up their bodies; how could middling renunciation be called the perfection of giving? Middling giving is merely called donation, not pāramitā; not perceiving subject and object, with the three things (giver, recipient, and gift) being empty, neither stingy nor giving—this is the true dāna-pāramitā. Up to [wisdom], being neither ignorant nor wise, non-clinging empty wisdom is called true prajñā, which does not take up worldly wisdom. The treatise says: 'If one does not believe in emptiness, everything is contravened and lost.' You should know that what you cultivate is completely out of accord with the principle. If one believes in the emptiness of all dharmas, all undertakings are accomplished. Precisely because of emptiness, all dharmas can be accomplished; therefore we know that if one attains empty wisdom, one can be complete with all dharmas. Furthermore, bodhisattvas cultivate practice for immeasurable kalpas; how could it be merely three asaṃkhyeya kalpas? In various ways such as these, it refutes the faults of the Tripiṭaka to reveal the intent of the shared teaching within the Mahāyāna. The Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā says: 'When the bodhisattva generates the mind, it accords with sarvajñā.' This means that contemplating the true and severing fetters accords with the principle. From generating the mind onward, one contemplates the true and severs fetters, and is forthwith called a bodhisattva; this is the provisional person. Moreover, contemplating the true is the dharma; it constantly arises together with benevolence and compassion. One personally severs suffering and its origination and cultivates the path and cessation, and also through vows of benevolence and compassion vows to sever the suffering and origination of all sentient beings and bestow upon them the path and cessation. Comprehending that all dharmas are like illusions, like transformations, unarisen and unceasing, one practices giving with the three factors completely obliterated, up to non-attachment to all dharmas, which is called prajñā. Fulfilling the vows with these various practices, one is then able to destroy the delusions of the four abodes and see the primary truth; then there are the ten stages shared by the three vehicles, namely from the stage of dry wisdom up to the Buddha stage. If one correlates these ten stages to the śrāvakas: the stage of dry wisdom corresponds to the general and particular applications of mindfulness; the stage of nature corresponds to the positions of the four roots of goodness; the stage of the eight persons corresponds to the eight patiences; the stage of seeing corresponds to the first fruit; the stage of thinning corresponds to the second fruit; the stage of freedom from desire corresponds to the third fruit; the stage of what has been done corresponds to the fourth fruit; the pratyekabuddha stage corresponds naturally to the pratyekabuddha position; the bodhisattva stage naturally is the upāya of emerging into the provisional, where the path and contemplation flow in parallel, cutting off residual habits and entering further, until the Buddha stage where they are exhausted. The treatise says: 'This person's afflictions are exhausted, but habits are not exhausted; by vow sustaining habits, he is reborn in the three realms to benefit sentient beings and purify buddha-lands.' How could this be the same as the Tripiṭaka bodhisattva subduing delusions and practicing the six perfections? This bodhisattva, cultivating practices, severs delusions, and what remains unexhausted is like faint smoke; with benevolence and compassion, he manifests in the five destinies to deliver beings. If sentient beings recite his name or are stimulated to see him, he can eradicate suffering, bestow joy, and bring about liberation and deliverance. This is the contemplation of entering emptiness by comprehending the provisional in the shared teaching, also called the knowledge of all things (sarvajñatā); this is the meaning of Avalokiteśvara in the shared teaching. As for the distinct teaching, it is distinct and different from the shared; it distinctly explains unshared prajñā, hence it is called 'distinct'. Although this teaching explains the middle way, it expounds the middle as an upāya for people of dull faculties, revealing the principle in a gradual sequence and extensively explaining cultivation through successive kalpas. Hence the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā says: 'There are bodhisattvas who, from their initial generation of the mind, sport with supernatural powers, purify buddha-lands, and successively cultivate dharma-gates numerous as the sands of the Ganges to assist in revealing the principle of the middle; first dispelling the four abodes, next destroying [delusions as numerous as] dust and sand, and later destroying fundamental ignorance.' The ten faiths generally subdue all delusions while primarily subverting the four abodes; the ten abodes also generally subdue all delusions while primarily severing the four abodes, perfecting the knowledge of all things; the ten practices emerge into the provisional and sever ignorance of diversity, perfecting the knowledge of the aspects of the path, and concurrently subduing the dust-and-sand [delusions] outside the triple realm; the ten dedications sever the dust-and-sand [delusions] outside the triple realm, perfecting the knowledge of the aspects of the path, primarily cultivating the middle way, and subduing fundamental ignorance; the ten stages sever fundamental ignorance, see the Buddha-nature, and perfect the knowledge of all forms of aspects (sarvākārajñatā). Just as when refining gold, the dirt and impurities are removed first, and only afterward is the gold smelted; severing fetters in sequence is also like this. This bodhisattva, generating the mind, upholds the Dharma, cultivates with benevolence and compassion, personally severs fundamental ignorance, accomplishes the true and responsive [bodies], and perfumes the dharma-dhātu with great vows of benevolence and compassion. When sentient beings have capacity and stimulus, he eradicates suffering and bestows joy; this is emerging from emptiness into the provisional, the contemplation of the knowledge of the aspects of the path, the meaning of Avalokiteśvara in the distinct teaching. As for the perfect teaching, it directly manifests the middle way and shuts out the two extremes: neither empty nor provisional, neither internal nor external. It contemplates the sentient beings of the ten dharma-realms like images in a mirror or the moon in the water: not internal, not external; impossible to call existent, impossible to call non-existent; ultimately not real, yet the principle of the three truths is clearly and fully present, with neither before nor after, in a single moment of mind. Directly from the one it discusses three; directly from the three it discusses one. As contemplation and wisdom are like this, so too is the principle of truths: one truth is directly three truths, and three truths are directly one truth. The Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā says: 'There are bodhisattvas who, from their initial generation of the mind, immediately sit at the site of enlightenment, turn the wheel of Dharma, and deliver sentient beings.' In their initial mind, they are complete with the contemplation of the three truths, all buddhadharmas, and causeless benevolence and compassion; within a single mind, they fully cultivate the ten thousand practices and various pāramitās. Entering the iron wheel of the ten faiths, they are already able to depart forever from the sea of the wheel of suffering; the delusions of the four abodes being exhausted, their six senses become pure, which is called semblance understanding. Advancing into the copper wheel of the ten abodes, with the initial mind they immediately break through fundamental ignorance, reveal the true mark, the three wisdoms manifest before them, and they attain the one body and immeasurable bodies of the Tathāgata, serenely responding to all; this is opening, demonstrating, awakening, and entering the Buddha's knowledge and vision. The text says: 'Directly and honestly abandoning expedient means, / I speak only of the unsurpassed path.' And it says: 'Now I shall explain to you the most real matter.' This is the one real truth of the perfect teaching, the three contemplations in a single mind. The Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā says: 'If one hears the syllable *a*, then one understands all meanings.' The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: 'Initial generation of the mind and ultimate [realization] are not two or distinct; between these two minds, the former mind is difficult, therefore I pay homage to the initial generation of the mind.' Such is the meaning. The knowledge and vision here are merely called the Buddha's knowledge and the Buddha's vision, which is knowing with the knowledge of all forms of aspects and seeing with the Buddha eye. Seeing with the Buddha eye and knowing with the Buddha wisdom does not mean not clearly illuminating the remaining dharmas; it takes its name from the superior. Just as when all rivers flow into the sea, they lose their original names, the Dàzhìdù lùn says: 'When the ten knowledges enter the knowledge of reality as it is, they have no more original names, but are merely called the knowledge of reality as it is.' The eyes are also like this: being complete with the five eyes one achieves bodhi, yet now it is merely called the Buddha eye. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: 'Those who learn the Mahāyāna, though having fleshy eyes, are said to have Buddha eyes.' If one follows this pattern of speech, those who learn the Hīnayāna, though having wisdom eyes, are said to have fleshy eyes. If one can understand in this way, it is called the person and dharma of the perfect teaching. Grounded in the uncreated four truths, generating causeless benevolence and compassion, cultivating non-dual samādhi and wisdom, one accomplishes the two bodies of true and responsive. The true pervades the medicine and jewel of the dharma-dhātu, universally responding to all, horizontally and vertically matching capacities, benefiting both covertly and overtly; with the flawless jewel-treasury of vajra-prajñā, one eradicates roots for ultimate liberation; with the heroic aspect of the dharma-dhātu of the Śūraṅgama, one bestows the great sovereign bliss of the three-dot nirvāṇa. This is called the contemplation of the middle way's primary truth, the knowledge of all forms of aspects; this is the meaning of Avalokiteśvara in the perfect teaching.