觀音玄義記 3.8

3.8

Second, from "Practicing the six..." downward, giving rise to practice based on vows, which has two parts: First, fulfilling vows through the six perfections. What is explained in the text is that the six obscurations are the accumulation [truth] and the six realms are the suffering [truth]; the six perfections are the path [truth] and the cessation of obscurations is the cessation [truth]. Briefly presenting the first and the last, the four in between can be known by analogy. Bodhisattvas of this teaching personally subdue the six obscurations and, corresponding to them, destroy the six realms, so as to cause others to sever accumulation and leave suffering behind. The Pusa jie shu says: "Giving destroys [birth as] hungry ghosts; moral discipline rescues from the hells; patience delivers animals; vigor uproots [birth as] asuras; dhyāna tranquilizes among humans; wisdom illuminates the hosts of devas." Second, from "Practicing these..." downward, the completion of the six perfections. As with King Śibi, who cut flesh from his entire body to ransom a dove from a falcon, even to the exhaustion of his whole body without resentment or fainting; by his own true vow, he elicited the restoration of his body: this is the mark of the completion of giving. As with King Sumati, who gave up his life to hold the precept of not lying: this is the mark of the completion of moral discipline. As with the Ṛṣi of Patience, whose body was dismembered by King Kali, yet whose compassionate patience remained unmoved, and upon making a vow he elicited the transformation of his blood into milk: this is the mark of the completion of kṣānti. As with Prince Kalyāṇakārin, who sought the wish-fulfilling jewel to rain down treasures to relieve the poor, and when the jewel fell into the ocean, bailed the ocean to retrieve it, his sinews and bones broken without ever slacking off; the gods questioned him, and he said he would never cease life after life, whereupon they helped him bail the ocean, and when the ocean water decreased by half, the nāga feared the ocean would run dry and presented the jewel to him: this is the mark of the completion of vīrya. As with Sāñjayin, who attained the fourth dhyāna with in-and-out breaths suspended, so that a bird mistook him for a tree and laid eggs in his topknot; when rising from concentration, he wished to walk, but fearing the mother bird would not return, he immediately re-entered dhyāna, rising only when the birds flew away: this is the mark of the completion of dhyāna. As with the Chief Minister Govinda, who divided the continent of Jambūdvīpa into seven parts, equalizing cities, mountains, and rivers and thereby ending contention: this is the mark of the completion of prajñā. That which is called completion means that the perfections fundamentally remedy obscurations, and the practices aim at fulfilling vows. Now that the obscurations have already been eliminated, and giving and pulling out [suffering] accord with their wishes, one knows that the efficacy of the six perfections has attained completion.