華嚴經探玄記 12.33

12.33

初釋四念處者，謂身、受、心、法是念所住處故云也。新名念住。此四體實是慧，何故名念？以慧觀守境，與念相近，即六釋中隣近釋也。身謂相續、受謂領納、心謂集起、法謂軌持，此四並是所觀之境。若小乘中，觀身不淨、觀受是苦、觀心無常、觀法無我，是故此四除四顛倒。若大乘中，如《諸法無行經》云「觀身畢竟空，觀受內外空，觀心無所有，觀法但有名。」解云：此觀人法無我故，準《勝鬘經》能除八倒。就身念處中，先觀內謂自身、次觀外謂他身、後合觀自他。何故初別觀、後總耶？釋：有二義，一約破病不同。人有三類：一有人著內情多、著外情少，如人為己身棄捨妻子及財物等，故須觀內；二有人著外情多、著內情少，如人為財喪身、為欲殞命，故須觀外；三有人內外俱著，故須合觀。二約觀行，始終一人通觀，謂有行人本於自身取為淨相，故先觀內；內求不得，即謂外有，故次觀外；向者觀內不能及外、觀外之時復不能觀內，是故第三內外合觀。初中觀內身者，標別所觀。循身觀者，正顯觀相。循謂巡歷，於身支分次第觀察。精勤一心者，顯觀所儀，謂行者欲破自身，非勤不辨，故須精勤。故龍樹云：「離別常人易，離別知識難。離別知識易，離別親戚難。離別親戚易，離別自身難。行者今欲離別己身必須精勤，勤由專意故云一心也。」除世間貪憂者，明觀所離。何故此中偏離貪憂？如龍樹說：「行者此中多生貪憂，故偏除之。何者？謂創棄五欲，念本所愛，是故生貪。未得道法，所以生憂。是故但言除世貪憂。」又釋：貪者，凡夫多起，著境難捨，受生之本、三毒之初，故煩惱中偏說除貪也。憂心一向貪欲者，起障定最重，禪中先離故。五受中偏說除憂，是故若說除貪，餘法隨遣。若說除憂，諸受隨亡。猶如破竹，初節為難，若破初節餘節皆隨。貪憂亦爾，故偏說之。次觀外身、後觀內外身，類亦同然。就受念處中亦內外俱。於十二處中，受唯是外法處所攝，何故此中有內等耶？釋：有多義，一自受為內、他受為外；二意相應受為內、五識相應受為外；三定受為內、散受為外。觀此三受不離三苦故也。又《智論》云「菩薩觀苦、樂、不苦不樂等三受，無所從來、滅無所至，但從妄想顛倒生」等。三就心念處中，自心為內、他心為外。又五識為外；意識緣外為外、緣內為內；末那一向緣內名內心。又定散分內外，並觀此心剎那無常，又觀如幻無體可知。四就法念處中，以心法為內、不相應行及無為法并法處色等總為外法，內外合觀可知。

First, explaining the four foundations of mindfulness (smṛtyupasthāna): body, sensation, mind, and dharmas are the dwelling places of mindfulness, hence the name. The new translation calls them 'mindfulness applications' (smṛtyupasthāna). The essence of these four is actually wisdom (prajñā); why are they called 'mindfulness'? Because wisdom contemplates and guards the object, which is closely adjacent to mindfulness; this is the 'adjacent explanation' among the six types of explanations. 'Body' means continuity; 'sensation' means reception; 'mind' means accumulation and arising; 'dharma' means holding its own nature. These four are all objects of contemplation. In the Hīnayāna, one contemplates the body as impure, contemplates sensation as suffering, contemplates the mind as impermanent, and contemplates dharmas as non-self; therefore, these four eliminate the four inversions. In the Mahāyāna, as the Sūtra of No Action in All Dharmas says: 'Contemplate the body as ultimately empty; contemplate sensations as empty internally and externally; contemplate the mind as non-existent; contemplate dharmas as mere names.' The explanation states: because this contemplates the selflessness of persons and dharmas, based on the Śrīmālā-sūtra it can eliminate the eight inversions. In the foundation of mindfulness regarding the body: first one contemplates the internal, namely one's own body; next one contemplates the external, namely the bodies of others; and finally one contemplates oneself and others together. Why first contemplate them separately and then collectively? Explanation: there are two meanings. First, in terms of the differences in breaking afflictions. People are of three types: (1) someone who is strongly attached to the internal and weakly attached to the external, such as one who abandons wife, children, wealth, and property for the sake of their own body; therefore, they must contemplate the internal; (2) someone who is strongly attached to the external and weakly attached to the internal, such as one who loses their life for wealth or perishes for desire; therefore, they must contemplate the external; (3) someone who is attached to both internal and external, who must therefore contemplate them together. Second, in terms of contemplative practice, a single practitioner contemplates throughout from beginning to end: a practitioner initially grasps their own body as having the characteristic of purity, and therefore first contemplates the internal; seeking it internally and not finding it, they think it exists externally, and therefore next contemplate the external; previously, when contemplating the internal they could not reach the external, and when contemplating the external they could not contemplate the internal, and for this reason they thirdly contemplate the internal and external together. In the first part, 'contemplating the internal body' designates the specific object of contemplation. 'Contemplating the body in bodily accordance' directly reveals the characteristic of contemplation. 'Bodily accordance' means traversing and inspecting, contemplating sequentially upon the limbs and parts of the body. 'Energetic and with single-mindedness' reveals the deportment of the contemplation: if the practitioner wishes to demolish their own body, without diligence it cannot be managed, and therefore they must be energetic. Thus Nāgārjuna says: 'Parting from ordinary people is easy, parting from spiritual friends is difficult. Parting from spiritual friends is easy, parting from relatives is difficult. Parting from relatives is easy, parting from one's own body is difficult. The practitioner now wishing to part from their own body must be energetic; diligence comes from a focused mind, hence it says "single-mindedness".' 'Eliminating worldly greed and sorrow' clarifies what is abandoned by the contemplation. Why are greed and sorrow singled out for abandonment here? As Nāgārjuna says: 'The practitioner here mostly gives rise to greed and sorrow, so they are singled out for elimination. Why? Having newly abandoned the five desires, they remember what they originally loved, and therefore greed arises. Not having yet attained the dharma of the path, sorrow arises. For this reason, it only speaks of eliminating worldly greed and sorrow.' Another explanation: greed is frequently aroused by ordinary people, clinging to objects and difficult to relinquish; it is the root of taking birth and the first of the three poisons, and therefore among afflictions the elimination of greed is singled out. A sorrowful mind has the most severe obstruction to concentration for one entirely prone to desire, and is abandoned first in dhyāna; therefore among the five feelings the elimination of sorrow is singled out. Hence, if one speaks of eliminating greed, the remaining dharmas are banished along with it; if one speaks of eliminating sorrow, the other feelings perish along with it. It is just like splitting bamboo: the first joint is difficult, but once the first joint is split, the remaining joints follow along. Greed and sorrow are also like this, so they are singled out. Next, contemplating the external body, and finally contemplating the internal and external body, are analogous in kind. In the foundation of mindfulness regarding sensation, it is also both internal and external. Among the twelve āyatanas, sensation is subsumed exclusively under the external dharma-āyatana; why are there internal and so forth here? Explanation: there are many meanings. First, one's own sensations are internal, and others' sensations are external. Second, sensation associated with mental consciousness is internal, and sensation associated with the five sense-consciousnesses is external. Third, concentrated sensation is internal, and distracted sensation is external. Contemplating these three sensations is because they do not depart from the three kinds of suffering. Furthermore, the Dà zhìdù lùn says: 'The bodhisattva contemplates the three sensations—pleasant, painful, and neither painful nor pleasant—as having nowhere they come from and, upon perishing, having nowhere they go, arising merely from conceptual construction and inversion,' and so forth. Third, in the foundation of mindfulness regarding the mind: one's own mind is internal, and another's mind is external. Furthermore, the five sense-consciousnesses are external; the mental consciousness is external when cognizing external objects, and internal when cognizing internal objects; the manas solely cognizes the internal and is called the internal mind. Furthermore, concentration and distraction divide internal and external; one contemplates that all this mind is impermanent from kṣaṇa to kṣaṇa, and also contemplates it as illusory and without substantial essence, as can be known. Fourth, in the foundation of mindfulness regarding dharmas: mental factors are internal, while conditioned factors non-associated with mind, unconditioned dharmas, and matter included in the dharma-āyatana are altogether external dharmas; the combined contemplation of internal and external can be known accordingly.