大方廣佛華嚴經疏 35.27

35.27

Part four has two sections: transforming beings who seek pure conduct (brahmacarya). It is divided into two: the first section transforms those seeking erroneous pure conduct, causing them to abandon the erroneous and return to the correct; the latter section transforms those of the shared Dharma of the Hīnayāna, causing them to abandon the provisional and return to the real. Now, the first: In explaining the faults first, the first phrase is the general statement, namely, the fault of clinging to a self. Although the clinging views of the non-Buddhists are many, they take the self as their root; views of annihilation, permanence, and so forth all arise from this. Next, from "in the aggregates" onward are the particulars. The particulars have six clauses: the first three lose the path and thus remain far from the bliss of the supreme meaning; the latter three lose cessation and thus fully undergo all sufferings. Now the first: First, "those who in the cavernous dwelling of the aggregates do not seek escape": having no expedient means for setting forth from the beginningless past. This means that when those non-Buddhist beings wish to head toward nirvāṇa, because they possess a self, they cannot move or set forth from the house of the five aggregates. Second, what they head toward is not genuine. The internal sense fields are without self, hence called an empty hamlet; the false conceptualization of the notion of self pervades the six sense faculties, hence called "relying upon." Third, the practices they cultivate are not correct. Since they seek nirvāṇa, they should practice the eightfold noble path; instead, they practice the erroneous path and the practices of the four inversions, because they grasp the aggregates of body, feeling, mind, and dharmas as pure and so forth. Among the latter three: First, the suffering of the discordance of the four great elements: the sufferings of old age, sickness, and death are things all people wish to avoid, yet due to grasping at a self, the four poisons constantly invade. Second, the suffering of being pursued by the five aggregates: the five aggregates are equipped with all fetters and faults, and are constantly able to harm people's wholesome dharmas; hence they are called "hostile thieves." Third, "undergoing boundless suffering": what was not stated above is all included within this, and it also concludes the previous five in general. In the remedy below: above, due to grasping at a self, attachment arose at every point; only great nirvāṇa is the place of non-attachment. How can it be attained? Namely, through the Dharma as it truly is. As for the Dharma as it truly is, it briefly has three meanings: First, as for the hostile thieves and so forth above, non-Buddhists do not know them and grasp a self dwelling in them; now the bodhisattva teaches them to contemplate the faults, realizing there is no person. Second, provisionally using worldly metaphors. What the metaphors cannot reach is that the five aggregates and so forth surpass enemies and the like. Third, knowing their true nature. Persons and dharmas are both empty; all are the most supreme places of non-attachment. The rest is as explained in [chapter] twenty-one of the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra]. Second, transforming those of the shared Dharma of the Hīnayāna: In the initial arising of faults, there are three: First, the fault of not seeking the great cause: being lax in benefiting sentient beings is narrowness; the Dharma of the Buddhas being boundless, retreating and sinking without realizing it is inferiority. Second, from "not practicing" onward is the fault of not wishing for the great fruit. Third, from "although wishing" onward clarifies the fault in practice: sentient beings of the indeterminate class truly possess the Dharma of Mahāyāna transcendence, yet they practice the Hīnayāna. In the remedy below, the vast Buddha Dharma refers to the pāramitās and myriad practices. From entering the stages onward, it is called vast; all are the causal dharmas of a Buddha. Vast wisdom applies throughout cause and effect. Reversing the previous narrowness and inferiority, it is collectively named vast. Above, the extensive explanation of gathering sentient beings is completed.