大方廣佛華嚴經疏 36.9

36.9

Third, the practice of gathering [beings] through skillful means refers to cultivating the practice of skillful means to gather sentient beings. Therefore, the sūtra below states, "By what skillful means can I rescue and deliver them?"—thus one knows it does not depart from the Buddha's wisdom, etc.; hence the Buddha's wisdom, etc., is itself the skillful means for gathering beings. The text is divided into four: 1) the causes that initiate the practice of gathering; 2) under "forms this contemplation," contemplating and seeking the practice of gathering through skillful means; 3) under "then forms this thought," contemplating and attaining the skillful means of gathering beings; 4) under "the bodhisattva in this way," cultivating practice based on contemplation. Now the first is divided into two: first, reviewing the preceding two practices to establish the three causes; next, under "wishing to rely on," clarifying the initiation based on the preceding three causes. Now the first: 1) "In this way detesting and abandoning all conditioned things" reviews the practice of guarding against afflictions, serving as the cause for leaving false thoughts. 2) "In this way sympathizing with and being mindful of all sentient beings" reviews guarding against a narrow mind, serving as the cause for not abandoning any worldly realm. 3) "Knowing that the omniscient wisdom has superior benefits" reviews guarding against a petty mind, serving as the cause for generating diligence; that is, having known the superior benefit of the Buddha's wisdom, one cultivates that path to enter it. However, among the three causes, the first and last are wisdom, and the middle one is compassion; compassion and wisdom as causes are able to seek skillful means. As for the subsequent initiation, having contemplated the three causes, one wishes to use beneficial wisdom to rescue pitiable sentient beings; thus the expositor of the sūtra initiates this for this reason. Therefore, the Treatise states, "These words demonstrate initiating the practice of gathering through skillful means." Second, contemplating and seeking skillful means also merely means contemplating that the aforementioned sentient beings have fallen into the afflictions, karma, and suffering of the conditioned realm, wishing to cause them to perpetually eliminate these and attain great nirvāṇa, yet not knowing the skillful means, one therefore contemplates and seeks them. The present sūtra text lacks the single character "karma," whereas the Treatise's sūtra text contains it. Question: Previously, in the resolute determination to rescue, one knew to confer the three trainings to extinguish karma, afflictions, and suffering; why does it now say "by what skillful means"? Answer: Here one is merely contemplating the wisdom that can confer them. If so, previously in guarding against the petty [mind] one already knew that the Tathāgata's wisdom possesses great power, and in the cause above it says "knowing that omniscience has superior benefits"; why contemplate it again now? Answer: Previously one knew the superiority of wisdom and wished to cause beings to attain it; now one also contemplates causing them to attain the skillful means of gathering beings; below one then realizes that one must personally attain the Buddha's wisdom before one can cause others to attain it. Third, in contemplating and attaining the skillful means of gathering beings, there are five skillful means, which since ancient times have all been matched to stages. Although the Treatise has no text [for this], there is no error in principle. As for the five: 1) the Buddha's unobstructed wisdom, 2) the true awakening of the eighth stage, 3) the actionless wisdom of the fourth stage, 4) the meditative concentration of the third stage, and 5) the vast learning also of the third stage. However, among these five, moving from the subtle to the manifest, each subsequent one arises from each preceding one. Therefore, in now observing and seeking, one traces backward to find its root; mutually causing one another, all are said "not to depart from." Among these five, vast learning can only initiate; the Buddha's wisdom is only what is initiated; the intermediate three function as both that which initiates and that which is initiated. Relying on this meaning, the Treatise subsumes the five into three: 1) The Buddha's wisdom exhausts the ocean of fruition, called "realizing ultimate exhaustion." 2) Because the middle three all arise from what is below and can initiate what is above, progressively increasing up to the Buddha, they are subsumed into one, called "initiating the higher and higher realization of ultimate exhaustion." 3) Because the wisdom gained from hearing is that on which the practice initiated in the intermediate stages relies, it is called "the practice on which that arising relies"; since this wisdom gained from hearing is not yet experiential practice, it cannot be called "arising," yet forgetting one's body to seek hearing may also be called practice. Having understood the general purport, next the text is briefly explained. 1) The Buddha's wisdom is called "unobstructed liberation" because it is free of the two obscurations; it is liberation free of obstacles. Endowed with the ten powers of wisdom, skillful means and reality are unobstructed; therefore it is the liberation of function. This is the ultimate skillful means for gathering beings. 2) That this wisdom must rely on true awakening means that in the eighth stage one attains the tolerance of the non-arising of dharmas, awakening to the true nature of all dharmas. Only if one awakens to the true nature can one exhaust afflictions and be unobstructed regarding noumenon and phenomena; therefore, the Buddha's wisdom arises from it. The Treatise explains "all dharmas" as "all dharmas spoken by the Tathāgata"; because of the tolerance of sound one then attains non-arising, tracing the expressive [words] to awaken to what is expressed. It explains "true awakening" as "conforming to true awakening," because by relying on conforming tolerance one attains non-arising. 3) That this awakening does not depart from unborn wisdom means wishing to awaken to all dharmas. All dharmas do not exceed two kinds: first, particular characteristics, referring to differences between form, mind, etc., which are the essence of conditioned dharmas, hence called "actions"; second, common characteristics—although form and mind differ, they are equally shifted by arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing; mentioning the first subsumes the rest, hence simply called "arising." Now the bodhisattva of the fourth stage comprehends that both particular and common [characteristics] arise from conditions and lack intrinsic nature, accomplishing non-conceptual wisdom; hence it is called "actionless." The character "action" after "unborn" is the active characteristic of wisdom, taking actionlessness and non-arising as the active characteristic of wisdom. If one practices in this way, one then attains the eighth stage's awakening to the intrinsic nature of dharmas. 4) That this wisdom does not depart from dhyāna, etc., means that this unborn wisdom will not arise without concentration. Speaking of "skillfulness in dhyāna," because one attains the dhyāna of the superior progression portion that completes the third stage, entering and emerging at will and not being defiled by dhyāna, it is therefore called skillful. "Definite" means that toward the other fourth stage it definitely can bring it forth. "Contemplative wisdom": the Treatise says "because of contemplation with one's own wisdom," meaning the wisdom within the concentration of the third stage, not the unborn wisdom of the fourth stage brought forth previously. That wisdom of the fourth stage is called "radiance" here, and relying on this radiance it is called the Radiant Stage. Therefore, the realization wisdom of the fourth stage is brought forth by cultivating wisdom within the concentration of the third stage. 5) That this dhyāna does not depart from skillful and vast learning means that the cultivated wisdom here can only arise on the basis of the subsequent wisdom of hearing. All three junctures are wisdom, yet the wisdoms differ. Speaking of "skillful and vast learning," it is because one does not grasp at the characteristics of what is heard. However, although the causes of the Buddha's wisdom extend throughout the ten stages, these three are specifically highlighted because the hearing and cultivating of this stage are immediately practiced; the fourth stage is the beginning of the increase of wisdom; and the eighth stage is the initial phase of effortlessness.