大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 30.19

30.19

Regarding the Commentary's stating, "Aggregates (skandhas) mean heaps," and so forth: the Abhidharmakośa's "Dhātu-nirdeśa" states: "That treatise asks: What are the distinct meanings of aggregates, bases, and constituents? The verse says: 'Heap, gate of arising, and lineage are the meanings of aggregate, base, and constituent.'" The explanation states: The first line explains the meanings, and the second line concludes them. "Heap" means accumulation, which is the meaning of aggregate (skandha). All conditioned matter—whether past, future, or present, whether internal or external, whether coarse or subtle, whether inferior or superior, whether near or far—all such [matter] is gathered together into one heap and called the form aggregate. Regarding coarse and subtle: that which is visible and resistant is coarse; the other two are subtle. Furthermore, that which is invisible and resistant is subtle compared to the former, but coarse compared to that which is invisible and non-resistant; the third is solely subtle. Defiled is called inferior, and undefiled is called superior. Present is called near, and past and future are called far. The other aggregates are patterned on this. However, the category of coarse and subtle has a difference: the four aggregates associated with the mental consciousness (manovijñāna) are subtle, while the five aggregates associated with the five sense-consciousnesses are coarse, because they rely on the five sense faculties. Alternatively, in terms of the nine realms, lower realms are coarse and upper realms are subtle. "Gate of arising" is the meaning of base (āyatana): the six faculties and six objects are the gates and loci where mind and mental factors arise and grow. "Lineage" is the meaning of constituent (dhātu). The treatise has two explanations: First, "lineage" (gotra) means stock or origin, bearing the meaning of the source of arising: the eighteen constituents serve as homogeneous causes (sabhāga-hetu), each producing equal-outflow results (niṣyanda-phala) of its own kind; therefore, they are the source of the arising of phenomena. Second, it means classification into classes: the classes and intrinsic natures of the eighteen kinds of phenomena are each distinct and diverse.