大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 55.28

55.28

Fifth, requesting by doubly praising both person and Dharma. In the commentary there are two parts: first, stating the purport; second, from 'in the text' onward, explaining the text. In the first part, there is first an interrogation, and second, from 'showing them' onward, the treatise's explanation. 'How could one avoid it?' overturns the previous generation of many doubts and perplexities. Next, 'avoiding it and not explaining it entails many faults' overturns the previous enduring of all decline and affliction throughout the long night; how could one accomplish all Buddha-dharmas? As for the commentary's 'writing is the characteristics of letters' and so forth: first it cites the treatise; next, from 'using writing to record letters' onward, the commentary explains the treatise. Writing is a material phenomenon (rūpa-dharma). Letters are syllables (vyañjana), non-associated formations (cittaviprayukta-saṃskāra); therefore it says, 'it is not the principal substance of letters.' Regarding 'the shape of a lion,' it adduces the treatise and explains it. Now, the syllable sī originally issues forth from the syllable sa (rising tone), which is the fourth syllable among the twelve vowels. Namely, sa (rising), sa (level), si, sī; su (rising), sū (prolonged, third), se, sai; so, sau, saṃ, saḥ. Now the syllable sī is the fourth syllable; in Sanskrit, lightness and heaviness differ slightly between ancient and modern times, but the general purport does not differ. If rendered as the twelve Sanskrit letters: sa (rising), sa, si, sī; su (rising), sū (prolonged), se, sai; so, sau, saṃ, saḥ. In the commentary, from 'some say it is like calling a lion' onward, it is the explanation in the Kanding ji: 'However, the syllable aḥ does not resemble a lion either, and moreover there is no such letter in the Western Regions.' As for the commentary's 'fourteen vowels': below this the commentary explains the treatise; this translation carries ancient [terminology]. However, the syllable aḥ ought to be the fourteenth syllable. According to the translation by Tripiṭaka Master [Amoghavajra] of Xingshan of the Vajraśekhara Yoga Alphabet, it says: 'First, a (rising); second, ā (long); third, i (rising); fourth, ī (long); fifth, u; sixth, ū; seventh, ṛ (prolonged, departing); eighth, ṝ (prolonged); ninth, e; tenth, ai; eleventh, o; twelfth, au (prolonged); thirteenth, aṃ; fourteenth, aḥ.' The letters ṛ and ṝ are the letters ṛ and ṝ in the Vajraśekhara; each being a conjunct, they thus make fourteen. As for the letter au being said to be prolonged: there is another Tripiṭaka master who says that among the twelve letters, the upper six are short in front and long behind, while the lower six are long in front and short behind; thus the letter au should not be prolonged. As there are differences and agreements in the Western Regions, they are now set forth in full. As for the commentary's 'meaning names of two syllables and multiple syllables': a single-syllable name is not called a count (number). Names of two syllables, names of three syllables, and so forth, are all called counts. For example, 'rūpa' is a single-syllable name, 'manas' is a two-syllable name, and 'ālaya' is a three-syllable name. Regarding 'necessarily using multiple syllables to form a phrase (pada)': this is because there is ultimately no single-syllable phrase. 'Speech' refers to spoken language, whose meaning corresponds to material form. Thus, the aforementioned writing, syllables, counts, and speech together—sound, name, phrase, and syllable—collectively constitute the substance of the teaching. Therefore, these four matters collectively subsume all expressive teachings, all taking the alphabet as their root. As for the commentary's 'namely the thirty-four letters beginning with ka and kha': according to an ancient Tripiṭaka master, the velars, palatals, retroflexes, dentals, and labials each have five sounds, and there are nine conjunct sounds. The five velar sounds are ka (rising), kha (rising), ga, gha (departing, prolonged), and ṅa (pronounced with nasal sound, departing). The five palatal sounds are ca, cha (rising), ja (cai-ke), jha (rising), and ña (rising). The five retroflex sounds are ṭa (rising), ṭha (rising), ḍa (rising), ḍha (departing), and ṇa (cut as ni-shuang, still pronounced with nasal sound). The five dental sounds are ta (rising), tha, da, dha, and na. The five labial sounds are pa, pha, ba, bha (departing, heavy), and ma (pronounced with nasal sound). The nine conjunct sounds are ya, ra, la (rising), va (cut as wu-ke), śa, ṣa, sa (rising), ha, and kṣa (conjunct of two). The above thirty-four letters are complete. If according to Tripiṭaka Master Prajña: within the former five classes, within a single class there are five sounds; for instance, ka is a palatal sound, the breath for kha issues from the throat, the letter ga is a guttural sound, the letter gha is a chest sound, and the letter ṅa is a nasal sound. The remaining four classes follow the same rule by analogy. As for the commentary's 'each single letter forms twelve letters': this means taking the above twelve letters, a (rising), ā, and so forth, and entering them everywhere into the thirty-four. For example, when the twelve vowels enter the initial letter ka, it forms ka (rising), kā, ki (rising), kī, ku, kū, ke (rising), kai, ko, kau, kaṃ, kaḥ (departing). Just as it enters the letter ka, entering the thirty-three letters such as kha is likewise so. Regarding 'there are further conjuncts of two, conjuncts of three, up to conjuncts of six': for example, when entering half the form of the letter ra into the letter ka, it then forms the conjunct letter kra, forming twelve letters. By 'half the form of the letter ra': the letter ra in complete Sanskrit script is 'ra'—this is the letter. The half form is […], this half of it. If it enters the letter ka: the Sanskrit writing of the letter ka is 'ka'; if it enters into half of it, it is called 'rka'—this is the letter. kra (that is, the syllable ka-la) is: kra (conjunct of two, cut as li-xia; 1), krā (cut as li-jia; 2), kri (3), krī (4), kru (5), krū (6), kre (7), krai (8), kro (9), krau (10), kraṃ (11), kraḥ (cut as lai-xia; 12). If one combines the letters ka and kha with the letter sa to make aska, it is a conjunct of three, forming twelve letters. The Sanskrit glyph is like this: ska. A conjunct of four is astra. A conjunct of five is astrī (rising). A conjunct of six is akṣmyjhe. Once reaching six conjuncts, the letters are already boundless. For instance, the Single-Syllable Wheel-Turning King has a conjunct of two called bhrūṃ, and has a conjunct of three called oṃ bhrūṃ. Meanings such as these are not essential; but since they exist in the sūtras and exist in the treatises, one must briefly know them. As for the commentary's 'writing of the god Brahmā': it means that the Great Brahmā King at the beginning of the kalpa created these written letters to instruct sentient beings. As for 'unlike the seal and clerical scripts of this land, which changed with the times': ancient writings in this land had many names according to the times: Shi Zhou created the Great Seal script, Li Si created the Small Seal script, Cai Yong created the bafen script, Cheng Miao created the clerical script, and so forth, all having differences according to the times.