大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 60.8

60.8

Regarding the commentary’s [statement], “Next, it displays the differences in their application,” this phrasing is borrowed from the words of the first chapter, 'Free and Easy Wandering', of the Zhuangzi. Huizi said to Zhuangzi: “The King of Wei gave me the seeds of a great gourd. I planted them and they grew, producing a fruit of five piculs. If used to hold water or soup, its solidity could not sustain its own weight. If split to make ladles, they would be so flat and wide that they could hold nothing. It was not that it was not magnificently large, but because it was useless, I smashed it to pieces.” Zhuangzi said: “You, sir, are certainly clumsy in your use of what is great! A man of Song was skilled at making an ointment to prevent chapped hands; for generations, his family had engaged in bleaching silk floss (the medicine prevented hands from splitting and stiffening, so they constantly rinsed silk in water). A traveler heard of this and said: ‘Please sell me the recipe for a hundred pieces of gold.’ [The family] gathered their clan and deliberated: ‘We have bleached silk floss for generations and made no more than a few pieces of gold. Now in a single morning we can sell our craft for a hundred pieces of gold. Please let us give it to him.’ The traveler got it and used it to persuade the King of Wu. Yue caused trouble, and the King of Wu made him a general. In winter, he fought a naval battle with the men of Yue and severely defeated them; he was enfeoffed with granted territory. The ability to prevent chapped hands was one and the same; yet one used it to gain an enfeoffment, while the other could not escape bleaching silk floss: this is the difference in how it is used. Now, sir, you had a gourd of five piculs; why did you not tie it around your waist as a great float to drift upon rivers and lakes, instead of fretting that it was too flat and wide to hold anything? You, sir, still have a mind full of tangled weeds! (Tangled weeds means not penetrating directly. This chapter states that each thing has its proper suitability; if one attains its suitability, wherever one goes, how could one not wander freely and easily?)” Now, borrowing these words: the single type of ten wholesome [actions] is like the ointment to prevent chapped hands. Ordinary beings use it to abide in saṃsāra; the two vehicles use it to barely escape on their own, which is like bleaching silk floss; the bodhisattvas use it to benefit all universally without exception, which is like being granted territory and enfeoffed.