大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 75.36

75.36

Fifth is the tolerance of phenomena being like a mirage. Regarding the Commentary's statement, "If in the treatises on the ten similes the doctrines and similes each have multiple meanings": the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa explains "like a mirage" saying: "A mirage is due to sunlight and wind stirring up dust, moving in the vast wilderness like running wild horses; an unwise person seeing it initially takes it to be water. The characteristics of male and female are also like this: the fetters and defilements are the sunlight and hot air; the dust of conditioned formations is the wind of improper mindfulness; turning in the vast wilderness of saṃsāra, the unwise consider it to have a single characteristic, to be male or female. This is called 'like a mirage.' Furthermore, if one sees a mirage from afar, one imagines it to be water; when close, the idea of water is gone. Unwise people are also like this: if they are far from the noble Dharma, not knowing non-self and not knowing the emptiness of all phenomena, among phenomena whose nature is empty in aggregates, realms, and sense-bases, they give rise to the notion of a person, the notion of male, and the notion of female. When close to the noble Dharma, they know the true characteristic of all phenomena; at that time, all deceptive, various false conceptualizations are completely eliminated. For this reason, it is said that all bodhisattva-mahāsattvas know all phenomena to be like a mirage." Explanation: That treatise, speaking from the perspective of delusion, describes saṃsāra as a vast wilderness. Here, speaking in terms of the union of the true and the false, the empty ground is used as a simile for the Tathāgatagarbha. Sengrui says: "A mirage deludes with foolish desire; / rejoicing in it without limit, / imagining a body where there is no body, / seeing form where there is no form. / There is truly nothing to enjoy, / yet none are able to recognize it. / If one possesses wisdom, / this mind will naturally rest."