大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 83.29

83.29

The commentary's 'Third, reviling the Buddha with a single word and suffering six years of hunger, the condition is as in the second fascicle of the Upāyakauśalya-sūtra': That sūtra has three fascicles and is also included in the Ratnakūṭa collection, corresponding to the one hundred and sixty-eighth [fascicle], this being the one hundred and seventh text. It first states in general: 'Good son! Listen closely now. By what cause and condition did the Bodhisattva practice austerities for six years? Good son! It was not that the Bodhisattva suffered this pain as a residual retribution of past karma. It was to cause sentient beings to generate revulsion toward all retributions of unwholesome karma and turn toward bodhi.' Explanation: The subsequent text of the sūtra is extensive; I will now quote it briefly. 'Furthermore, good son! Long ago, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, there was a son of a brahmin named Jyueti. He had five close friends who had long consorted with bad friends, lost the bodhicitta, served non-Buddhists, and were unable to have faith in and understand the Buddha's words and the Buddha-Dharma. Their master declared: "I am the World-Honoured One." Jyueti, wishing to guide the five men and turn their erroneous minds, went to a potter's place and spoke thus: "I do not wish to see a shaven-headed renunciant. How could a shaven-headed man attain the path of bodhi? The path of bodhi is extremely profound and difficult to attain." Later, after a short time, he was with those five men in a secluded place. The potter went there and praised the Buddha's virtues, urging them to go and see the Buddha. Jyueti thought: "The faculties of the five men are beginning to develop. If I praise the Buddha, it will surely cause them to doubt." To protect his original vow and through the reward-practice of skillful means of the prajñāpāramitā, he spoke thus: "I do not wish to see a shaven-headed renunciant. How could a shaven-headed man attain bodhi? The path of bodhi is extremely profound and difficult to attain."' Saying 'the reward of prajñāpāramitā' means that when the Bodhisattva practices the prajñāpāramitā, he has no conception of bodhi and no conception of a Buddha, does not see the Buddha or bodhi, does not see bodhi internally, externally, or in between, and because he knows bodhi is empty, he practices skillful means and utters such words. 'Later, at one time, he was by the riverbank with the five men. The potter, relying on the Buddha's spiritual power, arrived at their location and praised the rarity of meeting the Buddha, yet [Jyueti] stubbornly refused to go. The potter then seized his hair and pulled him to that place. The five men followed along. According to the law of that land, seizing someone's hair was a crime punishable by death. When the people saw this, they all said: "What virtue does the Buddha have that makes a potter forget death to lead him there?" Once they reached the Buddha's presence, the five men bowed in reverence, generated the mind [for bodhi], and rebuked Jyueti. Furthermore, hearing the Buddha's virtues and eloquence, they generated the bodhicitta. [The Buddha] expounded for them the bodhisattva repository, the non-retrogressing dhāraṇī, the adamantine phrase, and the anutpattikadharmakṣānti; the five men attained the anutpattikadharmakṣānti.' Explanation: This shows how the Bodhisattva, in order to transform the five men, contemplated emptiness through prajñā and uttered those words; this is the skillful means of the Great Vehicle—how could there be any karmic retribution?