[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [觀無量壽佛經疏妙宗鈔](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1751) › 5.2.3 # 觀無量壽佛經疏妙宗鈔 5.2.3 觀無量壽佛經疏妙宗鈔 5.2.3 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [5.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1751.5.2.3) 二、「故文」下，據此經明凡心難及。 即第七雜觀中經文也。 三、「正可」下，正示初心從易現觀。 斯是大師別示初心即觀佛相入門要術也。 若從落日水氷方便，次入地樹座像等觀，心得流利觀已宏深，此之行人自可稱彼毫量而觀，使八萬相自然而現。 故如令觀劣應毫相，乃為未修前諸觀者，及以雖修觀不成者，故於佛身別指初心可觀之相為三昧門也。 行者須知，所託之境有勝有劣，若能觀觀皆須頓照即空假中，以勝劣相皆心作故、皆心是故。 四、剋示觀成稱彼而見，二：初、「若得」下，正示。 因用作是觀劣應毫，觀漸深著得成真似念佛三昧，乃能稱彼勝相而見。 二、「智度」下，引證。 引此釋迦勝身說法，增真似位念佛三昧，類彼彌陀八萬相好，須真似人方能觀見。 三、「見無」下，就觀結成。 五、「作此」下，顯觀邪正。 然此佛觀義具釋題，疏文既略，學者多疑。 若不釋之，造修無路，故更寄問答明乎境觀。 問：此經觀佛止論八萬四千相好，若《華嚴》說相好之數有十華藏世界微塵，二經所說優降天殊。 彼經正當尊特之相，此經乃是安養生身。 凡夫小乘常所見相，鈔中何故言是尊特？ 答：一家所判丈六、尊特，不定約相多少分之，剋就真中感應而辯。 如通教明合身之義，見但空者唯覩丈六，見不空者乃覩尊特。 生身本被藏通之機，尊特身應別圓之眾。 今經教相唯在圓頓，釋能觀觀是妙三觀，釋所觀境是妙三身。 疏解今文云觀佛法身，約位乃當圓教七信，正託法性無邊色像尊特觀心，使其增長念佛三昧。 據何等義云是生身？ 用圓頓觀顯藏通身，未之可也。 問：以坐華王具藏塵相而為尊特，三十二相老比丘形而為生身，其文炳著，那云不以相好分邪？ 答：約相解釋四教佛身，此乃從於增勝而說，未是的分相起之本。 其本乃是權實二理、空中二觀、事業二識，就此分之，則生身尊特如指諸掌。 故《金光疏》云「丈六身佛住真諦，丈六尊特合身佛雙住真中，尊特身佛雙住俗中，法身佛住中道。 」此依二理故有二佛，眾生二識，有二觀因，故感二佛。 言二識者，《起信論》云「佛用有二種：一者依分別事識。 凡夫二乘心所見者，名為應身，以不知轉識現故。 見從外來，取色分齊不能盡知故。 二者依於業識。 謂諸菩薩從初發意，乃至菩薩究竟地心所見者，名為報身。 身有無量色，色有無量相，相有無量好，所住依果亦復無量。 種種莊嚴隨所示現，即無有邊不可窮盡離分齊相，隨其所應常能住持不毀不失。 如是功德，皆因諸波羅蜜等無漏行熏，及不思議熏之所成就。 具足無量樂相，故說為報（文畢）。 」此乃佛用依二識彰也。 應是生身、報是尊特，論意要在見從外來、取色分齊，與知轉識，現離分齊相而分二身。 然須了知權理但空不具心色，故使佛身齊業齊緣，生已永滅故曰生身，名應名化，體是無常。 實理不空、性具五陰，隨機生滅、性陰常然，名法名報，亦名尊特，體是常住。 須知依事識者，但見應身不能覩報，以其麁淺不窮深故。 依業識者，不但覩報亦能見應，以知全體起二用故，隨現大小彼彼無邊，無非尊特皆酬實因，悉可稱報。 故《妙經文句》云「同居方便自體三土，皆是妙色妙心果報之處。 」故知菩薩業識見佛，一切分齊皆無分齊，豈比藏通佛邪？ 方知智者師與馬鳴師，精切甄分生身尊特，其義罄矣。 問：約相多少分於二身，其義已顯，何須理觀及就識分？ 答：華藏塵相及八萬相雖是尊特，三十二相不局生身。 何者？ 以由圓人知全法界作三十二，及以八萬藏塵相好，故三品相皆可稱海。 既一一相皆無邊底，是故悉可名為尊特。 故《止觀》并《輔行》以法華三十二相，觀無量壽八萬相，華嚴十華藏塵相，同是別圓道品修發法身現相，對斥藏通相非奇特，以驗三經所談相海皆是尊特，然有通局。 > Second, from "Therefore the text \[says\]" downward, based on this sūtra, it explains that \[this\] is difficult for the minds of ordinary beings to reach. This is the scriptural passage in the seventh "Miscellaneous Contemplation". Third, from "It is precisely appropriate" downward, it directly points out how beginners contemplate what easily manifests. This is the Great Master's specific indication of the essential method for beginners to enter the gate by directly contemplating the Buddha's physical marks. If, following the expedients of the setting sun, water, and ice, one then enters the contemplations of the ground, trees, throne, image, and so forth, so that the mind attains fluency and the contemplation is already vast and deep, such a practitioner may naturally contemplate in accordance with the measurements of that \[white\] ūrṇā, causing the eighty thousand marks to manifest naturally. Thus, instructing one to contemplate the ūrṇā mark of the inferior response \[body\] is for those who have not yet cultivated the preceding contemplations, as well as those who have cultivated them but whose contemplation is not yet successful; hence, regarding the Buddha's body, it specifically designates marks contemplatable by beginners as the gateway to samādhi. Practitioners must know that the objects relied upon may be superior or inferior, but if one can contemplate, all contemplations must suddenly illuminate them as identical to emptiness, conventionality, and the middle, because both superior and inferior marks are made by the mind and are the mind. Fourth, specifically indicating that when contemplation is achieved one sees in accordance with that \[body\], in two \[parts\]: First, from "If one attains" downward, it directly shows \[this\]. Because of performing this contemplation of the inferior response \[body's\] ūrṇā, the contemplation gradually deepens and stabilizes so that one succeeds in achieving genuine and semblance buddhamanasikāra-samādhi, and only then is one able to see in accordance with that superior physical mark. Second, from "The Treatise on Great \[Wisdom\]" downward, it cites scriptural testimony. It cites this instance of Śākyamuni's superior body preaching the Dharma, which enhances the buddhamanasikāra-samādhi of the stages of genuine and semblance \[awakening\], analogizing it to those eighty thousand physical marks and excellent characteristics of Amida, which only persons of genuine and semblance \[awakening\] can contemplate and see. Third, from "Seeing the absence" downward, it concludes based on contemplation. Fifth, from "Making this \[contemplation\]" downward, it reveals the heterodox and orthodox natures of contemplation. However, the meaning of this Buddha-contemplation is fully explained in the commentary on the title; since the text of the subcommentary is brief, students have many doubts. If it is not explained, there would be no path to practice and cultivation; therefore, I will again rely on questions and answers to clarify the object and contemplation. Question: This sūtra's contemplation of the Buddha speaks only of eighty-four thousand physical marks and excellent characteristics, whereas the Avataṃsaka speaks of the number of physical marks and excellent characteristics as being dust motes of ten Lotus Treasury worlds; what is spoken in the two sūtras differs as vastly as heaven and earth. That sūtra precisely corresponds to the marks of the noble and extraordinary \[body\], whereas this sūtra refers to the birth-body of Anyang. Why does the Subcommentary state that the marks commonly seen by ordinary beings and the Small Vehicle are the noble and extraordinary \[body\]? Answer: Our school's classification of the sixteen-foot \[body\] and the noble and extraordinary \[body\] is not determined strictly by dividing them according to whether the physical marks are many or few; it is strictly distinguished in terms of sympathetic resonance with the true \[truth\] and the middle \[truth\]. For example, the Shared Teaching explains the meaning of the combined body: those who see mere emptiness behold only the sixteen-foot \[body\], whereas those who see non-emptiness behold the noble and extraordinary \[body\]. The birth-body originally caters to capacities of the Tripiṭaka and Shared \[teachings\], while the noble and extraordinary body responds to the assemblies of the Separate and Perfect \[teachings\]. The teaching characteristics of the present sūtra reside solely in the perfect and sudden; the explanation of the contemplation that is capable of contemplating is the wondrous threefold contemplation, and the explanation of the object that is contemplated is the wondrous three bodies. The commentary's explanation of the present text says that one contemplates the Buddha's dharmakāya, and in terms of stage, this corresponds to the seventh faith of the Perfect Teaching, directly relying on the noble and extraordinary contemplation of the mind of the boundless forms and marks of the Dharma-nature, so as to cause their buddhamanasikāra-samādhi to increase. Based on what meaning could one say that it is a birth-body? Using the perfect and sudden contemplation to reveal the body of the Tripiṭaka and Shared \[teachings\] is simply inadmissible. Question: The noble and extraordinary \[body\] is characterized by sitting on a flower king and possessing marks as numerous as the dust of the \[Lotus\] Treasury, whereas the birth-body is characterized by the thirty-two marks and the form of an elderly monk; the texts are prominent and clear, so how can you say they are not distinguished by their physical marks and excellent characteristics? Answer: Explaining the Buddha-bodies of the four teachings in terms of physical marks is stated according to what is predominant and superior; it is not yet the precise basis from which the physical marks arise. Their basis is the two principles of provisional and real, the two contemplations of emptiness and the middle, and the two consciousnesses of phenomenal \[discrimination\] and karma; if divided according to these, the birth-body and the noble and extraordinary \[body\] are as clear as pointing to the palm of one's hand. Therefore, the Commentary on the Suvarṇaprabhāsa states: "The sixteen-foot body Buddha abides in the true truth; the combined-body Buddha of the sixteen-foot and the noble and extraordinary bodies abides in both the true \[truth\] and the middle \[truth\]; the noble and extraordinary body Buddha abides in both the conventional \[truth\] and the middle \[truth\]; the dharmakāya Buddha abides in the Middle Way." Because these are based on the two principles, there are two Buddhas; because the two consciousnesses of sentient beings contain the causes for the two contemplations, they induce the two Buddhas. As for the two consciousnesses, the Treatise on the Awakening of Faith says: "There are two kinds of Buddha functions: First, that which relies on the consciousness that discriminates phenomena. That which is seen by the minds of ordinary beings and \[followers of\] the two vehicles is called the response body, because they do not know that it manifests from the evolving consciousness. They see it coming from outside and grasp boundaries of form, being unable to know it completely. Second, that which relies on the karmic consciousness. That which is seen by the minds of bodhisattvas from their first generation of the aspiration \[for awakening\] up to the ultimate ground of bodhisattvas is called the reward body. The body possesses measureless forms, forms possess measureless physical marks, physical marks possess measureless excellent characteristics, and the environmental reward in which it abides is also measureless. Its various adornments, manifesting in accordance with what is displayed, are boundless, inexhaustible, and free from the marks of limitation; responding to what is appropriate, they can always be maintained without destruction or loss. Such merits are all accomplished by the perfuming of non-outflow practices such as the pāramitās, and by the perfuming of the inconceivable. Being replete with measureless marks of bliss, it is therefore called the reward \[body\] (end of quote)." Thus the Buddha functions are displayed depending on the two consciousnesses. The response \[body\] is the birth-body, and the reward \[body\] is the noble and extraordinary \[body\]; the treatise's meaning fundamentally distinguishes the two bodies by seeing \[it as\] coming from the outside and grasping boundaries of form, versus knowing the evolving consciousness and manifesting free from the marks of limitation. However, one must realize that the provisional principle is merely empty and does not inherently possess mind and form; therefore, it causes the Buddha's body to be coextensive with karma and conditions, being extinguished forever once it is born; hence it is called the birth-body, termed 'response' or 'transformation', its essence being impermanent. The real principle is not empty; inherent nature possesses the five skandhas; arising and ceasing in accordance with capacities, the skandhas of nature are ever present; it is termed 'dharma' or 'reward', and also termed 'noble and extraordinary', its essence being permanently abiding. One must know that those who rely on the phenomenal consciousness see only the response body and cannot behold the reward \[body\], because it is coarse and shallow and does not reach the depths. Those who rely on the karmic consciousness not only behold the reward \[body\] but can also see the response \[body\], because they know that the entire substance gives rise to the two functions; whether displaying large or small, each and every one is boundless; none is not noble and extraordinary, all requiting the real cause, and all can be called 'reward'. Therefore, Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra states: "The three lands of Common Residence, Expedients, and Self-nature are all the places of the fruition-reward of wondrous form and wondrous mind." Thus we know that when bodhisattvas see the Buddha with the karmic consciousness, all boundaries are free from boundaries; how could this compare to the Buddha of the Tripiṭaka and Shared \[teachings\]? Only now do we know that Master Zhizhe and Master Aśvaghoṣa have precisely and thoroughly distinguished the birth-body from the noble and extraordinary \[body\], exhausting its meaning. Question: Distinguishing the two bodies according to the quantity of physical marks already has a clear meaning; why is it necessary to distinguish them through noumenal contemplation and with respect to the consciousnesses? Answer: Although the marks numerous as dust motes of the Lotus Treasury and the eighty-thousand marks are noble and extraordinary, the thirty-two marks are not confined to the birth-body. Why is this? Because persons of the Perfect \[Teaching\] know that the entire dharmadhātu constitutes the thirty-two marks as well as the eighty-thousand and \[Lotus\] Treasury dust-mote marks and characteristics; therefore, all three grades of marks can be called an ocean. Since each and every mark is boundless and bottomless, they can all be named 'noble and extraordinary'. Therefore, the Great Calming and Contemplation and its Auxiliary Commentary take the thirty-two marks of the Lotus Sūtra, the eighty-thousand marks of the Contemplation of Amitāyus, and the marks numerous as dust motes of ten Lotus Treasury \[worlds\] of the Avataṃsaka as identical manifestations of the dharmakāya cultivated and developed through the path factors of the Separate and Perfect \[teachings\], directly refuting the marks of the Tripiṭaka and Shared \[teachings\] as not being extraordinary; this proves that the ocean of marks discussed across the three sūtras are all noble and extraordinary, though having general and specific \[applications\]. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 5.2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1751.5.2.2) - [Next: 5.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1751.5.2.4) - [Up: 5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1751.5.2) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1751~en-mt.5.2.3) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [金光明經文句記](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1786.3.345) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1751.5.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1751.5.2.3) · Pramāṇa