觀無量壽佛經疏妙宗鈔 3.2.1

3.2.1

Second, determining the substance. The preceding text explained that the one who speaks and what is spoken, that which contemplates and that which is contemplated, are all expressive names; now we determine the substance expressed by these names, wishing to enable students to catch the fish through the trap and to discover the substance by following the name. The intention in following the name lies in forgetting the name; in discovering the substance, one knows there is no separate substance. This is the wondrous intention of our master in explaining the name and determining the substance. Furthermore, one should understand that explaining the name is the general, because it gathers the three dharmas; the [other] three sections are the particular, because they distinguish the three dharmas. Therefore, in explaining both the general and particular names, every aspect implicitly possesses the three of teaching, practice, and principle. Since the Buddha who speaks is endowed with the three bodies, and the contemplative objects that are spoken each possess the three, it is said that explaining the name gathers the three dharmas, the section on substance is specifically in the dharmakāya, the [sections on] main doctrine and function specifically correspond to the other two, and the single section on the characteristics of the teaching distinguishes the general and the particular. Although the present determination of substance is within a single dharma, the one necessarily contains the three; hence the three meanings of 'substance as propriety' (tǐ lǐ), 'substance as bottom' (tǐ dǐ), and 'substance as thorough penetration' (tǐ dá) are clarified. Although three meanings are discussed, they are merely the three within the dharmakāya, and have not yet clarified the three within each of the other two. Thus the Xuan of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Proclaiming the secret treasury in general serves as its name. The dharmakāya subsumes all dharmas without being vertical or horizontal, serving as its substance; prajñā subsumes all dharmas like the three eyes on a face, serving as its main doctrine; liberation subsumes all dharmas like the three dots of the letter "i", serving as its function. Expounding in this manner is its teaching; not only is the meaning of the sūtra's substance established, but the other meanings are also revealed.' (End of text.) Now to bring out its meaning: since emptiness and the conventional are both the middle, the three belong to substance; since the conventional and the middle are both empty, the three belong to the main doctrine; since the middle and the empty are both conventional, the three belong to function. Function is liberation, specifically illustrated by the three dots, because the dots are letters; the main doctrine corresponds to prajñā, specifically illustrated by the three eyes, because the eyes can illuminate; the three of the dharmakāya specifically eliminate the vertical and horizontal, revealing the transcendence of conceptual thought. Therefore we know that explaining the name gathers nine dharmas, while determining the substance specifically resides in the three within the dharmakāya. Yet the nine are not too many, nor are the three too few; only this constitutes the meaning of general and particular in the Perfect Teaching. This section naturally divides into two: first, raising the topic and briefly indicating it. The name is secondary and is the guest; the substance is primary and is the host. The name is a provisional designation; the substance is the real entity. Beneath every name, there is its entity. Second, from 'The Commentary' downward, directly explaining the host-entity, in four parts: first, fixing the substance based on two texts. All dharmas, right where they are, are unarising and unperishing, neither existent nor empty, devoid of subject and object, free from the marks of verbal expression, free from the marks of names, and free from the marks of mental conditioning. Being free from these marks is called the real mark—the mark of marklessness. Who does not possess it? What dharma is not so? If we speak of verifying and knowing it, only the Buddhas can do so. Hence the Lotus Sūtra says: 'Only a Buddha and a Buddha can exhaustively fathom the real mark of all dharmas.' Those who receive the perfect teaching use Buddha-wisdom to illuminate objects from the very first thought of aspiration, and therefore they can believe and understand the real mark of all dharmas. Having understood the real mark, they also understand the real nature, real substance, real power, real activity, real cause, real condition, real fruit, real retribution, and real ultimate equality from beginning to end of all dharmas. Since the ten dharmas are real, there are real sentient beings and real Buddhas, real environmental reward and real primary reward; not a single color or a single scent fails to be the middle way, and all dharmas are the Buddha-dharma. Since all are real, and outside the real there is nothing left, how can one say that the rest are all works of Māra? One should know that this explanation uses principle to eliminate passions. If being free from the marks of mental conditioning, subject, and object is called the real mark, then the slightest presence of marks is a work of Māra; therefore, from the Separate Teaching down to the dharmas of the six paths, all have the marks of subject, object, and mental conditioning, and since Māra can preach them, they are all called works of Māra. Hence we know that all are Māra and all are Buddha: when distinguished through passions, all are heterodox; when free from passion-driven discrimination, all are orthodox. Now, eliminating passions and grasping principle to serve as the sūtra's substance, one should know that the entire substance of the real mark is brightly illuminating, called the true mind and also called original awakening. Because the substance of awakening is all-pervading, all dharmas are real. If we point to its essential, it is not apart from the present discriminatory thought: this thought is itself original awakening, and awakening is itself the sūtra's substance, with no other sūtra substance serving as what is expressed. When one contemplates environment and self with this awakening mind, subject and object are instantly severed, and duality is forgotten; the main doctrine of wondrous contemplation is established from this. If it were not so, why would one need to obtain the substance before establishing the sūtra's main doctrine? As for the 'seal of the real mark,' a seal is a tally-mark; it also means faith, and also carries the meaning of definitive determination. That is, by means of what is expressed, one definitively determines the Great or Small [Vehicles] as well as the heterodox or orthodox; only when the principle tallies with the Buddha's intent can it be faithfully followed. In the three seals of the Small Vehicle, the two seals of impermanence and non-self seal saṃsāra, while the single seal of quiescent cessation seals nirvāṇa. In the Small Vehicle, nirvāṇa and saṃsāra are different, so each is sealed separately. When what is expressed tallies with these, it can be faithfully accepted as a Small Vehicle sūtra, not the preaching of Māras or non-Buddhists. The single seal of the Great Vehicle is the one real mark: the two kinds of saṃsāra and the nirvāṇa of the three virtues are one in substance, ultimately real. When the meaning tallies with this, it can be faithfully accepted as a Great Vehicle sūtra, neither Small [Vehicle] nor non-Buddhist. Now, relying on this sūtra, the perfect and real is considered great. If we follow that treatise in contrasting the Tripiṭaka [Teaching] with the Mahāyāna, the Shared and Separate Teachings are also called the single seal. Now we do not take those two; only the perfect real mark is called the single seal. Thus the person who preaches, the environment and self contemplated, the four kinds of pure and defiled, the five heinous sins, and so forth are non-dual in their nature. We take this single seal as the correct substance of the sūtra. Second, from 'immeasurable' downward, [it shows that] this is where the four sections converge. 'Immeasurable merits and virtues' and so forth is where the function of the sūtra converges. The power and function of the sūtra are also called merit and virtue: power has the merit of extinguishing evil, and function has the virtue of generating good. It extinguishes all evils and generates all goods; therefore, merits and virtues receive the name 'immeasurable.' Such merits and virtues together adorn the real substance, just as an emperor regulates disorder and nourishes the people. Using these merits and virtues to adorn the sacred person, the various manifold practices are the main doctrine of the sūtra. Arising into practice from principle, full principle becomes cultivated practice, just as water becomes waves, and waves return to water. The main doctrine must converge with the substance; hence it says 'converge.' Generally speaking, it refers to the myriad practices; specifically speaking, it refers to the sixteen contemplations; hence it is called 'manifold practices.' 'Words, questions, and answers' are the name of the sūtra; the expressive name resides in words. Since the meaning of the words is profound and esoteric, it further requires questions, answers, and various explications to establish the sūtra's name and manifest the real substance. Question: The title is the name; how can it ever be questions and answers? Answer: The name can express the substance, and the sentences throughout the entire text are all expressive names. Just as the ten subtleties of the root and traces in the Lotus Sūtra constitute its name, but because the title is the general, the name is explained in terms of the title; the other four meanings pervade from beginning to end, and hence they are the name of the entire sūtra. 'Questions, answers, and explications' and so on proceed from the back to the front to show the dharmas that converge. The teaching is not mentioned separately, as it is included within the name.