阿彌陀經通贊疏 2.73

2.73

The Praise says: The fourth [part] is explaining and displaying the sounds of Dharma. As for 'proclaim and broadcast' (yǎnchàng), 'yǎn' has the appearance of water flowing without interruption, and 'chàng' means to proclaim. As for 'the five roots and so forth', these are the thirty-seven factors of awakening; in the sūtra, the four bases of mindfulness, the four right exertions, and the four bases of spiritual power are omitted; below it has the word 'such' (děng), which includes these three stages. Now to briefly explain these teachings into seven stages: First, the four bases of mindfulness, namely body, feelings, mind, and dharmas, having wisdom as their substance; it means that by the power of mindfulness, wisdom abides upon its object. Second, the four right abandonings, namely abandoning through restraint, abandoning through severance, abandoning through protection, and abandoning through cultivation, having vigor as their substance, because the operation of vigor is capable of cultivating abandonment. Third, the four bases of spiritual power, namely desire, vigor, mind, and contemplation, having samādhi as their substance, because one cultivates samādhi for the sake of these four kinds. Fourth, the five roots, namely faith, vigor, mindfulness, samādhi, and wisdom, having their names as their five substances, because they give rise to the wholesome. Fifth, the five powers: their substance is simply the five roots, but because they are difficult to subdue, they are established separately from the roots. Sixth, the seven limbs of awakening, namely the awakening limbs of investigation of dharmas, vigor, joy, mindfulness, samādhi, equanimity, and pliancy. Three belong to specific mental factors: investigation of dharmas, mindfulness, and samādhi; three belong to wholesome mental factors: vigor, equanimity, and pliancy; one belongs to universal mental factors, namely joy. Seventh, the eightfold noble path, namely right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right samādhi, right livelihood, right mindfulness, and right vigor. Right thought has wisdom as its nature, being capable of producing speech and being present even in buddhas. Right speech and right action take bodily and verbal action produced by non-anger and non-delusion as their substance; that produced by non-greed is called right livelihood; being free from the five kinds of wrong livelihood, both take non-manifest form and volition as their substance; the rest are as their names imply. Combining these thirty-seven kinds, their substances are nine: first, wisdom; second, vigor; third, samādhi; fourth, faith; fifth, mindfulness; sixth, joy; seventh, equanimity; eighth, pliancy; ninth, non-manifest form. There is one universal mental factor: joy; three specific mental factors: mindfulness, samādhi, and wisdom; four wholesome mental factors: faith, vigor, equanimity, and pliancy; and one material dharma: non-manifest form. What is cultivated for bodhi is different from that of the śrāvakas, so the factors of awakening are called the bodhisattva teachings. As for 'such teachings', above it includes the roots, powers, limbs of awakening, and path, and below it includes mindfulness, right abandonings, and bases of spiritual power; hence it says 'such teachings'. Or it may be that 'such' refers to teachings such as the six perfections and myriad practices; otherwise, why would the remaining teachings not be proclaimed?