大般涅槃經集解 1.42

1.42

明駿案：大分此經，可為三別。第一敘述，即〈序品〉也；第二略說，從〈純陀〉訖〈大眾問品〉也；第三廣說，從〈現病品〉訖經文也。就略說中有三段：第一開宗勸問，從〈純陀〉訖老少二人譬；第二問答，從多羅聚落迦葉發問，入〈大眾問品〉也；第三略付囑，從〈大眾問品〉中「爾時大眾白佛」訖品也。就廣說中有三段：第一廣前開宗，即〈現病品〉也。夫食為生本、病為滅因，前〈純陀品〉因食以明現生，此品因病以明示滅。第二廣前問答之旨，從五行訖〈憍陳如品〉也。此經所明，常住因果境之與行。今以五行十功德，廣行廣因也；〈師子吼〉、〈迦葉〉，廣境也；〈憍陳如〉以廣常果，故云「因滅無常色，獲得解脫常樂之色」也。廣略所明因果境行粗已周悉，將欲教洽未來、化傳永劫，若不摧彼異學、挫伏迷元，千載之下終為流通之病。是以第三度諸外道以滅邪群，使弘通大士身心無礙，故曰廣前付囑，從「爾時諸外道」以下，訖經文也。

Mingjun comments: Broadly speaking, this sūtra may be divided into three distinct parts: first is the narration, namely the "Introductory Chapter"; second is the concise teaching, from "Cunda" through the "Questions of the Great Multitude Chapter"; and third is the extensive teaching, from the "Manifestation of Illness Chapter" through the end of the sūtra text. Within the concise teaching there are three sections: first is establishing the tenet and exhorting questions, from "Cunda" through the parable of the two men, old and young; second is the questions and answers, from Kāśyapa of the Tāla settlement raising questions into the "Questions of the Great Multitude Chapter"; and third is the concise entrustment, from "At that time the great assembly addressed the Buddha" in the "Questions of the Great Multitude Chapter" through the end of the chapter. Within the extensive teaching there are three sections: first is the elaboration of the previous establishment of the tenet, namely the "Manifestation of Illness Chapter"—for food is the root of life and illness is the cause of cessation: the earlier "Cunda Chapter" used food to clarify the manifestation of life, while this chapter uses illness to clarify the display of cessation; second is the elaboration of the purport of the earlier questions and answers, from the Five Practices through the "Kauṇḍinya Chapter"—what this sūtra clarifies are the causes, fruits, cognitive objects, and practices of permanence: here, the Five Practices and Ten Merits elaborate practice and elaborate causes; "Lion's Roar" and "Kāśyapa" elaborate cognitive objects; and "Kauṇḍinya" elaborates the permanent fruit, hence saying, "Because impermanent form is extinguished, one obtains the liberated, permanent, and blissful form." What the concise and extensive teachings clarify regarding causes, fruits, cognitive objects, and practices is already broadly complete and comprehensive; but when one wishes for the teaching to extend to the future and for transformation to be transmitted for eternal kalpas, if one does not smash those heterodox teachings and subdue the source of delusion, it will ultimately become an impediment to dissemination thousands of years later. Therefore, the third is converting the various non-Buddhists to extinguish the heretical groups so that the great beings who propagate [the teaching] will be unhindered in body and mind; hence it is called the elaboration of the previous entrustment, from "At that time the non-Buddhists" downward through the end of the sūtra text.