大般涅槃經集解 19.66

19.66

案僧亮曰：此明修不得時也。如昔鹿園拘倫聞之，反增常見，夭慧命也；今日修之，則得法身也。法瑤曰：此偈明俱尋常典，得旨則命長，失旨則早夭也。僧宗曰：若依教信行，則得不死，如彼甘露；若違則失旨，成毒藥也。師說不同，解釋亦異。自有一釋云：即以圓教之性為毒藥也。此則不然。非唯勸信義失，乃有貶經之過也。此中先舉外譬，欲顯明經性非是毒也。如世甘露，本非毒藥，直以人不能消，義稱為毒耳。將明圓教，於倒解者則傷夭而失，非經也。智秀曰：將欲顯理，先約愚智褒貶經文。初一行半偈，先出服行之人，有能不能。次一行，顯出藥體。次四行，重舉譬也。明藥雖是一，而有兩異，正由愚智二人得，或成毒成藥之義也。直言甘露未知其旨，次後一行正釋其義，明令人成佛，永畢不死之旨也。慧誕曰：將欲勸人見性以成善業，故先明經旨也。何者？常住之義永盡生死，其猶甘露。以傷謗法四品或人，義如毒藥。若能深識二義，即三歸業成，如服甘露而長生、飲毒藥而不死也；若不識者，三歸不成，如服二藥而致終也。

Sengliang comments: This explains that practice is unfruitful when it is not the right time. For example, formerly in the Deer Park, when Koṇḍiñña heard it, he instead intensified eternalist views and cut short his wisdom-life; practicing it today, one attains the dharmakāya. Fayao says: This verse explains that when equally investigating the scriptures of permanence, if one grasps their purport, one's life is long; if one loses their purport, one meets an early death. Sengzong says: If one practices with faith relying on the teaching, one attains deathlessness, like that amṛta; if one goes against it and loses the purport, it becomes a poison. The teachers' expositions differ, and their interpretations are also distinct. There is an interpretation that says: the nature of the perfect teaching itself is poison. This, however, is not correct. Not only is the meaning of exhorting faith lost, but there is also the fault of disparaging the sūtra. Here, an external metaphor is first cited to make clear that the nature of the sūtra is not poison. Like amṛta in the world, it is originally not a poisonous medicine; it is merely because a person cannot digest it that it is figuratively called a poison. It intends to make clear that regarding the perfect teaching, for one who holds inverted understandings it causes injury, premature death, and loss, but this is not [the fault of] the sūtra. Zhixiu says: Intending to reveal the principle, he first evaluates the text of the sūtra with respect to the foolish and the wise. The first one and a half stanzas first point out the persons who take and practice it, whether they are capable or incapable. The next stanza reveals the substance of the medicine. The next four stanzas bring up the metaphor again, explaining that although the medicine is one, there are two different [outcomes]; it is precisely because of being received by the two persons—the foolish and the wise—that it has the sense of becoming either a poison or a medicine. When only 'amṛta' is spoken of, its purport is not yet known; the next stanza directly explains its meaning, clarifying the purport that it causes one to become a Buddha and attain ultimate, everlasting deathlessness. Huidan says: Intending to exhort people to see the nature so as to accomplish good karma, he therefore first clarifies the purport of the sūtra. Why? The meaning of permanence puts an everlasting end to birth and death, just like amṛta. Because it harms those four grades of confused people who slander the Dharma, it is figuratively like a poison. If one can deeply understand both meanings, then the practice of the three refuges is accomplished, like taking amṛta and living long, or drinking poison and not dying; if one does not understand, the three refuges are not accomplished, like taking both medicines and meeting one's end.