大般涅槃經集解 21.9

21.9

案道生曰：彼之字義，名曰不盡。而指法身，今先據涅槃為端也。僧亮曰：其義云何者，問其字體，亦問字義也。有十四音，此答字體也。傳云：胡本言字不言音，譯人誤也。名涅槃者，此答字義也。佛說字意，本為涅槃息有為之苦，說字之義也。常故不流者，釋音也，涅槃不為生滅所遷流也。僧宗曰：傳譯云十四音者，為天下音之本也。如善用宮商，於十四音中隨宜制語，是故為一切字本也。此中但有十二字，餘二字零落不傳，相承云悉曇二字是也。智秀曰：此下第二段也。十四音，從惡阿有十二，合則為六也。從迦佉以下有二十五音，以五為一，合則成五也，并前為十一音也。後有九音，耶羅等合三為一，復得成三，并為十四也。彼此不同，風俗有異，信之譯人耳。

Daosheng notes: "The meaning of those characters is called inexhaustible. While pointing to the dharmakāya, it now first relies on nirvāṇa as the point of departure." Sengliang notes: "'What is its meaning?' asks about the substance of the characters and also asks about the meaning of the characters. 'There are fourteen phonemes' answers the substance of the characters. A tradition states: 'The Indian original said characters, not phonemes; the translator made an error.' 'Called nirvāṇa' answers the meaning of the characters. The Buddha's intention in speaking of characters was fundamentally for nirvāṇa to extinguish the suffering of the saṃskṛta; this speaks of the meaning of the characters. 'Because it is permanent, it does not flow' explains the phonemes: nirvāṇa is not shifted or swept along by arising and ceasing." Sengzong notes: "The translation saying 'fourteen phonemes' means the root of all sounds in the world. Just as one skillfully employs the musical notes, within the fourteen phonemes one formulates language according to suitability; therefore they are the root of all characters. Here there are only twelve characters; the other two characters were lost and not transmitted. Successive tradition holds that the two characters of siddhaṃ are these." Zhixiu notes: "From here down is the second section. For the fourteen phonemes, from a to ā there are twelve, which when combined make six. From ka, kha, downwards there are twenty-five phonemes; taking five as one [group], combined they make five, which together with the preceding make eleven phonemes. Afterward there are nine phonemes; ya, ra, etc., combine three into one, again making three, which together make fourteen. The two sides are not identical and customs differ; we merely trust the translator."