大般涅槃經義記 2.7

2.7

Within the former, first he explains the difficulties in terms of dharmas. The difficulties are of six kinds: (1) it is difficult for a Buddha to appear in the world; (2) it is difficult to obtain a human body; (3) it is difficult to encounter the Buddha appearing in the world; (4) it is difficult to give rise to faith; (5) being able to patiently accept what is difficult to accept, which clarifies the difficulty of hearing the Dharma. Patient acceptance (kṣānti) is approval; that one can patiently accept a Dharma that is difficult to believe is therefore called difficult. Or, acceptance is another name for understanding: that one can understand and know a Dharma that is difficult to understand is therefore called difficult; (6) having complete moral precepts and attaining arhatship is difficult; complete precepts is the cause, and arhatship is the effect. Among the six, the first one explains difficulty with respect to the Buddha, while the latter five explain difficulties with respect to the bhikṣus; below, metaphors are used to illustrate them. "Like seeking gold in sand" illustrates the latter five difficulties: to seek gold in sand is extremely difficult to obtain; to seek these five things within the dharmas of birth and death is exceedingly difficult to obtain. "Like the udumbara flower" illustrates the difficulty of a Buddha appearing. The above has clarified that what they attained is difficult; from here below is the second [part], citing them to revoke them. "Parting from the eight difficulties" cites what the previous six difficulties departed from. When the bhikṣus attained the latter five difficulties, they immediately parted from the eight difficulties; hence it is cited now. The eight difficulties are: the three wretched realms are three; being born blind, deaf, and so forth is the fourth; worldly intellectual brilliance is the fifth; being before or after a Buddha is the sixth; Uttarakuru is the seventh; and the heaven of long life is the eighth. Among the eight, the first three are in the three lower destinies, the next four are among humans, and the last one is in heaven. Because of obtaining a human body, they part from the difficulty of the three wretched realms; encountering a Buddha, they part from being before or after a Buddha; giving rise to faith, they part from the difficulty of the wrong views of worldly intellectual brilliance; hearing the Dharma, they part from the difficulties of blindness, deafness, and so forth; possessing precepts and attaining the fruit, they part from the difficulty of Uttarakuru and the heaven of long life, because there is no attainment there. From "having obtained a human body" downward, he cites what they attained. Among the latter five difficulties, he selectively cites the first two. The first two are also what the Mahāyāna relies upon and need not be revoked and broken; hence he selectively cites them. "Difficult to obtain a human body" cites the first previous one. "You have encountered me" cites the second previous one. "You should not pass your lives in vain" relies on the first two to revoke the latter three kinds. Although in the Hīnayāna they possess faith and the rest, viewed from the perspective of the Mahāyāna they have attained nothing at all; hence it is said to "pass in vain."