涅槃玄義發源機要 4.5

4.5

二、「昔五」下，引事感傷。初、引事類己。《賢愚經》第六云「毘舍離國有五百盲人，乞匃自治。時聞人言：『如來出世。』盲人聞已，還共議曰：『我曹若當遇佛，必見救濟。』即便問人：『佛在何國？』答云：『佛在舍衛。』遂各乞金錢一枚，僱人引往。時有一人收取金錢，將諸盲人至摩竭提國，棄諸澤中。盲不知處，互相捉手經行他田，傷破苗穀。長者行田見彼踐苗，甚多瞋怒。盲者求哀，具宣上事，長者使人將詣舍衛。適達彼國，又聞佛往摩竭提國。及到彼國，復聞世尊已還舍衛。如是追逐，凡往七反。佛知根熟，乃於舍衛待之。盲到佛所，蒙光目開，佛為說法成阿羅漢。」祇洹等者，《譬喻經》第三云「昔有一人作兩業，有二婦。適詣小婦，小婦語言：『我年少，婿年老，我不樂住，可住大婦處作居。』其婿拔去白髮。適至大婦處，大婦語言：『我老，頭已白，婿頭黑，宜去。』於是拔黑作白。如是不止，頭遂禿盡。二婦惡之，便各捨去，坐愁致死。過去世時作寺中狗，水東一寺、水西一寺，聞楗椎鳴，狗便往得食。後日二寺同時鳴磬，狗浮水欲度，適欲至西，復恐東寺食好；向東，復恐西寺食好。如是猶豫，溺死水中。」文云祇洹者，通取寺名，非直指祇洹寺也。唯疆唯沈無見無得者，結前二事。盲雖七追，唯至於他疆，竟不見佛，故云唯疆無見。狗聽兩鍾，唯死於沈溺，竟不得食，故云唯沈無得。次、「入山」下，以己類事。己之多障，如盲如狗。入山出谷總前八障，入山攝七八，出谷攝前六。浮墜泝江者，釋上句也。「浮墜」字誤，應作「乘陵」。謂入山乘陵，出谷泝江，空歷艱苦，不聞斯典。《文選．北征賦》曰「乘陵岡以登降」，注云「陵岡皆山丘也。」《左傳》曰「吳將泝江入郢。」《爾雅》曰「逆流而上曰泝洄，順流而下曰泝游。」《字林》云「順流曰沿，逆流曰泝。泝，蘇故切。」「日既」下，舉喻，嘆師滅也。日喻師解圓明，隱崖喻師入寂滅。崖，山也。《淮南子》曰「日入崦嵫」，注云「亦曰落棠山。」盲龜喻己無智眼，海底喻迷深。《雜含》第十六云「告諸比丘：『如大海中有一盲龜，壽無量劫，百年一遇出頭。復有浮木，止有一孔，漂流海浪，隨風東西。盲龜百年一出，得遇此孔。龜至海東，浮木或至海西，違遶亦爾，雖復差違，或復相得。凡夫漂流五趣之海，還復人身，甚難於此。』」今借彼文以喻聖師難值也。憑光想木者，人在半夜，欲憑日光鑒物；龜居海底，空想浮木安身。其不可得也，故云詎可得乎。

Second, from "In the past, five [hundred]" below, he cites historical incidents to express his sorrow. First, he cites incidents by way of comparison to himself. Fascicle 6 of the *Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish* says: "In the country of Vaiśālī there were five hundred blind men who begged to support themselves. At that time, they heard someone say, 'A Tathāgata has appeared in the world!' Having heard this, the blind men discussed it together, saying, 'If we could meet the Buddha, we would surely be rescued.' Thereupon they asked someone, 'In which country is the Buddha?' The person replied, 'The Buddha is in Śrāvastī.' Each then begged a gold coin and hired a man to guide them there. At that time there was a man who took the gold coins, led the blind men to the country of Magadha, and abandoned them in a marsh. The blind did not know where they were; holding each other's hands, they walked through others' fields, trampling and damaging the sprouts and grain. An elder inspecting the fields saw them trampling the sprouts and became furious. The blind men begged for mercy and fully explained what had happened; the elder then sent someone to guide them to Śrāvastī. No sooner had they arrived in that country than they heard that the Buddha had gone to the country of Magadha. When they arrived in that country, they heard again that the World-Honoured One had already returned to Śrāvastī. Chasing after him in this way, they went back and forth seven times in all. Knowing that their faculties were ripe, the Buddha waited for them in Śrāvastī. When the blind men reached the Buddha's place, they were touched by his light and their eyes opened; the Buddha preached the Dharma for them, and they became arhats." Regarding "Jetavana and so forth": Fascicle 3 of the *Avadāna-sūtra* says: "In the past there was a man who engaged in two occupations and had two wives. When he went to his junior wife, she said to him, 'I am young, and you, my husband, are old; I do not wish to live [with you]. You may go to the senior wife's quarters to dwell.' Her husband plucked out his white hairs. When he went to the senior wife's place, she said to him, 'I am old and my head is already white, while your hair, husband, is black; it is fitting that you leave.' Thereupon she plucked out the black to make it white. Continuing in this manner without stopping, his head eventually became completely bald. Disgusted with him, the two wives each abandoned him, and he sat in grief until he died. In a past life, he had been a dog in a monastery. There was a monastery east of the river and a monastery west of the river. When the dog heard the sounding-block struck, he would go and get food. Later, one day, both monasteries struck their sounding-stones at the same time. The dog swam into the water, wishing to cross over; just as he was about to reach the west, he feared the food at the eastern monastery would be better; heading east, he feared the food at the western monastery would be better. Hesitating in this way, he drowned in the water." In the text, the mention of Jetavana broadly takes the name of a monastery and does not point directly to Jetavana Monastery itself. "Only [other] borders, only drowning; neither seeing nor obtaining" concludes the preceding two incidents. Although the blind men pursued him seven times, they only reached other borders and never saw the Buddha; hence it says "only [other] borders, [with] no seeing." The dog listened to the two bells, yet only died by drowning and never got food; hence it says "only drowning, [with] no obtaining." Next, from "Entering the mountains" below, he compares himself to these incidents. His own numerous hindrances were like the blind men and like the dog. "Entering the mountains and emerging from the valleys" summarizes the previous eight hindrances: "entering the mountains" encompasses the seventh and eighth, and "emerging from the valleys" encompasses the first six. "Floating and falling, sailing up the river" explains the preceding phrase. The characters "floating and falling" are an error and should be "ascending and traversing." It means that in entering the mountains he ascended and traversed, and in emerging from the valleys he sailed up the river, vainly undergoing hardships and difficulties without hearing this scripture. The "Rhapsody on the Northern Expedition" in the *Wenxuan* says: "Mounting and traversing the ridges, I ascended and descended." The commentary says: "'Ridges' and 'mounds' are all hills and mountains." The *Zuozhuan* says: "Wu was about to sail up the river to enter Ying." The *Erya* says: "Going up against the current is called *sùhuí*; going down with the current is called *sùyóu*." The *Zilin* says: "Following the current is called *yán*; going against the current is called *sù*. *Sù* is pronounced with the fanqie *sū-gù*." From "The sun having [set]" below, he adduces a metaphor to lament his master's passing into extinction. The sun is a metaphor for the master's understanding being round and bright; sinking behind the cliff is a metaphor for the master's entering quiescence. "Cliff" means a mountain. The *Huainanzi* says: "The sun sets into Yanzi." The commentary says: "It is also called Mount Luotang." The blind turtle is a metaphor for his lacking the eye of wisdom; the ocean floor is a metaphor for profound delusion. Fascicle 16 of the *Saṃyuktāgama* says: "[The Buddha] addressed the monks: 'Just as in the great ocean there is a blind turtle whose lifespan is immeasurable kalpas, and once every hundred years it pops its head up. There is also a floating piece of wood with only a single hole, drifting on the ocean waves, blown east and west by the wind. The blind turtle emerges once in a hundred years to meet this hole. When the turtle reaches the east of the ocean, the floating wood may reach the west of the ocean; wandering around like this, though they miss each other, they might yet meet. For a worldling drifting in the ocean of the five destinies to regain a human body is far more difficult than this.'" Here, that text is borrowed to illustrate how difficult it is to encounter a sage master. "Relying on the light and longing for the wood": a person in the middle of the night wishes to rely on sunlight to examine things; a turtle dwelling at the bottom of the ocean vainly dreams of floating wood on which to rest its body. These are unobtainable; hence he says, "How could it be obtained?"