涅槃玄義發源機要 2.3

English (machine translation) 2.3

Language: English

2.3.1

Second, from "His treatise" downward, it evaluates the text of the treatise according to the four propositions. That treatise has in total nine refutations and ten expositions, making nineteen sections in all. What is now criticized consists of its subtle words and essential expressions excerpted from the above memorial of the ruler of the Qin, as well as the first [section], "Opening the Tenet," and the second, "Examining the Substance." None of them exceeds the four propositions, and hence they are cited in an intermingled fashion without forming a sequential order. Now, first, the text will be indicated and correlated, and next, its meaning will be elucidated. Within the initial proposition of existence, the first part is from the text of "Opening the Tenet." From "If there were no" downward, it is from the memorial. Within the subsequent proposition of non-existence, the first two sentences are from the text of "Opening the Tenet," which reads fully: "I have once ventured to state: As for the Way of nirvāṇa, it is serene, empty, and vast," and so forth. The single sentence below "How could there be" is from the text of the memorial, which reads fully: "Since it is called nirvāṇa, how could there further be any room for names within it?" Within the proposition of both [existence and non-existence], the sentence "Only in indistinctness and obscurity is there an essence within it" is language from the memorial; the remainder is language from "Opening the Tenet." The proposition of neither [existence nor non-existence] is entirely from the text of "Opening the Tenet." From "Yet wishing" downward, it reads fully: "This is indeed a realm of imperceptibility, a domain of the profoundest mystery; yet to wish to use existence and non-existence as labels to demarcate its territory and speak of its spiritual path—is this not exceedingly remote?" Next, in explaining the meaning: from "emerging and dwelling" to "provisional designation," abiding in the world with remainder is called "emerging," and entering extinction without remainder is called "dwelling"; these are both manifestations of birth and death shown in response to capacities. Since they have no real substance, they are both provisional designations. From "If there were no" downward, these were originally the words of the ruler of the Qin, criticizing the various masters who, in interpreting the ultimate truth, all held that it was vast, empty, and quiescent, without any sage. Therefore, Sengzhao adduced it: if the ultimate truth were vastly empty without a sage, who would know the ultimate truth? Since there is one who knows, this verifies that there is a sage. Hence that text says: "It is truly as the enlightened decree states." From "If there were no" downward, Master Sengzhao expands upon and clarifies the intention of the ruler of the Qin. The sage forgets conceptualizations, and in motion and stillness accords with the Way; hence it says "traveling with it." Regarding "this is the proposition of existence": since there exists a person capable of knowing and capable of traveling, how could this not be the proposition of existence? Regarding "this is the proposition of non-existence": since there is neither form nor name, nor is it known by a mind that conceives of existence, how could this not be the proposition of non-existence? Therefore, "it cannot be grasped as existing": this is "also non-existent." "It cannot be grasped as non-existing": this is "also existing." Huang means existing; hu means non-existing. Yao means secluded; ming means dark. That is to say, existence and non-existence are unfixed, secluded, dark, and difficult to fathom; hence it is called "indistinct and obscure." Although it is said to be difficult to fathom, there is a numinous luminosity and awareness whose marvel thoroughly endures; hence it says "there is an essence." Indistinct and obscure is "also non-existent"; having an essence is "also existing." Because the five aggregates are eternally extinguished, it is "also non-existent"; because the subtle spirit is inexhaustible, it is "also existing." Regarding "existence and non-existence are terminated within": being vacuous and unchanging, it cannot be deemed existent, and therefore existence is terminated; its supreme efficacy ever endures, and therefore non-existence is terminated. From "Designations" downward: since the substance of nirvāṇa terminates existence and non-existence internally, designations are obliterated externally. From "Seeing and hearing" downward, it explains the two sentences above. Because designations are externally terminated, it is beyond the reach of seeing and hearing in the two realms; because existence and non-existence are internally terminated, it cannot be fathomed by the formless [realm] and the four immaterial [attainments]. Labels refers to names. Territory refers to the principle-substance. Regarding "is this not exceedingly remote?": if one clings to existence or non-existence, one is very far from the Way. From "However, its" downward, it determines the treatise's intention according to the four teachings. Regarding "The text says" and so forth: "Opening the Tenet" states, "Extinction and salvation refers to great affliction being eternally extinguished and transcending the four currents." Not involving what is outside the realms means merely crossing the four currents of desire, existence, views, and ignorance within the realms. Not extinguishing the affliction of nirvāṇa means it merely takes the body of the aggregates to be the great affliction. From "Distinguishing differences" downward: since that treatise belongs to the Mahāyāna and yet is neither the separate nor the perfect [teaching], now, tracing the text of "Distinguishing Differences," one knows that it belongs to the shared teaching. "Distinguishing Differences" is the ninth chapter. Regarding "the unconditioned is one": it says, "Because they equally emerge from birth and death, they are identically termed the unconditioned." From "This is because" downward: it says, "The various paths of the three vehicles all have distinctions by reason of the unconditioned. This threefoldness is threefold in relation to the unconditioned; it is not that the unconditioned has three." From "The Tathāgata" downward: it says, "The Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā states: 'Does nirvāṇa have distinctions?' Answer: 'There are no distinctions. It is only that the Tathāgata has completely exhausted defilements and residual habituations, whereas the voice-hearers have not yet exhausted residual habituations.' I request to use a proximate metaphor to illustrate this remote purport: like a person cutting timber, removing a foot leaves no foot, and removing an inch leaves no inch; length and shortness lie in the feet and inches, not in the absence." The present master cites this, perhaps with some wording altered. Some editions have "voice-hearers have exhausted defilements but not residual habituations," which adds the character "exhausted" below "defilements." Regarding "lies in the feet and inches, not in the absence": feet and inches illustrates the shallowness or depth of the three vehicles; absence illustrates the oneness of the principle of nirvāṇa. From "Although both" downward: the other shore is nirvāṇa; the rising and falling is the three vehicles. By means of the ineffable path refers to the shared prajñā of the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā. Regarding "strikingly apparent" (xian, phonetic shi-xian): the Shangshu states, "Just now gathering and manifesting the artisans." Kong Anguo says, "Jiu means gathering; xian means manifesting." From "Now, the shared" downward, it criticizes Sengzhao's four faults, in the sequence of the text. Regarding "stooping to pull up the branches and twigs": Sengzhao says, "Looking upward to climb the mysterious root, stooping to pull up those lost in weakness." The first line is seeking above, and the second line is transforming below. Principle is the root of the Way, hence called the "mysterious root." An infant losing its hometown is called "lost in weakness." Skillful means and virtues being slight is called an "infant." Inherent suchness is called the "hometown." Now determining his intention, it therefore says "it is indeed" and so forth. Regarding "This obliterates sorrow and joy" and so forth: a person of the shared [teaching] thoroughly realizes that illusory transformations are identical with emptiness; therefore, sorrow, joy, and so forth are all completely obliterated. Equating light and darkness means that wisdom is light and delusion is darkness. Regarding "not engaging in the great or small": the commentary below explains, "This is an infant of the separate teaching, meaning that not committing the five heinous crimes is called not engaging in the great, and not giving rise to the mind of the two vehicles is called not engaging in the small. Here, making it an infant of the shared teaching does not let the letter harm the meaning: because of realizing identity with emptiness, greatness and smallness are eliminated. Metaphorizing it as an infant, following the intention of the chapter below, is merely harmonizing one's light to benefit beings, enabling sentient beings to see. The bodhisattva conforming to their initial learning is called 'infantile conduct'; this is manifesting conformity with humans and devas. All those prior to the stages of abiding in the three teachings as well as the perfect [teaching] are called infants. Now, evaluating the Zhaolun, it is merely an infant of the shared teaching." It is illustrated by the three animals crossing the river: because the three vehicles all realize nirvāṇa yet their wisdom has depth and shallowness—as the text is recorded in the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā and the twenty-first fascicle of the present sūtra—then the voice-hearer is like the hare, the pratyekabuddha is like the horse, and the bodhisattva is like the elephant. The metaphor of ash and severance is recorded in the Dazhidulun: "The voice-hearer severs the primary afflictions like burning wood into charcoal."

2.3.2

[For] pratyekabuddhas, the residual habituations are affected, like burning charcoal to ash. For bodhisattvas, both are completely exhausted, like having neither charcoal nor ash.' That its tenet lies in other sūtras means that it embodies the phenomena according to the shared teaching, not the present perfect and sudden [teaching]. Below, 'all' means that the bodhisattvas of the lower three teachings and the arhats of the tripiṭaka and shared [teachings] all shatter their partial doubts and together become perfect Buddhas. Below, 'the Buddha opening' means: since opening the shared teaching makes it identical to the perfect, why further establish a shared meaning? 'The deaf and blind' refers to those whose capacities were unripe in the Lotus Sūtra and had not yet been liberated, who were rebuked as deaf and blind; attaining awakening at present, they are all perceptive. 聵 (fanqie: wu + guai) means deaf. To rebuke the old and reveal the new means: the old is the inferior three cultivations, while the new is the superior three cultivations. Below, 'waves stir' uses the parable of losing the pearl in the spring pond from the 'Lamentation Chapter'. Broken tiles and gravel symbolize the lesser principle; the circular moon, which is the pearl, symbolizes the perfect principle; detailed explanations are as in the Commentary and Notes. When Zhao explained the perfectly integrated nirvāṇa of the present sūtra using the principle realized by the three vehicles of the past teachings, how was it different from seizing gravel for a pearl? 'Main rope' is the great rope at the top of a net; therefore, when the main rope is in order, the meshes are straight; when the main rope is missing, the meshes collapse. The great meaning of nirvāṇa is compared to the main rope; the nine refutations and ten expositions are like its meshes. When the meaning of nirvāṇa is ruined, what do the refutations and expositions rely on? Hence it is said: 'Where can they lodge?' Below, 'grasping the Buddha' refers to the skillful means of the past teachings, which the Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra and the Nirvāṇa Sūtra had already rebuked as provisional; hence it is said that they are 'discarded'. As for the ten expositions: that [work] has nineteen sections in total, and is named 'nine refutations and ten expositions'. 'Refutations' are interrogative objections. 'Expositions' are answering explanations: namely, 1. Opening the Tenet, 2. Examining the Substance, 3. Determining the Position of Substance, 4. Inquiring into Origin, 5. Transcending the Objective Sphere, 6. Searching for the Profound, 7. The Wondrous Existing, 8. Objections to Differences, 9. Discerning Differences, 10. Reproaching Divergence, 11. Reconciling Divergence, 12. Interrogating Gradualness, 13. Clarifying Gradualness, 14. Ridiculing Movement, 15. Movement and Quiescence, 16. Exhausting the Source, 17. Penetrating the Ancient, 18. Investigating Attainment, and 19. Profound Attainment. Among them, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19 are expositions; the remaining nine are refutations. 'Ultimately not the three virtues' means that the discourse of the ten expositions only clarifies the nirvāṇa of the past teachings, and is ultimately not the perfectly permanent three virtues. Below, 'now it is said' is where our master properly clarifies the meaning of 'nirvāṇa is nameless'. Please examine the text and investigate the import: comparing it to Master Zhao, even the vast distance between road and Milky Way or the sheer disparity between a mountain and the tip of a hair cannot serve as a comparison. Superiority and inferiority are clearly distinct, like [looking at] one's palm; it is not merely subjective bias. First, he cites the three virtues to explain nirvāṇa; next, he separates from the nine realms to explain namelessness. The six destinies together with the three vehicles of the three teachings combine to form the nine realms. 'From what is separated,' etc., means: what is separated is the nine realms; that which can separate is the Buddha-realm. It is because it lacks the names of the nirvāṇa of the nine realms that it is called nameless, whereas it possesses the names of the three virtues of the Buddha-realm. Hence we know that for the four characters 'nirvāṇa is nameless' (nie pan wu ming), the first two reveal that which can separate, and the latter two clarify that which is separated; being framed in terms of the relativity of the subject and object [of separation], it pertains to the gate of existence. 'Identity of all names with namelessness' means: the very names of the nine realms are themselves the namelessness of the Buddha-realm; hence it is said to be 'precisely nirvāṇa'. This is framed in terms of absolute transcendence, so it pertains to the gate of emptiness. 'Nirvāṇa is not four' means: the three and the one interpenetrate; how could the four characteristics remain? One must know that the four gates are simply the three contemplations: being identical to emptiness, names are precisely nameless; being identical to the conventional, it does not depart from the names of the nine realms; being identical to the middle, double illumination is the affirmation of both, and double negation is the denial of both. One should understand that the ten realms, the single mind, and the three contemplations completely integrate and encompass the import of 'nirvāṇa is nameless', not departing from one's own heart-mind, clearly present before one's eyes. Why rely on the nine refutations and ten expositions to speak in such a roundabout manner? Hence it is named 'objectless' because it does not take either of the two extremes as an object. Below, 'now also' means: lacking the names of the six destinies, it does not take sentient beings as an object; lacking the names of the four noble [realms], it does not take phenomena as an object; possessing the name of the secret treasury, it takes the Tathāgata as an object. 'How much more so the lower stages,' etc., means: if even the Buddha-eye and Buddha-ear do not see or hear, how could the remaining four eyes and four ears be able to see or hear? Question: Do the Buddha-eye and Buddha-ear truly neither see nor hear? Answer: Seeing is devoid of the characteristic of seeing; hearing is devoid of the characteristic of hearing; hence it is said 'neither see nor hear'. 'Great compassion and skillful means' refers to establishing provisional names in accordance with the capacities of the four modes of siddhānta. Stirring a tree and raising a fan symbolize names and characteristics; the moon symbolizes the true principle. Below, 'the text says' refers to the text of the twenty-first [fascicle]. Tilavāyī: the commentary says it is a quail, having two names for one sound. Below, 'Treatise on Great [Wisdom]' refers to the text in the forty-sixth [fascicle] of the treatise. 'Further establishing the five aggregates,' etc., means: unpacking mind forms the five aggregates; unpacking matter forms the twelve sense-bases; unpacking both mind and matter forms the eighteen dhātus; therefore, these three categories do not exceed matter and mind, [just as various timbers do not exceed] maple and nanmu. Below, 'or again' refers to various names listed throughout the sūtra text. That which cannot be swept away by the four floods of desire, existence, views, and ignorance is named an 'islet' (zhōu-zhǔ). The Erya says: 'A habitable place in the water is called an islet (zhōu); a small islet is called a zhǔ.' That which can shelter from the evil wind and rain of afflictions is named an 'abode'. Because the perfect dharma all-inclusively embraces, it is the 'perfect practice'; just like consuming milk-gruel leaves no further need, being the utmost supreme, it is compared to ghee. Because it can prop up the icchantika's perfect faith, it is compared to a 'staff'. Hence the thirty-fourth [fascicle of the] sūtra says: 'This sūtra can serve as a staff for an icchantika, just as a frail person can stand up by leaning on it.' Because it illuminates the breaking of precepts like a bright mirror, the sūtra says: 'This sūtra is precisely a bright mirror for beings who break the precepts.' Just as an earthly mirror reflects various visible forms, it is called a 'bright mirror for breaking precepts'. Certain editions add a character under the word 'for' (wéi), which is incorrect. Below, 'inconceivable' explains the meaning of the metaphor of empty space. Being identical to emptiness and the middle, it is ungraspable like empty space. Pervading all, it is unobstructed like empty space. Below, 'Great Treatise' says: the provisional designations of sentient beings and the actual phenomena of the five aggregates are both designations in the causal stage. Since they extend to the ultimate fruit, by analogy we know that the designation of the fruit of nirvāṇa also extends to the causal stage; hence we know that all ten realms are spoken of as peaceful and joyful. Below, 'names are neither within,' etc., means: not being within is non-emptiness; not being without is non-existence; the intermediate is the affirmation of both; always self-identical is the negation of both. 'This character does not abide' means that the four natures are ungraspable, which is called emptiness of nature. 'Nor does it not abide' means that this emptiness is also empty, which is called emptiness of characteristics. 'Nirvāṇa is also thus' means: Buddhas and bodhisattvas are the persons who abide; nirvāṇa is the dharma that is abided in; since the person is already twofold empty, how could the dharma not be likewise? Person and dharma are non-dual, their essential nature has no difference. 'Seeking them combined is also ungraspable' means that even being endowed with the three virtues is not nirvāṇa. This clarifies that the three virtues, whether endowed [together] or each [apart], are devoid of fixed characteristics; therefore, seeking them separately or seeking them combined are both ungraspable—only then is it named nirvāṇa.

2.3.3

From "Therefore the Great Treatise" downward, verses from the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra* in praise of prajñā are cited to prove seeing and not seeing, seeking separately and seeking together, being both bound and both liberated, thus demonstrating that the statement that nirvanic reality does not abide [in either] means liberation through not seeing. In "If a person..." and so on, giving rise to views regarding dharmas is called being bound by seeing, while being bewildered about dharma-marks is called being bound by not seeing. Giving rise to views in accordance with dharmas is called obtaining liberation through seeing, and the mark of absence of seeing in [such] views is called liberation through not seeing. The dharmakāya and liberation are each analogized to prajñā to form the four phrases; hence it says "is also like this." From "For example" downward: the essence of an illusion is originally empty, so it cannot be seen, yet it has color and form, so it is seen. Seeing what cannot be seen allegorizes liberation through seeing; not seeing what can be seen allegorizes liberation through not seeing. "Merely using conventional names to guide sentient beings" means provisionally establishing the names of the secret treasury and the three virtues to make sentient beings awaken to the principle beneath the names and realize that names are not [ultimate] names—which is the great compassion of shaking the tree and raising the fan. From "For example, an empty fist" downward, the successive matching with the four siddhāntas can be understood. Delighting them with the new letter *i* means that when the great capacity is stirred with joy, this is the benefit of rejoicing. Leading them forward means evoking the great good. Breaking it means shattering the former lesser evil. Awakening them means awakening them to the fact that the small is identical with the great. If there is nothing, then there is no severance: if one conceptualizes nothingness, how could severance ever be achieved? "It is not even the meaning of the Small Vehicle": because the two vehicles of the shared teaching, right in the midst of existence, penetrate emptiness and realize nirvāṇa. The great fragrant elephant and so on are from the text of the "Chapter on Grieving and Lamenting." Halter and bridle: the leather straps binding a horse's head are called a halter. The *Shiming* says, "A halter means examination." It is used to examine, hold, and rein in. In "a tiny stir of thought": *jie* (tiny) means subtle and faint. The "Xici" of the *Book of Changes* states: "Regret and remorse lie in the stir of a tiny thought." In "Since [thoughts] are not severed..." and so on: the mind is the root of speech. Yangzi's *Fayan* says, "Words are the voice of the mind; writing is the drawing of the mind." "This is the cultivation of the path where language is cut off" refers to the expedient path of the internal worldlings of the Small Vehicle. The clear arising of patience regarding suffering refers to the first among the sixteen minds of the path of seeing: patience with the dharma of suffering and knowledge of the dharma of suffering. Briefly mentioning the path of seeing implicitly includes the path of cultivation, because both paths are true realizations. In "at the time of death in conventional truth": the shattering of views and desires is called death in conventional truth. From "Pointing to this" downward: citing the inferior to contrast with the superior. If the inferiority of the Tripiṭaka can already sever the persons and dharmas of the six realms, how much more so the superiority of the Mahāyāna of the other three teachings! From "However, upon entering" downward: about to clarify the meaning of the shared [teaching], the Tripiṭaka is first criticized. In "Because ultimate and conventional are different": because in the Tripiṭaka, phenomena and principle are separated, when entering contemplation one unites with the ultimate, which is severance, but when leaving contemplation one enters the conventional, which is non-severance. Unlike the practitioner of the shared [teaching] for whom phenomena and principle are mutually identical, so that whether entering or leaving contemplation there is complete accord with severance. From "If one can" downward: directly clarifying the meaning of the shared [teaching]. The first two phrases are the words of the *Zhao lun*, because what the *Zhao lun* expounds belongs solely to the shared [teaching]. In "Is it far?": it means it is not far. The first phrase clarifies dharma: conventionality is directly the ultimate, so the Path is not far. The next phrase clarifies persons: worldlings are directly sages, so the sage is not remote. In "Neither severed nor unsevered": all are like illusory transformations, hence there are no dual marks. The expedient path is the stage of nature. In "Empty wisdom accords": from the stage of seeing upward, all are called accord. From "Vimalakīrti" downward: this is the text where the heavenly maiden admonishes Śāriputra. In "Ignorance has not been vomited out": below, in the "Chapter on Grieving and Lamenting," the [practitioners of the] two vehicles say to the Buddha: "In the past, intoxicated by desires and forms, we revolved in birth and death like a drunkard lying in filth. The Tathāgata should now bestow upon us the medicine of the Dharma to make us vomit out the bad wine of afflictions. If I have not yet awakened, how can I be abandoned?" In "spinning the sun and moon": it also says, "Like that drunkard who sees the sun and moon above, which do not actually spin, and imagines them spinning; sentient beings are also like this: covered by afflictions and ignorance, they give rise to inversions, conceptualizing non-self as self and even conceptualizing suffering as pleasure, just like that drunkard imagining spinning where there is no spinning." In "Like a malaria patient": it also says, "Like a malaria patient meeting a good doctor and having his suffering relieved: I am also like this. Though meeting the Tathāgata, the fever of improper livelihood has not yet been cured, and I have not attained supreme, secure, eternal bliss." From "Contrasted with the realms" downward: a concluding indication of the sūtra's intent. Although the shared delusions within the realm are eliminated, the distinct delusions beyond the realm remain entirely; hence it says residual habits are not exhausted, ignorance has not been vomited out, and so on. In "Practicing with the mind of great nirvāṇa": using the understanding of the exclusive Middle, one cultivates the five practices in gradual sequence, completely traversing the ten distinct virtues. The five practices pertain to cultivation and the ten virtues pertain to realization, but they also mutually apply to both cultivation and realization. Here, speaking provisionally in terms of the teaching path prior to the bhūmis, both pertain to cultivation; this means exclusively seeking the true realization of great parinirvāṇa at the first bhūmi while cultivating the practices prior to the bhūmis. In "No longer having a mind within the realm" and so on: the mind within the realm is the wisdom analyzing and embodying [emptiness]; the teachings within the realm are the Tripiṭaka and shared teachings. "Such expedients" are the thirty minds of the separate teaching. In "Yet not yet united with the Middle": partial realization at the first bhūmi is considered uniting with the Middle. In "What was previously unattained" and so on: previously, at the worldly stage, one could not realize the wisdom of the Middle; now, hearing of the wisdom of the Middle, one does not sever ignorance. In "Now severing ignorance and cultivating with stages like steps on a ladder" and so on: looking back at causes from the perspective of the fruit, this is criticized as sequential steps like ascending a ladder, leaving extremes to seek the Middle like a meandering river. The tenth fascicle of the sūtra says: "All rivers inevitably have bends." In "The arousal of the mind cannot pervade the dharma realm": having faith in the inherently existing nature, it is only aroused upon [reaching] the fruit; hence, sequentially extinguishing the nine [realms] to reveal the Buddha-realm, failing to penetrate that the nine are directly the Buddha, is called non-pervasive. In "Not the supreme expedient": the thirty minds of the separate [teaching] are not the expedients of the harmonious, consummate resemblance [stage]. In "Above the expedient there is a further expedient": above the expedients of the separate teaching, there are also the expedients of the internal worldling of the perfect teaching. From "If the perfect" downward: comprehensive clarification of perfect severance. In the text, principle, practice, and teaching are all severed. First, clarifying severance of principle. In "all minds are the dharma realm": all minds are the minds of the nine realms; realizing that the deluded minds of the nine realms are directly the true principle of the three truths, it is called the dharma realm. In "There is no other dharma realm": as when contemplating the hell mind, the principle of the three truths is fully endowed and the three thousand [realms] are completely subsumed without remainder; apart from this mind there is no other dharma. When contemplating any mind arising in the nine realms, it universally subsumes them in the same way; hence it is called the single, unique dharma realm. From "Also like" downward: clarifying practice. From "Also like" downward: clarifying teaching. The continent of Aparagodānīya allegorizes the teaching. Pointing directly to phenomena as principle is like entering straight into the sea. The tenth fascicle of the sūtra says: "In this great trichiliocosm, there is a continent named Godānīya; on that continent there is a river, straight and without bends, named Śvabhra, which enters the western sea like a straight cord."

2.3.4

"From "Severing expedients" downward: directly explaining expedients. First, severing the partial to reveal the perfect. In some editions, there is an extra character "severing" under "severing expedients," which is an error. From "As the sūtra says" downward: general establishment based on the sūtra. From "Tripiṭaka" downward: distinct indication according to the teachings. "All nets of doubt" are the partial doubts of the three teachings. In "Rather give rise to a net of doubt": *ning* (rather) is an expression of preference. Because doubt is the ford to understanding, if one does not give rise to a doubtful mind, how could understanding arise? Hence the "Kāśyapa Chapter" says: "If a person gives rise to a doubtful mind regarding this, they can shatter afflictions like Mount Sumeru." Therefore, we know that those who cling to the small as definitive have no way to enter the perfect. In "in the expedient path": this refers to the contemplation-practice and resemblance [stages]. From "This is the perfect" downward: concludes into the four gates. In "The gate of both existence and non-existence": one being three is both existence; three being one is both non-existence. Inconceivable means neither three nor one, so it belongs to the gate of double negation. From "If it is said" downward: the opening, displaying, awakening, and entering of the true path refers to the forty stages of true causes. The golden probe allegorizes the nirvāṇa teaching. The cataract on the eye allegorizes ignorance. The three fingers allegorize the three truths. In "This is called ultimate severance": contrasted with the preceding expedients, the partial revelation of the true causes is comprehensively called ultimate; it does not explicitly designate sublime enlightenment. In "Yet not a single word": words are transformed from the mind; words are directly the mind. Because the mind is empty, words are empty; hence throughout the entire dharma realm, not a single one can be apprehended. The mind filling [all] is analogized similarly: the mind has no fixed characteristics and arises according to conditions; following defiled conditions it gives rise to the minds of the nine realms, while following pure conditions it gives rise to the mind of the Buddha realm. Although defiled and pure differ, they are only the one mind; because mind-nature is obliterated, there is not a single thought. From "However, the sūtras" downward: citing various sūtras to corroborate. In "Moreover, the bodhisattvas speaking of speech" and so on: the thirty-two bodhisattvas each spoke of the dharma gate of non-duality, which is speaking of the teaching that explains principle; hence it is called "speaking of speech." Vimalakīrti held his tongue, directly revealing the principle of severance. Mañjuśrī praised Vimalakīrti, saying: "Quiescent without words, this is truly entering non-duality." This is using words to explain the principle beyond words: neither severed nor unsevered. Like the four gates of the separate [teaching], it is neither the severance of the Tripiṭaka and shared teachings nor the non-severance of the six realms. The former fire-wood refers to a firebrand. Grass allegorizes what is severed; wood allegorizes that which severs. Next, from "General conclusion" downward: showing that the preceding five layers all establish their meaning based on the sūtra, not in vain; hence citing the sūtra to reveal the gates and subsume the five meanings. This is apparent in the text. "Same name" means the general name. In "The four are gates": nirvāṇa is the principle entered; the four statements are the gates that can enter it. From "Like Indra" downward: Indra allegorizes principle, and the thousand names allegorize the gates. In "Nirvāṇa is a name" and so on: it is also because people designate names by fixing essences and establish titles to manifest virtues. In "Cannot be made empty again": the meaning is that nirvāṇa is subtle existence. In "Endowed with the two designations of continuity and relativity": as explained before. In "This is the meaning of being identical with the ultimate": because it is identical with the ultimate, it is not completely the same as conventional truth. In "Yet not united with the ultimate": because it is not united with the ultimate, it is not completely the same as the ultimate truth. Therefore, it differs from the positions established by the three previous masters.

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涅槃玄義發源機要 — Classical Chinese