涅槃玄義發源機要 2.3.2

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.