大般涅槃經疏 1.10

1.10

三、釋名者。道不孤運，待時處伴。今涅槃時到而面門啟照，隨類發聲，駭悟感動會此拘尸。緣牽曰召，招致曰請。眾有權實，實者可召，權者宜請。五十二眾十方奔集，咸為顯發大般涅槃，故名召請涅槃眾也。佛於無量阿僧祇劫，修習難得大涅槃藏，本無祕吝，但不盡能受，所以初用毒塗後以水洗，前同末異，伺機時待。因純陀獻供，施常色力。因比丘請住，斥偽談真。慇懃勸問，迦葉承旨。隨問施與使無遺滯，法雨充溢滿拘尸城，故名開演涅槃施也。然祕藏淵凝非行不到，善巧方便示現令前，所之右脇而臥，默無所說示現病行。迦葉推請，乃加趺融懌說三指一。菩薩奉行五行十德，是故名為示涅槃行。然涅槃以義浩然無盡，欲舉一蔽諸，若指醎淡海，故專問佛性聯翩六重，佛一一酬名涅槃義。然佛性之體非善非惡，善惡雙用彌滿無涯，且囊括梗概以略該廣，用善則羅云被攝，用惡則善星堪收，二子既然，餘皆可例。又體非邪正，邪正雙用，用正則始攝陳如五人，用邪則終收邪徒十外。初後既爾，中亦例然。名涅槃用。

Third, as for explaining the names: The Way does not move in isolation; it awaits the time, the place, and companions. Now, the time of nirvāṇa having arrived, the Buddha opens the illumination of his mouth and emits sounds according to each class of beings, startling and awakening, moving them to assemble here at Kuśinagara. Pulling by conditions is called 'summoning'; attracting and causing to arrive is called 'inviting'. Assemblies consist of the provisional and real: the real can be summoned, and the provisional should be invited. The fifty-two assemblies rush and gather from the ten directions, all to reveal the great parinirvāṇa; therefore it is named 'summoning and inviting the nirvāṇa assembly'. Through immeasurable asaṃkhyeya kalpas, the Buddha cultivated the difficult-to-attain treasury of the great nirvāṇa. Originally having no secret miserliness, beings simply could not all receive it; therefore, he first applied poison and later washed with water, identical at first but different at the end, awaiting the faculties and time. Through Cunda's offering, he bestowed permanence, physical appearance, and strength. Through the bhikṣus' request to remain, he denounced the false and discussed the true. Exhorting them earnestly to ask questions, Kāśyapa received the instruction. Bestowing according to what was asked so that nothing was left remaining, the Dharma rain filled and overflowed Kuśinagara; therefore it is named 'expounding the donation of nirvāṇa'. However, the profound stillness of the secret treasury cannot be reached without practice; through skillful means he manifested it to bring them forward. Where he went, he lay on his right side and remained silent without speaking, manifesting the practice of illness. Kāśyapa pressed and invited him, whereupon he sat cross-legged, delighted and relieved, preaching the three and pointing to the one. Bodhisattvas practice the five practices and ten virtues; therefore it is named 'manifesting the practice of nirvāṇa'. Furthermore, the meaning of nirvāṇa is vast and inexhaustible. If one wishes to take up one aspect to cover them all, it is like pointing to the salty ocean as flat; therefore, the sūtra specifically inquires into buddhadhātu six times in continuous succession, and the Buddha replies to each one; this is named the 'meaning of nirvāṇa'. Furthermore, the essence of buddhadhātu is neither good nor evil, yet the dual function of good and evil pervades without boundary. Summarizing the essentials to cover the broad with the brief: employing the good, Rāhula is gathered; employing the evil, Sunakṣatra can be reined in. The two sons being such, the rest can be analogized. Moreover, the essence is neither heterodox nor orthodox, yet both heterodox and orthodox are employed: employing the orthodox, he initially gathered the five men including Kauṇḍinya; employing the heterodox, he ultimately reined in the ten heterodox outsiders. The beginning and the end being so, the middle is also likewise. This is named the 'function of nirvāṇa'.