大般涅槃經疏 14.5

14.5

Next, from 'The bodhisattva cultivates and regulates' downward, this is the second part, jointly clarifying the fruit of the precepts. If one discusses the cause of retribution, it ought to incur the fruit of retribution, proximately evoking superior retributions of humans and devas; if one discusses the cause of habituation, it incurs the fruit of habituation, remotely evoking the eternally abiding dharmakāya. Here, being neither proximate nor remote, taking the Immovable Ground (acala-bhūmi) as the fruit, the old traditions offer three explanations: (1) one says that the eighth of the ten grounds is the Immovable Ground; (2) one says that the achievement of true understanding on the first ground is named the Immovable Ground; (3) one says that based on the Daśabhūmika Sūtra, śīla is correlated with the second ground, so what is here called 'immovable' is the second ground. Now I explain that this is not so. Above, the gradual and non-gradual practices were jointly clarified, distinguishing them as above. Now, discussing their fruit synthetically, one must grasp the realized path, and the place of the realized path is identical. Saying that the place is identical means precisely the first ground. If one were to clarify the fruit solely in terms of the gradual three trainings, then entering into principle is named 'abiding' (vihāra); abiding is immovable, so the ten abodes are the fruit of the precepts. From abiding, merits arise, which is called 'practice'; practice takes sovereign ease as its meaning, so the ten practices are the fruit of concentration. The ground can give birth and support without fear; the ground is the fruit of wisdom. This is the sense of the gradual. If one clarifies the fruit of the precepts in terms of the perfect and complete, the first abode is it. The meaning of the text is not simple, and one should synthetically distinguish them. It is precisely because the realized path of the first ground is identical [in both] that it clarifies the fruit of the precepts, which accommodates both meanings; when it comes to the explanation itself, its meaning will become apparent. The text of the explanation is fourfold: marking, analogy, explanation, and conclusion. First, marking, as in the text. Next, in the analogy, it says 'immovable' and so on because it is eternal, hence immovable; blissful, hence not falling; self, hence not retrogressing; pure, hence not dispersed (and so forth). Question: The Treatise [on the Great Prajñāpāramitā] says, 'Unmoved by the eight winds, yet when the vairambhā wind arrives, crushed like rotten grass.' What about this? Now we take ordinary times; the unmoved by the vairambhā [refers to when] the treatise takes the end of the kalpa. Third, from 'Bodhisattva' downward, the explanation has three iterations: The first iteration is in terms of the three truths. If one speaks of forms, sounds, scents, and tastes, these are wholesome fruits within conventional truth. If one speaks of the hells and so on, these are unwholesome fruits within conventional truth. Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are persons within ultimate truth. Heterodox views and deviant winds are dharmas within ultimate truth. The wholesome and unwholesome of saṃsāra, and the persons and dharmas of nirvāṇa, are none of them able to move, cause to fall, cause to retrogress, or disperse [one]; this reveals that the ground of the fruit of the precepts of the middle way is eternal, blissful, self, and pure. The next iteration is in terms of the three obstacles to reveal the three bodies. The three poisons are the affliction obstacle; the four pārājikas and slandering the Dharma are the karma obstacle; retrogressing from the precepts and returning home is the retribution obstacle. When the retribution obstacle is removed, the dharmakāya is revealed; when the karma obstacle is removed, the nirmāṇakāya is revealed; when the affliction obstacle is removed, the saṃbhogakāya is revealed. If one reaches the first ground, the three bodies manifest before one, and the three obstacles are all eliminated. The third iteration is in terms of the four virtues: unmoved by the affliction māra is the virtue of purity; not fallen by the skandha māra is the virtue of bliss; not retrogressed by the deva māra is the virtue of self; not dispersed by the death māra is the virtue of eternity. The first ground being fully endowed with eternity, bliss, self, and purity as the fruit of the precepts accommodates both meanings. Fourth, from 'Good son' downward, this is the conclusion of the noble practice of the precepts.