大般涅槃經疏 18.6

18.6

From the passage beginning with "Good son, when a bodhisattva abides in this stage" onwards, it second broadly discriminates knowledge and vision. That knowledge and vision are vast and far-reaching is precisely due to emptiness and quiescence; it is also illuminating directly through quiescence. The text comprises four [parts]: first, explaining knowledge and vision; second, non-attainment; third, harmonising and integrating; and fourth, concluding praise. Illuminating directly through quiescence, it therefore explains knowledge and vision; being quiescent directly through illuminating, it therefore has non-attainment. Since attainment and non-attainment are non-dual in their nature, it therefore harmonises and integrates them. This Dharma is extraordinary, and is therefore praised. The first section has three parts: first, knowing thirteen phenomena; second, obtaining eight kinds of knowledge and vision; and third, obtaining four unobstructed knowledges. The first text states: "Practice is mind; conditions are objects." Nature is internal; characteristics are external. That which is close is the cause; that which is distant is the condition. From "Furthermore, knowing yet not seeing" onwards, it secondly explains the eight kinds of knowledge and vision: (1) knowing what is not the case, (2) knowing what is the case, (3) knowing common practice, (4) knowing cause and effect, (5) knowing the transformation of obstacles, (6) knowing the buddhadhātu, (7) knowing the two truths, and (8) knowing the two wisdoms. Knowing the non-Buddhist heterodox teachings is knowing what is not the case. Knowing retribution of good and evil is knowing what is the case. Knowing permanence, impermanence, the four virtues, and so forth, is knowing common practice. Seeking the Great Vehicle is knowing the cause. Arriving at the other shore is knowing the effect. Body, precepts, mind, and wisdom are knowing the transformation of obstacles. The buddhadhātu has three [applications]: first, based on ordinary beings; second, based on the ten abodes; third, with reference to the buddhas. Neither knowing nor seeing is knowing the real [truth]; both knowing and seeing is knowing the conventional [truth]. Generous giving and so forth is knowing the provisional; not seeing that which is given and so forth is knowing the real. From "Kāśyapa said to the Buddha" onwards, it thirdly explains the four unobstructed knowledges. This also has two parts: first the question, and next the answer. The answer has three parts: first, the proposition; second, the explanation; and third, the critical analysis. The first is as in the text. The subsequent explanation has five [aspects]: first, explaining in terms of conventional truth; second, explaining in terms of the supramundane; third, explaining in terms of non-attachment; fourth, explaining by way of similes; and fifth, explaining in terms of past causes. First, regarding the explanation in terms of conventional truth: "phenomenon" (dharma) means knowing phenomena and the names of phenomena; "meaning" (artha) means knowing the meaning beneath phenomena and the meaning beneath names; "expression" (nirukti) means clear and elegant sounds, distinct and ringing; "eloquence" (pratibhāna) means the ability to adapt and transform without end and without limit. The *Treatise on Following Characters* determines the written characters and is skilled at recognizing the forms of characters. The *Treatise on Correct Sounds* corrects speech and expressions, distinct and articulating precisely. "Chanda" is the *Treatise on Verses* (dharmapada), also called "harmonized sounds", like chanting hymns in harmonized sounds. Héxī says: It is the sound of chanting and singing in this land. It is also said: It refers only to external, non-Buddhist texts. This is not necessarily entirely so; it refers to the sounds of verses common to both internal and external texts. From "Furthermore" onwards, next is the explanation in terms of the supramundane, which is knowing that the meanings of the three vehicles all return to one. Third is the explanation in terms of non-attachment, which has two parts: first the explanation, and next the dialectical discussion. Others say this is an explanation dispelling graspings, but now according to the intent of the objection it is taken as an explanation of non-attachment. From "Kāśyapa" onwards is the dialectical discussion, with first the question and next the answer. First, the sense of Kāśyapa's objection is that knowing is precisely attachment; the Buddha answers that it is precisely because of non-attachment that one knows. Fourth, in the explanation by way of similes, it first adduces six similes to explain the unobstructed understanding of phenomena, and then points back to the six similes to explain the unobstructed understanding of meaning. As for the earth bearing [things], it bears sentient beings and non-sentient beings. The *Śrīmālādevī Sūtra* says: "The great earth bears four heavy burdens, namely mountains, oceans, grasses and trees, and sentient beings." That [text] is broad, while this is brief. Mountains are taken for weighing down the earth, and the earth is taken for steadying the mountains, as they mutually uphold each other. As for the eye being able to hold light, there are two explanations: Ulūka posits that when the light of the eye unites with the mind, it can see; this is borrowed as a simile. The second says it does not borrow a non-Buddhist meaning: the eye possesses the matter of the pure four great elements, and due to external light it can see. From "Good son, a bodhisattva" onwards, fifth is the explanation in terms of past causes.