大般涅槃經疏 20.6

20.6

From "What are the ten?" downwards is the second [major division], which is the section-by-section explanation. First [the question] is raised, and next comes the main explanation, forming ten chapters. The older masters differed in dividing this. [Master] Yěchéng made it into two cycles: the first virtue is hearing what has not been heard, going from shallow to deep, with the sixth virtue, the vajrasamādhi, constituting one cycle; the seventh virtue begins with generating the mind anew, up to the tenth virtue, which is practicing the thirty-seven factors [of awakening] and seeing the buddhadhātu, constituting another cycle. Kāishàn made it into three cycles: the first cycle is as before; the seventh and eighth form the second cycle, meaning that arising from a good friend is the external condition; the ninth and tenth form the third cycle, meaning that obtaining through faith is the cause. We now say: if we look at the meaning of the three cycles explained in the Lotus Sūtra—first the Dharma, next the parables, and later the causes and conditions, all repeating the earlier meaning, hence called three cycles—here the names and meanings of the virtues are perpetually different, so how could they be like the three cycles? We take them simply as ten [distinct virtues]. The initial passage has three parts: first, clarifying the five matters; next, debating their meanings; third, the conclusion. The initial passage also has three parts: first, listing the five headings; next, enumerating them; third, the detailed explanation. The older masters explained the five matters as the three wisdoms: the first is the wisdom of hearing, the second is the wisdom of contemplation, and the latter three are the wisdom of cultivation. Some say: the first two are the two wisdoms of hearing and contemplation, the middle two are the functions of hearing and contemplation, and the last one is the wisdom of cultivation. [Master] Xīnghuáng took the first one as the root and the latter four as mutually completing it: through hearing, benefit is gained; due to benefit, doubts are severed; because doubts are eliminated, [the mind] becomes upright; because it is upright, it knows the secret. We now clarify that this is not so. The three wisdoms belong to the semblance path, whereas this text clearly discusses realization: by cultivating the great nirvāṇa, one gains the ten virtues, and the true realization is brilliantly clear. One cannot even explain it using the separate, true path, so why explain it using the semblance path shared with the lesser [vehicle]? That departs even further from the text. Xīnghuáng took the five dharmas as depending on one another in succession; this too is not so. Now, when entering realization in the mind, it is no longer a matter of before and after, nor of a time of non-practice, let alone still having a sequence at the time of realization! Where the text clearly speaks of realization, they interpret it as cultivation; where the text clearly speaks of the unshared, they interpret it as shared; where the text clearly speaks of hearing what was unheard, they interpret it as hearing from another; where the text clearly speaks of the inconceivable, they interpret it as conceivable; where the text clearly speaks of the secret, they interpret it as manifest; where the text clearly speaks of the complete and consummate, they interpret it as partial and deficient; where the text clearly speaks of astonishment and wonder, they interpret it as ordinary; where the text clearly speaks of non-differentiation, they interpret it as differentiated; where the text clearly speaks of the middle way, they interpret it as the exhaustion of the extremes. If one relies on the text, there are not these ten faults; one does not know why they resist the Buddhist sūtra (and so on). I privately inquire of later scholars: please look at the text of the five dharmas of the first virtue. "Hearing what has not been heard" still partakes somewhat of the mark of the cause, but the four beginning with "having heard, one attains benefit" are entirely terms belonging to the fruit. Since the first predominantly establishes names of the fruit, even if the remaining nine resemble cultivating causes, they are nonetheless practices within the central [realization]. When Zhāng'ān laid down the words about "more and less," his intention was also like this, up to a close examination of the text of the nine lines, which all accord with both cultivation and realization. Therefore we know: in all commentaries on sūtras, whether one examines the text to draw out the meaning, or determines the text based on the meaning, if it is otherwise, then one will vaguely interpret the text and inevitably incur many errors. The detailed explanation of the five dharmas itself comprises five parts. The initial explanation of "hearing what has not been heard" has three parts: the presentation, the explanation, and the conclusion. Presenting "hearing what has not been heard" refers to the marvelous awakening of perfect realization; giving rise to understanding is called "hearing," not receiving it from another. If it were hearing from another, that would be hearing what is heard—how could it be hearing what has not been heard?