大般涅槃經疏 22.4

22.4

From "Furthermore" below, the second part explains knowing past lives, which also has two parts: first, directly explaining past lives, and next, recollecting the past. The distinctions are to be understood based on what came before, so they will not be fully stated here in brief. From "Furthermore, how..." below, the third part re-explains [knowing] the minds of others, which also has two parts: first, horizontally knowing the six destinies, and next, vertically knowing the sixteen moments of mind. This text explains the sixteen, which conforms to the Abhidharma definition. The treatise says: "In the path of seeing, there are immeasurable moments of mind; this mind is swift and sharp, and is termed the mind of immediate succession." The *Satyasiddhi-śāstra* says: "When a śrāvaka wishes to know the third moment of mind, he only sees the sixteenth moment of mind. When a pratyekabuddha wishes to know the third moment of mind, he only sees the seventh moment of mind. Only a bodhisattva is able to know them completely." Those of the small vehicle have dull faculties; wishing to know the coming and going of the third moment of mind, and also wishing to know the subsequent moments of mind, by the time they wish to know it, it has already reached the sixteenth moment of mind. A person of the intermediate vehicle has slightly sharper faculties; wishing to know the passing of the third moment of mind, they succeed in knowing the seventh moment of mind. The bodhisattva is not like this: knowing and following them comprehensively, there is not a single moment of mind that he does not know. This is a shared doctrine among the three vehicles, in which three kinds of persons differ yet are the same. These sixteen moments of mind are not the meaning of the present sūtra. The previous knowing of the six destinies is knowing the extreme of existence; the subsequent sixteen moments of mind are knowing the extreme of non-existence. Through the essence of the middle way, which is neither existent nor non-existent, one is able to know both existence and non-existence.