大般涅槃經疏 3.5

3.5

Next, regarding virtuous conduct: Cunda was [merely one] among the count of the two Ganges [sands of beings]; why establish a distinct chapter for him? Ten distinctions are briefly explained: first, the assembly first made offerings and afterwards made their requests, whereas Cunda first made his request and afterwards made his offering; second, the assembly requested three times and the Buddha remained silent each time, whereas Cunda requested once and the Tathāgata accepted immediately; third, because of [his offering], the great assembly was accepted; fourth, through food, the permanent was revealed; fifth, he personally requested [the Buddha] to remain; sixth, he reiterated the assembly's request; seventh, he was praised by the golden mouth [of the Buddha]; eighth, he was praised by the great assembly; ninth, the dialogue took place right before the assembly; tenth, his past vows. Since the assembly lacked even one of these, how could a chapter not be established? Question: If Cunda's ten distinctions vastly surpassed those of the assembly, why did he not offer first rather than presenting [his offering] later? Answer: Offering later was yielding to the virtues of others. Formerly, five yieldings were explained: the lowly yields to the noble, the ordinary yields to the noble, the coarse yields to the sublime, the few yield to the many, and the near yields to the far. Now, in accord with the text, there should be ten yieldings: first, yielding with the secular to the religious, meaning the community of monks and nuns; second, yielding with the ordinary to the noble, meaning those in training and beyond training; third, yielding with the shallow to the deep, meaning the bodhisattvas; fourth, yielding with the lowly to the noble, meaning kings and great ministers; fifth, yielding with the manifest to the hidden, meaning devas, nāgas, ghosts, and spirits; sixth, yielding with the few and coarse to the many and sublime, meaning humans, devas, and the like; seventh, yielding with material wealth to the Dharma, which refers to Māra's hosts; eighth, yielding with one's own kind to different kinds, meaning lions, birds, bees, and the like; ninth, yielding with the near to the far, meaning the bodhisattvas of the ten directions; tenth, yielding with those dwelling near cities to the recluses, meaning the assembly of forbearant ṛṣis. The five yieldings do not exhaust the text; the ten meanings are roughly complete. Question: Why is there a difference between acceptance and non-acceptance when both in the past and in the present [the Buddha remained] silent? Answer: The Buddha's intent is difficult to fathom; now it is explained generally and specifically. Both silences, past and present, are the four siddhāntas. Among worldly people, silence may indicate acceptance or non-acceptance; the Buddha, according to the mundane world, thus manifested two silences with the difference of acceptance and non-acceptance: either it was fitting to accept silently, or it was fitting to refuse silently; both generate goodness. Wishing to generate their goodness, he therefore had two silences; destroying evil and attaining the path are also like this. The sage does nothing in vain; it cannot be measured by ordinary people. In the specific explanation: the contemporary assembly had no extraordinary condition and their connection was weak, so they could not move [the Buddha], causing them to reflect upon and reproach their past conditions; this is called the mundane silent non-acceptance. If at first he had spoken words of refusal, the subsequent offerings would have ceased; when the offerings of the assembly were fully gathered, he accepted them universally and equally; this is called the individual-adapted silent non-acceptance. Silently not accepting was to reprove their inability to use food to clarify non-eating, and that their revealing of the permanent against the impermanent lacked superior remedial power; this is called the therapeutic silent non-acceptance. If it were a physical body sustained by food, it could silently accept food; the Dharma-body is eternally [abiding], with neither eating nor accepting; this is called the ultimate silent non-acceptance. Silent non-acceptance is the realm of the Buddha; its meaning is inexhaustible; these four are merely stated in brief.