大般涅槃經疏 5.13

5.13

From "O bhikṣus, encountering an era with a Buddha is difficult" onwards, [the text] responds to the request with criticism. Xinghuang says that this comprises eight stages. This is that master's prominent exposition: first, praising the five difficulties; second, praising the departure from the eight difficulties; third, adducing the Buddha's past causes in order to establish his present fruition; fourth, stripping away their fruition as faulty; fifth, stripping away their causes as faulty; sixth, revealing the true dharmatā to encourage their present cultivation and practice; seventh, exhorting them to abandon the past and rely on the present; eighth, directly pointing out the new letter [i]. First praising and then pointing out, first stripping away and later conferring, the sequence is successfully established; with these eight stages he responds to the five criticisms. First, the five difficulties are difficult for other people, but easy for you. The eight difficulties are difficult to leave behind, yet you have been able to leave them behind; therefore, he praises them. Since he praises their leaving [the difficulties behind] and praises their attainment of the fruit of an arhat, this belongs to the beginning; and now causing you to enter the secret treasury belongs to the end. How can you say that there is a beginning but no end? Furthermore, when he says 'passed in vain,' this is correct in terms of the Small [Vehicle] but faulty in terms of the Great; therefore, it is said to be 'passed in vain.' Adducing past causes to establish the present fruition directly responds to their criticism, clarifying that the Tathāgata for long kalpas relinquished his head, eyes, marrow, and brain to seek the great nirvāṇa solely for the sake of benefiting [beings]—how could he harbor fear? As for why he faults their fruition: your fruition is illusory and false; it is not the jewel of the true Dharma, lacks morality, concentration, and wisdom, and cannot adorn the jewel city of the true Dharma. Others take the jewel city as proof that nirvāṇa is complete and round because it completely contains everything, and therefore cannot be overturned. Xinghuang says: 'Nirvāṇa is neither general nor particular, yet is termed as containing both general and particular'; this is taken to respond to his not transgressing his original vow. As for why he faults their causes: only when one gives rise to the bodhisattva mind is it called renouncing home; since you did not give rise to this mind, you have not renounced home, and your kaṣāya is merely dyed clothing and nothing more. Because you are not dyed with the true Dharma, it is not the robe of the Mahāyāna. Although you have shaved your head, you have not eliminated the fetters for the sake of the true Dharma; therefore, he reveals and exhorts to the true dharmatā. The past Hīnayāna was illusory and false; today's Mahāyāna is genuine and real. In the past, the unconditioned was taken as the dharmatā; now, wonderful existence is taken as the dharmatā. The dharmatā has never been existent or non-existent; for the sake of external conditions, existence and non-existence are spoken of. Knowing that in the past the unconditioned was taken as the dharmatā is like Kāśyapa saying: 'The body is dharmatā; how could the body remain? If the body remains, it is not dharmatā.' One should know that in the past, when the unconditioned was taken as the dharmatā, the Buddha then refuted it: cessation is not the dharmatā. For dharmatā is not an annihilated dharma; this is taken to respond to their criticism of inequality. You grasp at extinction and cessation; it is not that I am unequal. As for abandoning the past and relying on the present, this directly resolves their doubts. The doubt says: 'If you cause us to abandon the past and rely on the present, why did you not speak of it in the past?' The Buddha then explains: 'Just like the great earth, my Dharma is also like this. In treating the diseases of sentient beings, I first preached impermanence to treat your disease, and now preach permanence also to treat your disease; both the beginning and the end are for the purpose of treating disease.' As for why the new [letter] i is spoken of: having exhorted them to abandon the past and rely on the present, the secret of the new [letter] i is therefore required to settle you all and cause you to dwell within it; it is not abandoning you without showing the level path, nor is it a lack of compassion. Together, the preceding and succeeding [sections] answer the five requests with criticism. Now I clarify that this is not so: obtaining the five difficulties and leaving the eight difficulties share one and the same meaning. Why divide them into two? Simply responding to the five requests with criticism right within the reprimand fully provides the textual meaning; what need is there to trouble with eight stages together to answer them? Therefore, [that theory] is not adopted.