大般涅槃經疏 6.13

6.13

Third, from "Then the monks" onward is the section resolving doubts regarding the teachings. The text has two parts: first, restating [the past position], and second, refuting it. First, the restatement fully contains the past teachings, practice, function, and principle: "as the Buddha previously taught" is the teaching; "and practicing" is the practice; "leaving behind arrogance and so on" is the function; "entering nirvāṇa" is the principle. Since practice and principle have already been refuted, the momentum of the words supports one another, but the primary focus is on the teaching: "If the past teaching was right, the present one should not be wrong; if the present teaching is right, why was it not spoken earlier?" and so forth. In the refutation, there are two parts: first, praising and questioning, and second, answering. The answer also has two parts: first, the parable, and second, the application. The parable has four parts: 1) the parable of the disease of the four inversions, 2) the parable of the medicine of the three cultivations, 3) the parable of the disease of the three cultivations, and 4) the parable of the medicine of the four virtues. In the first, there are six points: First, the diseased person is the king: inwardly dark concerning permanence and purity, outwardly displaying the power of a self, greedily seeking pleasure—this is the diseased person. Second, the master who maintains the inversions: non-Buddhists clinging to permanence and purity are "recalcitrant," and clinging to self and pleasure are "deceitful"; he is the master of false disease. Third, faith in and acceptance of false inversions refers to generously bestowing emoluments out of faith in false arts. Fourth, exclusively using milk-medicine is the inverted medicine: white color is permanence, sweet flavor is pleasure, unctuous moisture is the self, and being called medicine is purity—this is the false medicine. Fifth, he also does not know of himself that this is false. Sixth, from "this king" onward, he also does not recognize his disease. That the king does not discern is that the diseased person does not recognize that it is a disease of inversion. Having briefly correlated these, we re-explain the text. "King" takes governing as its meaning: just as one who receives conversion also has disciples, this is compared to a king. Ignorance is darkness; clinging to pleasure is dullness; worldly wisdom is having little wisdom. The physician is compared to non-Buddhists: in truth they cannot cure disease, yet they forcibly make demands of sentient beings. The Chunqiu Zuo Zhuan says: "A heart that does not emulate virtue and righteousness is 'recalcitrant'; a mouth that does not speak of loyalty and trustworthiness is 'deceitful.'" Non-Buddhists are also like this: inwardly without true understanding, outwardly without skillful speech. "Emoluments" refers to converted sentient beings making offerings to non-Buddhists. "Exclusively using milk-medicine" generally indicates few medicines for many diseases, neither knowing the medicine nor the disease. "Not knowing the source of the disease's arising": sentient beings' three poisons and eight inversions are due to grasping at marks, and grasping at marks is conditioned by ignorance; what they do not know is not knowing the disease. Although knowing milk-medicine, this is not knowing the medicine. The Buddha provisionally speaks of the self; they mistakenly grasp at identity or difference, suddenly saying it is blue, white, yellow, or black, and so forth. "Wind, cold, and heat diseases": administering medicine misses the proper mark. Wind is compared to anger, cold to delusion, and heat to craving. That "this king does not discern" means that not only does he not know the medicine, he also does not know the disease. Next, that "there was then a skilled physician" is a parable for the medicine of the three cultivations. The text has three parts: first, explaining the skilled physician; second, the conditions for treating the disease; and third, the actual treatment of the disease. In the first passage, the skilled physician understands the eight arts: 1) curing the body, 2) curing the eyes, 3) curing the fetus, 4) curing children, 5) curing wounds, 6) curing poisons, 7) curing demonic influences, and 8) knowing the stars. Inwardly, this corresponds to the Buddha knowing the eightfold noble path and being able to cure the disease of the eight inversions, and so on. Now, discussing physicians generally, there are ten kinds: The first treats disease only by increasing it without decrease, sometimes causing death; this is the non-Buddhist of nihilistic views. Indulging in evil dharmas, once wholesome dharmas have perished, the wisdom-life also dies. The second treats disease with neither increase nor decrease; this is the non-Buddhist of eternalist views. Throwing themselves from cliffs or leaping into fires, they do not give rise to dhyāna-concentration and cannot sever the fetters. The third only decreases without increasing; this is the worldly physician: once what was treated has healed, it flares up again; this is the non-Buddhist who severs fetters. The fourth treats disease such that having healed it does not flare up, but what is treated is not all-encompassing; this is the two vehicles. The fifth, although able to be all-encompassing, lacks skillful arts; this is the bodhisattva of the six perfections. The sixth treats without pain and affliction, but cannot treat one who is certain to die; this is the shared bodhisattva. The seventh treats difficult-to-heal diseases, but cannot treat all diseases simultaneously; this is the distinct bodhisattva. The eighth can treat them simultaneously, but cannot restore them to their original state; this is the perfect ten faiths. The ninth can treat them simultaneously and restore them to their original state, but cannot make them surpass the original state; this is the perfect middle-mind. The tenth can treat them simultaneously and also make them surpass the original state; this is the perfect later-mind. The skilled physician here is the tenth physician: penetrating the double flight of the two birds of permanence and impermanence and so on constitutes the eight arts. Next, from "At this time, the old physician" onward, are the conditions for treating the disease. There are two parts: first, similarities, and second, differences. The similarities are threefold: 1) similar karmic birth, 2) similar study, and 3) similar conditions for conversion. In the first, similar karmic birth, this shows the Tathāgata being born in the royal palace, taking a consort, and fathering a son, yet sentient beings did not know to consult and accept him, but instead gave rise to arrogance, as in the text. Second, similar study: riding in a goat cart to learn writing, practicing martial arts in the rear garden, taking off the crown and sending away the horse, going to Ārāḍa [Kālāma], six years of asceticism, and so on. As for "forty-eight years," the Madhyama Āgama says: "Studying under a non-Buddhist, one must first serve him for forty-eight years, and only then is the teaching imparted." The lineage master said: From the time the Buddha appeared in the world, it was altogether some fifty years. Only from the Lotus Sūtra onward up to the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] did he first clarify the long-standing origin; the teachings of the previous three periods only clarified attaining Buddhahood in this body without a separate original body. However, the respect between master and disciple must last one's whole life, which means he was still a disciple of the non-Buddhists; hence it says forty-eight years. From the Lotus Sūtra onward, there is a separate original body; only in the remaining two years was he no longer his disciple. This explanation is too loose. Furthermore, Kāishàn says: forty refers to the four dhyānas, and eight years refers to the eight attainments. The six-fascicle [version] says "forty-eight years." Yěchéng says: each of the eight dhyānas has six practices—repelling the coarse, painful, and obstructive below, and reaching for the superior, subtle, and liberated above—making forty-eight in total. According to the Tiāntái Zhǐguān, the four views are the root: each view has three provisionalities, each provisionality has four propositions; one view has twelve propositions, and the four views together make forty-eight propositions; these are the forty-eight years of false teachings. Third, "together entering to see the king" is the similarity in conditions of conversion. However, non-Buddhists truly lack the wisdom to discern capacities, and false teachings arose first; hence it is said to be similar. Next, from "At that time the visiting physician spoke to the king" onward, are the subsequent differences. There are again two parts: first, minor differences, and second, sudden differences. In the first passage, "medical prescriptions" refers to, for example, expounding the five precepts for Trapuṣa and the three refuges for Bhalika. "Technical skills" refers to supernatural powers, as explained in the Ruìyìng. "Governing the country and curing diseases": turning false to right through the three refuges is compared to governing a country; the five precepts curing the five evils is compared to curing disease. Furthermore, the refuges and precepts are both able to overturn falsity and cure evil. At that time, when the king heard this, it was turning to the right; driving [the old physician] out of the country was abandoning the false and following the right. From "the visiting physician" onward, are the sudden differences. There are again two parts: first, sudden difference in discerning capacity, and second, sudden difference in setting forth teachings. In the first, discerning capacity, there are questions and answers, though in reality there was not an explicit twofold exchange. First, requesting a wish is solely discerning the capacity for the initial teaching. Next, that the king immediately answered is the tacit matching of faculty and conditions. "A part of the right arm": the movement and readiness of the right hand is compared to the impermanence and suffering in the initial teaching. That it "would be ready for the remaining parts of the body" is compared to subsequent capacities and teachings all being compliant; this already indicates the intention for the great capacity. Another explanation: the right arm is compared to the view of self, and the remaining parts to the various afflictions. Making this explanation is convenient for the initial teaching. When that visiting physician says, "I dare not do too much," this is re-discerning the capacity, requiring only the single capacity for the initial teaching. "Doing much harms and damages": the self gives rise to afflictions and obstructs many things; if hearing the right teaching one still grasps at a self, one will sever the head of wholesome roots. "Premature death": severing afflictions through understanding is the end of life; obscuring understanding through afflictions is called premature death. Below, "The king then replied," sentient beings receive conversion. Further transmitting what has not been heard means that the superior, middling, and inferior all attain awakening. Next, from "At that time the visiting physician" onward, is the actual dispensing of teaching. Here, raising the five flavors refers to the five gateways of contemplation: pungent is compared to impurity, bitter to non-self, salty to impermanence, sweet to emptiness, and sour to suffering, and so on. Third, from "Not long afterward" onward, is the actual curing of sentient beings giving rise again to the disease of impermanence. Previously, refuting false permanence, he taught the teaching of impermanence. Sentient beings did not understand, firmly clinging that everything is impermanent, which again became a disease. For example, a foolish person takes a deer to be a horse; a wise person tells him, "This deer is not a horse." Although knowing that a deer lacks a horse, he still grasps at non-existence as a horse. Where is there non-existence that is a horse? Therefore, the absence of a horse is the disease. Giving rise to the inversion of impermanence again has many kinds: first, asserting that the Buddha-fruit is impermanent—this disease is easy to see; second, asserting that saṃsāra is impermanent—this disease is hard to see. Why? Saṃsāra is itself true, permanent buddhadhātu; since they assert it to be impermanent, how could this not be a disease? The text says "The king again contracted a disease," which is the disease of sentient beings. The text has two parts: 1) the actual arising of the disease, and 2) faculties and conditions calling upon the Buddha. The first is as in the text. Next, from "immediately summoned this physician" onward, faculties and conditions call upon the Buddha, like sending an envoy to summon the physician. The old version says, "I am now severely ill, exhausted and in pain, on the verge of death." Fourth, from "The physician diagnosed the king's disease" onward, expounds the present medicine of the four virtues of true permanence. The text has four parts: 1) speaking to them provisionally, 2) sentient beings not accepting it, 3) the Tathāgata speaking again, and 4) sentient beings finally accepting it. The first passage again has four parts: 1) direct explanation, 2) opening the provisional, 3) revealing the real, and 4) medicine and disease countering each other. The first is the Tathāgata directly expounding permanence for them. Next, from "I previously..." onward, is opening the provisional. The old version says, "Severing milk-medicine was a great lie." The present sūtra, having been revised, merely says, "Formerly it was not true speech," clarifying that the past was provisional expediency, an explanation that was not ultimate. Third, from "If you now consume it" onward, is revealing the real, which reveals the present teaching of permanence and pleasure. Fourth, from "The king now suffers from heat" onward, is medicine and disease countering each other. Impermanence is compared to fire, which can burn the world; hence it says "suffering from heat." Now, the medicine of perfect permanence is like the flavor of milk, able to cure heat disease.