大般涅槃經疏 9.10

9.10

Regarding rectifying others, the text has four parts: first, rectifying others through joy; second, rectifying others through non-self; third, rectifying others through permanence and bliss; fourth, rectifying others through the supreme truth. In the first passage, knowing, he deliberately asks. Causing you joy—is this not the mundane [siddhānta]? Subduing the worthy and noble with impermanence and non-self to make them generate roots of goodness—is this not the individual [siddhānta]? Supramundane permanence and bliss refuting worldly impermanence—is this not the therapeutic [siddhānta]? Entrusting the treasure to a good son when wishing to travel afar is the supreme truth [siddhānta]. Tracing the text to harmonize the meaning, the principle is exceedingly clear. In nursing an infant with milk, one may only let it taste butter; soft and hard food are both inadmissible. Rectifying others is also like this: from subtle to prominent, one rectifies them gradually. A woman being able to give birth exemplifies friendliness as the root of goodness. The infant exemplifies initial faith. Nursing with milk at birth exemplifies hearing the Dharma to nourish oneself. Tasting butter exemplifies praise and joy. Indulgent praise and beauty further worsen into sickness, hence it says, 'Giving the child too much butter, will it not shorten its life?' One must not give even too much butter, let alone hard or soft food! If joyful indulgence obstructs the Path, how much more so generating goodness and applying remedies; therefore one must deliberate. Tasting butter exemplifies the mundane [siddhānta], hence the text says, 'The Tathāgata speaks truly to make me joyful.' Furthermore, the woman's mind is suspicious that having too much butter prevents listening to the Dharma, so the Buddha explains it to enable her to focus her mind; this is the mark of rectifying others. Furthermore, when the infant is slightly older, milk is moderated and food is given; this exemplifies urging progress to generate various merits, which is the individual [siddhānta], the text saying, 'He also speaks of impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self.' Furthermore, when the child grows older and can walk on his own, even hard food is digested, how much more so soft milk; this exemplifies merits becoming somewhat prominent, capable of enduring cutting, polishing, censure, and remedy, hence the text says, 'The supramundane three tastes break the worldly three tastes.' Furthermore, when the child is grown, entrusted with the estate and shown the treasure, this exemplifies generating goodness and breaking evil being complete, returning to the source and joining the ultimate to enter the supreme truth, hence the text says, 'One should entrust the treasure house to a good son.' Inferring from this sūtra text, one must apply the four siddhāntas. Regarding rectifying others through joy, the text has five parts: first, the woman's silent thought; second, the Tathāgata's deliberate inquiry; third, the woman praising the Buddha; fourth, asking whether the Dharma is little or much; fifth, concluding her joy. There are four traditional explanations. One says: while he was directly expounding the Dharma, this woman came. A second says: this is not so; the Buddha was already eighty years old at that time and addressed the woman as 'sister'; how could an elderly sister nurse an infant? It must cite a past event. A third says: the Buddha manifested as a woman, just like manifesting as a youth. A fourth says: there was no such woman at all; it is a hypothetical allegory. From 'the World-Honoured One is thus' onwards is rectifying others by generating goodness. Traditionally, these words were used to match the analogy above. It is also said that the woman addressed the Buddha as the World-Honoured One, or said that the Buddha called himself the World-Honoured One. Now, taking this text to conclude what preceded and introduce what follows: whether digested or not concludes what preceded; speaking of impermanence and so forth introduces what follows. The text has three parts: first, concluding the preceding joy; second, from 'also speaks' downwards is directly generating goodness; third, from 'if the Buddha' downwards examines those incapable of bearing the remedy (and so forth). From 'again told the woman' onwards is rectifying others through the therapeutic [siddhānta]; the text has two parts: first, restating incapability; second, explaining the remedy, using the supramundane three tastes to counter and break the worldly three tastes. Salty, sour, and bitter are the retributive tastes of ordinary beings; impermanence, suffering, and non-self are the tastes of the path of the worthy and noble; ordinary and noble together are called the worldly three tastes. Sweet, pungent, and bland are also the retributive tastes of ordinary beings; permanence, bliss, and self are the tastes of the supramundane path; together they are called the supramundane three tastes. This has a distinct meaning (and so forth). From 'again told the woman' onwards is rectifying others through the supreme truth; the text has two parts: first, taking the three siddhāntas as the bad son to whom the treasure house is not entrusted; later, the supreme truth is called the good son to whom the treasure house is immediately entrusted. Because it is not entrusted to śrāvakas, the ultimate truth is not taken as the supreme truth. Furthermore, taking śrāvakas as generating goodness, since it is not exclusively Mahāyāna, this is small and great shared in common to constitute the four siddhāntas. 'One should know that this family then has a Buddha': 'Buddha' has the meaning of permanence and also the meaning of awakening; awakening is the meaning of understanding. This person understands permanence, therefore his family has a Buddha.