注維摩詰經 5.58

5.58

道融曰：眾生受癡故有愛，有愛故受身，受身則病，以彼病故則我病生矣。眾生有病而我病生者，明為物故生毘摩。為物來久，故知不近也。下言彼病滅則我病滅，明其起病不齊限眾生也。新學菩薩未能久處生死，為一切起病，故明大士曠懷處疾。推其前際以發心為始，尋其後際則與眾生俱滅，新學聞之局心自曠。病生滅二句，言雖在病，意在明悲，故但說病生滅久近。久近既明則大悲自顯，是以先答生滅、後答大悲起也。此集以明宗為本，而先說大悲者，有二門入佛法：一大悲、二智慧。階淺至深，弘之有漸，故先說大悲、後說實相也。什公作空解云：癡無前際，無前則亦無中後。病亦如是，無久近也。此中不似有空義，故別記私通如上。肇曰：答久近也。菩薩何疾？悲彼而生疾耳。群生之疾，癡愛為本；菩薩之疾，大悲為源。夫高由下起、疾因悲生，所以悲疾之興出于癡愛，而癡愛無緒莫識其源，吾疾久近與之同根。此明悲疾之始，不必就己為言也。生曰：夫現疾之意，欲拔眾生無始癡愛、盡其無窮之源。雖我今生而實無我今生，意存彼昔義，乃是彼昔病。然則病起於有癡愛之時，非適今也。不以一切言之者，今答病久，義不在普故也；然汎云癡愛，普亦在其中矣。又不以眾生言之者，菩薩無復癡愛，居然有屬故也。

Daorong says: Sentient beings undergo delusion, and therefore have attachment; having attachment, they take on a body; taking on a body, they fall ill; and because they are ill, my illness arises. That my illness arises when sentient beings are ill shows that Vimalakīrti arose for the sake of living beings. Since he has come for beings for a long time, we know it is not recent. Below it says that when their illnesses are extinguished, my illness will be extinguished, which clarifies that his undertaking of illness is not confined to a limited group of sentient beings. Newly trained bodhisattvas are not yet able to dwell in saṃsāra for a long time and take on illness for all beings; hence he clarifies the mahāsattva's vast mind in abiding in illness. Traced back to its prior limit, it began with the initial aspiration; traced to its subsequent limit, it is extinguished together with sentient beings. When new trainees hear this, their narrow minds naturally broaden. Though the two clauses on the arising and extinguishing of the illness speak of illness, their intent is to illuminate compassion; thus he only speaks of the duration of the arising and extinguishing of the illness. Once the duration is made clear, great compassion naturally reveals itself; therefore he first answers regarding arising and extinguishing, and afterward answers regarding the arising of great compassion. This compilation takes clarifying the essential principle as fundamental, yet he speaks of great compassion first because there are two gateways into the Buddha-Dharma: first, great compassion, and second, wisdom. Proceeding from the shallow to the deep, propagation has its stages; therefore he speaks first of great compassion and afterward of the true mark. Master [Kumāra]jīva explains it in terms of emptiness, saying: 'Delusion has no prior limit; having no prior limit, it also has no middle or end. Illness is also like this, having no long or short duration.' In this passage there does not seem to be the meaning of emptiness, so I note my personal understanding separately as above. [Seng]zhao says: This answers the question about duration. What illness could a bodhisattva have? It is only out of compassion for them that he contracts an illness. For the illness of living beings, delusion and attachment are the root; for the illness of a bodhisattva, great compassion is the source. The high arises from the low; illness arises because of compassion. Thus, the arising of the illness of compassion stems from delusion and attachment; and since delusion and attachment are beginningless and their source cannot be discerned, the duration of my illness shares the same root with them. This clarifies the beginning of the illness of compassion, and does not necessarily speak solely of himself. [Dao]sheng says: The intention of manifesting illness is to uproot the beginningless delusion and attachment of sentient beings and exhaust their inexhaustible source. Although it arises in me now, in reality there is no arising in me now; the intent resides in their past, so it is essentially their past illness. Thus the illness arose at the time when there was delusion and attachment, not just recently. He does not speak of 'all' because in answering the duration of the illness now, the meaning is not universal; yet by speaking generally of delusion and attachment, the universal is already contained within it. Nor does he speak of 'sentient beings' because the bodhisattva no longer has delusion and attachment, so it naturally belongs to them.