維摩義記 2.10

2.10

From here below is the second [part], instructing on the deportment of guarding against faults. "Entering a village with the thought of an empty village" instructs on leaving the perception of persons when entering a village. Contemplating the village as having no persons is therefore called "empty". Entering a village often gives rise to fetters regarding men, women, and so on; hence he instructs on cultivating emptiness. From "the sights seen" onward, he instructs on leaving the perception of dharmas when going begging. When begging for food, one often generates various fetters regarding the six sense-objects; hence he instructs on guarding against and leaving them. However, in this text, the antidotes for the six objective realms are each distinct: for the realm of sight-objects, he instructs on contemplating the emptiness of the sense-faculty as the antidote; for the realm of sound-objects, he instructs on contemplating the unreality of the realm as the antidote; for the realm of scent-objects, he instructs on assimilating them to coarse phenomena as the antidote; for the realm of taste-objects, he instructs on leaving the mind of grasping as the antidote; for the realm of touch-objects, he instructs on leaving both the grasper and the grasped as the antidote; for the realm of dharma-objects, he instructs on contemplating the emptiness of the realm as the antidote. Constructing it in this way is all permissible; based on these six, he instructs people on multiple remedies, with implicit and explicit differences in discussion. First, saying "seeing visible forms as equal to the blind": a blind person lacks the sense-faculty and does not cling to visible forms. The practitioner should be like this: contemplating the eye's nature as empty, like the blind who lack the faculty and do not grasp at forms. Thus the text below says: "If one knows the nature of the eye, one is without greed, without anger, and without delusion toward forms"; the rest should also be like this. Saying "sounds heard are equal to an echo": an echo is unreal and non-existent, with nothing to be covetously grasped. Contemplating sound as like that, unreal and without substance, with nothing to be covetously grasped; the rest should also be like this. Saying "scents smelled are equal to the wind": the phenomenon of wind is floating and coarse, and people mostly do not cling to it. Contemplating scent as like that, do not give rise to greed and clinging; all the rest should be like this. Saying "tastes eaten are not differentiated": a ladle has no mind; although it is in various tastes, it does not generate differentiation. The practitioner should be like this: one should be like a ladle, eliminating conceptual thought and not generating differentiation; all the rest should be like this. Saying "experiencing various tangibles is like realization through wisdom": when wisdom realizes dharmas, it does not see one's own mind as the grasper, nor does it see the preceding realm as the grasped. The practitioner should be like this: knowing that the body's nature is empty and lacks that which senses, and also contemplating the realm as empty and lacking that which is sensed; therefore it is like realization through wisdom; the rest should also be like this. "Knowing dharmas to be like illusions, without self-nature or other-nature" instructs on contemplating the emptiness of nature. An illusion has no fixed nature; dharmas resemble this illusory dharma in lacking substantial entity, which is called "having no self-nature". Within this illusory dharma, there is also no reality falsely imputed to a self or person, which is called "having no other-nature". "Originally not burning, and now also not extinguished" instructs on contemplating the emptiness of characteristics. Like the dharmic characteristics of causes and conditions in those illusory transformations, they are completely empty and quiescent; not only are they without nature, their characteristics also do not exist. Because they are signless, no dharma can be born, hence originally not burning; no dharma can be exhausted, hence now also not extinguished. Furthermore, knowing them to be like an illusion clarifies that dharmas are not non-existent. Having no self-nature and so on reveals that dharmas are not existent; having no self- or other-nature clarifies that they do not exist by nature. Originally not burning and now also not extinguished clarifies that they do not exist by characteristics. The meaning is as explained before. Furthermore, knowing the characteristics of dharmas to be like an illusion clarifies understanding conventional truth. Having no self-nature and so on clarifies understanding ultimate truth. Having no self- or other-nature is the ultimate truth of the emptiness of nature. Originally not burning and now also not extinguished is the ultimate truth of the emptiness of characteristics. This is also as explained above. Contemplating dharmas being like this, the remaining sense-objects are analogous. The above is the second [part], instructing on the deportment of guarding against faults at the time of begging for food.