維摩經略疏 7.31

7.31

From "Furthermore, what you ask, Virtuous One" below is the second [part]: answering [why there are] no attendants. This expresses that the purity of nature is forever free of craving and views; hence it is said that there are no attendants. Just as the attendants of worldly people wait on both sides and are driven in service, the various kinds of attendants precisely symbolize this. The text has two [parts]: first, the direct answer; second, the explanation. First, the direct answer states, "All māras and heterodox practitioners are my attendants." The intention of this answer is that the Great Being originally takes māras and heterodox practitioners as attendants; now the empty room has no attendants, expressing that the Land of Eternally Quiescent Light is free of craving and views, and thus without māras and heterodox practitioners—hence there are no attendants. Yet the meaning of having attendants is that if one responds to beings possessing craving and views in the three lands, these are māras and heterodox practitioners. When Vimalakīrti transforms and employs them, they become buddha-work that benefits sentient beings; this is the meaning of having attendants. If the beings possessing craving and views in the three lands are identical to emptiness and nonexistent, this is the meaning of having no attendants. Since there are beings possessing craving and views in all three lands, Vimalakīrti manifests residence in all these lands, and thus there are attendants. If in the defiled Co-dwelling Land, there are Māra Pāpīyas's retinue and beings belonging to craving—these are the attendants on the right side; the six teachers with their ninety-six varieties and beings belonging to views—these are the attendants on the left side. Why is this so? In the defiled Co-dwelling Land, Vimalakīrti manifests various bodies: not abandoning craving, he may act as a demon king to tame his retinue and make it a buddha-work; immovable in views, he may act as a heterodox practitioner to turn the deviant toward the correct and tame his retinue to make it a buddha-work. This is using beings formed of craving and views as attendants. Manifesting in the pure Co-dwelling Land is also like this, except there are no evil māras or heterodox practitioners. If there are views and craving in the Land of Remainder, the beings of the two vehicles and the bodhisattvas of the Shared Teaching born there possess dhyāna-concentration and wisdom: dhyāna-concentration is the nature of craving, and wisdom is the nature of views. These are still the sinful defilements of the past karma of craving and views; therefore they do not see the Tathāgata's pure land. Vimalakīrti responds by being born there to share their craving and views, subduing and transforming them so as to make it a buddha-work; these are the attendants. For bodhisattvas of the Distinct and Perfect [Teachings], although they have merit and wisdom, they have not yet seen the buddha-nature and have not yet severed fundamental ignorance: this is unconditioned craving and views, and what is formed by it is still māras and heterodox practitioners. Although their Land of Transformative Birth has no heavenly māras, it has the māra of delighting in saṃsāra, for defilement with nirvāṇa is precisely craving, and because of craving there is the retribution of transformative birth, which is itself māra. Although it is free of heterodox practitioners outside the principle of the truth of emptiness, it has heterodox practitioners outside the principle of the Middle Way. The Great Being does not abandon craving, remains unmoved in views, and transforms and saves them—he precisely takes them as attendants. In the Land of Retribution, from the first abode onward, although they see the true reality and completely sever the views and thoughts of the dharma-realm, they have not yet exhausted them; even up to the Dharma Cloud [stage], there are still subtle cravings and views, and thus they are bound by the delusion of the non-self wheel, and one grade of the māra of death remains. For their sake, Vimalakīrti manifests birth in that land, subduing these bodhisattvas formed of craving and views to make them his retinue; this is what is meant by "they are all my attendants." In the ultimate Land of Quiescent Light, the dependent retribution caused by various karmas is forever exhausted; hence it is said to be "empty and having nothing." The direct retribution caused by craving and views is forever absent; hence it is said to be "without attendants." The empty room without attendants distantly symbolizes this.