淨名玄論 5.12

5.12

Question: In general there are the two cognitions of the five periods: First, illuminating phenomena among concrete events is provisional, and discerning the principle of the four truths is real; this is the two cognitions of the Tripiṭaka teaching. Second, illuminating true emptiness is real, and discerning conventional existence is provisional; this is the two cognitions of the Pañcaviṃśati teaching. Third, knowing the illness and recognizing the medicine is real, and administering the medicine according to the illness is provisional; this is the two cognitions of the Vimalakīrti teaching. Fourth, illuminating the single non-vehicle is real, and discerning the three vehicles is provisional; this is the two cognitions of the Lotus teaching. Fifth, illuminating eternal permanence is real, and discerning the impermanence of saṃsāra is provisional; this is the two cognitions of the Nirvāṇa teaching. What was explained above was merely an exposition of the purport of the Pañcaviṃśati teaching; how can it be used to explain the central doctrine of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra? Answer: As for the theory of the five periods and the treatise on the four doctrines, the masters' own minds departed from the scriptures and compromised their meaning; this has already been detailed in the past and will now be stated briefly. Upon examination, within a single sūtra all five texts are completely present; one does not need to wait from beginning to end for all the cognitions to be fully provided. For instance, as the Pañcaviṃśati clarifies by broadly expounding the teachings of the three vehicles, bodhisattvas universally train in all paths: this is recognizing that discerning the principle of the four truths is real and illuminating phenomena among concrete events is provisional; therefore, within the Pañcaviṃśati teaching there are the two cognitions of the Tripiṭaka. Prajñā discerning emptiness and upāya engaging with existence: the ninety chapters of the sūtra abundantly discuss this teaching, which is the two cognitions of emptiness and existence. The exposition in the "Definite Chapter" citing the purport of the Lotus [Sūtra] is the two cognitions of the three and the one. The "Dharmodgata Chapter" explains that the form body of all buddhas has coming and going, while the dharmakāya has no coming and going; this is the two cognitions of permanence and impermanence. Knowing the illness and recognizing the medicine is present in all sūtras without need of mention. Therefore, the single sūtra of the Pañcaviṃśati contains all five [pairs of] two cognitions; how could one say that it is restricted only to the provisional and real of emptiness and existence? How are all the cognitions present in the Vimalakīrti Sūtra? The chapter "Inquiring about Illness" states: "Regulating oneself through the three emptinesses is wisdom; purifying lands and transforming people is upāya"—these are the two cognitions of emptiness and existence. The "Disciples Chapter" clarifies that the Buddha's body is asaṃskṛta and does not fall into any categories, which refers to the root's eternal permanence; yet, merely to appear in the five defilements, he expediently manifests illness, which is the impermanence of the traces. Illuminating this root and traces is the two cognitions of permanence and impermanence. The Dharma gate of nonduality clarifies that the śrāvaka's mind and the bodhisattva's mind are nondual, which is the one vehicle; clarifying the great and the small as dual is called the three vehicles—these are the two cognitions of the three and the one.