維摩經義疏 3.3.2

3.3.2

"Upa-" is the name of a constellation (nakṣatra); "tiṣya" followed his father's name, hence he was called Tiṣya. "Śāri" means "body" (śarīra), which was his mother's name; because her eyes resembled those of a śāri bird, she was called Śāri. "-putra" means "son", denoting the "son of Śarīra" (Shenzi). Not receiving his name from his father but taking his appellation from his mother was due to two causes and conditions: First, his name was established from a past vow. Śākyamuni in the past made the vow: "May I have a right-hand disciple when I become a Buddha named Śāriputra." Second, the woman was brilliant and intelligent, rare in the world; the people of that time held his mother in high esteem, and therefore he was called Śāriputra. / "Śāriputra addressed the Buddha, saying: 'World-Honoured One, I am not capable of going there to inquire after his illness.'" This is the second [section], declining as incapable. In terms of the text, there are three parts: first, stating the incapability; second, explaining the incapability; third, concluding the incapability. This is the first passage. The intention of incapability has three causes and conditions: First, the wisdom of the Hīnayāna is inferior, incapable of matching and stimulating a bodhisattva; second, having previously suffered defeat, the matter of superiority and inferiority was settled, and therefore he is incapable; third, they act together to transform beings, bending or extending in accord with others. Now, wishing to make clear the virtue of Jingming and display the practice of Mañjuśrī, he therefore professes incapability. / "Why? I recall that in the past I was once quietly sitting under a tree in the forest." This is the second [part], explaining the incapability. In terms of the text, there are three parts: first, clarifying the reason for being rebuked; second, distinguishing the import of the one able to rebuke; third, directly suffering defeat. That Shenzi was quietly sitting under a tree in the forest possesses two meanings: First, he had these two afflictions of body and mind: he was afflicted by the clamour and commotion of the body, and therefore concealed his body in the mountain forest; he was afflicted by the wandering and distraction of the mind, and therefore gathered his mind into a single object. "Quiet sitting" means tranquil and silent, being the appearance of living in leisure. / "At that time Vimalakīrti came and said to me: 'Listen, Śāriputra! You need not take this sitting to be quiet sitting.'" This is the second [part], clarifying the import of the one able to rebuke. In terms of the text, there are three parts: first, rebuking the meditation of the two vehicles; next, bringing forth the bodhisattva's method of sitting; third, summarising it. "Need not take this sitting": the śrāvakas think that the method of sitting must conceal the body in forests and marshes and extinguish the mind in the absorption of cessation. Now, looking at it from the perspective of the Mahāyāna, it need not be so. Daosheng says: "'Need not' does not say it is not so, only that it need not be so. Not saying it is not so means that the sitting method of the two vehicles can merely serve as an expedient vehicle for seeking Mahāyāna concentration." If so, it is not yet the true and ultimate method of sitting. Master Xinghuang says: "'Must be' has the meaning of having an acquisition and abiding in attachment. Shenzi necessarily has distraction that can be abandoned and quietude that can be cherished." Looking closely at this chapter, it extends far into the entire teaching. Both these Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna practitioners were attached to definite certainty, and therefore were rebuked. / "Now, quiet sitting is not manifesting body and mind in the three realms; this is quiet sitting." Below this is the second [part], bringing forth the bodhisattva's method of sitting, which is used to rebuke the two vehicles. There are six pairs in total: first, distinguishing the concealment of both body and mind; second, clarifying roaming simultaneously in both quietude and distraction; third, regarding the religious and secular equally; fourth, both internal and external being obscured; fifth, understanding and confusion being equal; sixth, saṃsāra and nirvāṇa being non-dual. In brief, these six gates are explained as the bodhisattva's quiet sitting. First, clarifying the concealment of both body and mind: in the śrāvaka's method of sitting, he conceals his body among the trees, yet his body is still manifest; he rests his mind in the absorption of cessation, and thereupon his mind is extinguished. This is one being concealed and one not concealed, which therefore incurred the rebuke. A bodhisattva takes the dharmakāya as body, so although dwelling in the three realms, he is not of the three realms; he takes wonderful wisdom as mind, so although cognising objects, he is constantly quiescent. Thus both body and mind are concealed, which must be wonderful concentration, and is therefore different from those two vehicles. Moreover, the śrāvaka sees body and mind as not concealed and therefore wishes to conceal them; the mahāsattva knows that nothing is not concealed, so what is there to conceal? Therefore he does not manifest body and mind in the three realms. / "Not rising from the absorption of cessation and yet manifesting all deportments; this is quiet sitting." This is the second pair, clarifying roaming simultaneously in both quietude and distraction. As for the absorption of cessation (nirodhasamāpatti): in the Abhidharma, after mental phenomena are extinguished, there is a phenomenon that is neither form nor mind that sequentially replaces the position of mind through the absorption of cessation. The Tattvasiddhi-śāstra says: "The empty mind is extinguished in two places: first, when extinguished at the time of the absorption of cessation; second, when extinguished upon entering nirvāṇa without remainder. The absorption of cessation is simply the absence of dharmas." Both of these two explanations belong to the Hīnayāna: upon entering the absorption of cessation, their form is like dry wood, lacking the capability of active function. Regarding the bodhisattva's absorption of cessation, the Dazhidulun says: "The absorption of cessation is of the same nature as prajñā." When one fully realizes that this mind is simply the true nature of reality (dharmatā) and originally quiescent, one can then fill the eight extremities with one's form and respond to encounters without limit; this is not destroying provisional designations while expounding the true nature of reality, and not stirring from the real limit while establishing all phenomena. Question: Without rising from the absorption of cessation, how can one manifest bodily deportments? Answer: The wish-fulfilling jewel has no mind, yet produces treasures according to people's wishes; the heavenly drum has no mind, yet produces sound in response to things. The perfected person has no mind regarding this or that, yet can respond to all things. Above, it distinguished not manifesting the body in the three realms; now, it clarifies manifesting all deportments. Because by having no manifestation one is able to leave nothing unmanifest, the former is quiescence within movement, while this is movement within quiescence. / "Not abandoning the dharmas of the path and yet manifesting the affairs of ordinary persons; this is quiet sitting." This is the third, clarifying regarding the religious and secular equally. The Hīnayāna is obstructed and separated from saṃsāra, unable to harmonise its light. For the mahāsattva, good and evil share the same principle, and the religious and secular are viewed as one; therefore all day long he is an ordinary person, and all day long he is in the dharmas of the path. That Jingming had a household life is an instance of this. / "The mind neither abiding internally nor being externally; this is quiet sitting." This is the fourth, both internal and external being obscured. Worthies and noble ones gathering the mind is called "internal"; ordinary persons wandering in thoughts is called "external". The mahāsattva is different from both, so it is neither internal nor external. Furthermore, mind arises dependent on causes and conditions: the cause being the six faculties is internal, and the condition being the six sense data is external. Again, arising dependent on the dominant condition is internal, and relying on the objective condition to arise is external. The mahāsattva knows that both internal and external are completely empty, and therefore has nothing to rely upon. If the mind races internally or externally, it is inner and outer disturbance, not quiet sitting. If it does not race internally or externally, it is first called quiet and unified, termed quiet sitting. The three lines above rebuke the absorption of cessation of the two vehicles and explain the absorption of cessation of the bodhisattva; this one line rebukes the other concentrations of the two vehicles and distinguishes the quiet mind of the bodhisattva. / "Without stirring from all views and yet cultivating the thirty-seven factors of awakening; this is quiet sitting." This is the fifth, clarifying that understanding and confusion are equal. The Hīnayāna uses the three, the four, and the two fives to subdue all views, and employs the single seven and the single eight to sever all views; thus it stirs all views to practice the factors of the path. "Stirring" is a name for severing defilements. The mahāsattva contemplates the true nature of all views as being themselves the factors of the path, and therefore it is called "without stirring".