大方廣圓覺修多羅了義經略疏 1
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1.1
Preface to the Abridged Commentary on the Mahāvaipulya-pūrṇabuddhasūtra-nītārtha-sūtra
1.2
Composed by Pei Xiu, Grand Master for Splendid Happiness with Gold and Purple Ribbon, Probationary Vice Director of the Secretariat, Joint Manager of Affairs with the Secretariat-Chancellery, and Grand Academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies.
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Now, all creatures possessing blood and breath necessarily possess sentience, and all those who possess sentience are necessarily of the same substance. This is what is termed truly pure, luminous, and subtle; empty, penetrating, numinous, and unimpeded; towering aloft and solely existent. Being the fundamental source of sentient beings, it is called the mind-ground; being that which is attained by all buddhas, it is called bodhi; mutually interpenetrating and harmoniously subsuming, it is called the dharmadhātu; quiescent, permanently blissful, it is called nirvāṇa; untainted and without outflow, it is called pure; unerring and unchanging, it is called tathatā; free of faults and devoid of wrong, it is called buddha-nature; preserving good and obstructing evil, it is called dhāraṇī; concealed and containing all, it is called the tathāgatagarbha; transcendent and profoundly occult, it is called the Ghanavyūha realm; uniting all virtues in great completeness, outshining all darkness in solitary radiance, it is called perfect enlightenment. In reality, these are all the One Mind. Turning one's back on it, one is an ordinary person; according with it, one is a sage. Confused about it, saṃsāra begins; enlightened to it, transmigration ceases. Pursuing it intimately, it is śamatha and vipaśyanā, samādhi and prajñā; extending and broadening it, it is the six pāramitās and myriad practices. Developing it into wisdom, it is then right wisdom; relying on it as cause, it is then the right cause. In reality, these are all a single dharma. To be in perfect enlightenment all day long and yet never to have experienced perfect enlightenment is an ordinary person; to wish to realize perfection without having yet reached ultimate perfect enlightenment is a bodhisattva; to be fully endowed with perfect enlightenment and to uphold and abide in perfect enlightenment is a Tathāgata. Apart from perfect enlightenment there are no six destinies; relinquishing perfect enlightenment there are no three vehicles; without perfect enlightenment there is no Tathāgata; effacing perfect enlightenment there is no true dharma. In reality, these are all a single path. That which all buddhas of the three periods of time realize is precisely this; that for which the Tathāgata appears due to the one great matter is precisely this; that which the three baskets, twelve divisions, and all sūtras expound is precisely this. Yet when the Tathāgata handed down the teachings, in indicating the dharma there were the esoteric and the exoteric; in establishing principles there were the broad and the abridged; in according with the times there were the earlier and the later; in addressing faculties there were the deep and the shallow. Were it not for superior roots and perfect wisdom, who could achieve such great penetration? Therefore, in the storehouse of radiance, with the twelve great beings, the Tathāgata secretly explained and openly propagated, silently penetrated and broadly covered, sealing and determining this dharma as the crest of all sūtras.
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Dhyāna Master Guifeng received the Dharma from the Venerable Daoyuan, the foremost disciple of Nanyin, who was the direct descendant of Heze. One day, accompanying the assembly of monks, he attended a meal at the house of Ren Guan, a commoner of the prefecture. Sitting in a lower rank, he received a sūtra in accordance with the order. Encountering the Perfect Enlightenment of Definitive Meaning, before reaching the end of the scroll, he was moved to enlightenment and shed tears. Returning, he reported his awakening to his master, who patted him and said: 'You shall greatly propagate the teaching of the perfect and sudden; this sūtra was bestowed upon you by all the buddhas.' Once the Dhyāna Master had borne the secret seal of the Southern School and received the predictive assurance of the Perfect Enlightenment, he then perused the sūtras and vinaya of the Great Canon, thoroughly mastered treatises such as the Vijñapti-mātra and the Awakening of Faith, and thereafter drew the reins at the Huayan dharmadhātu, sat in peaceful meditation in the wondrous arena of perfect enlightenment, thoroughly investigated that which is moistened by the single rain, and exhausted the diverse purports of the five teachings, whereupon he composed commentaries and explanations for it. There were, in all, the Great Commentary in three fascicles, the Great Subcommentary in thirteen fascicles, the Abridged Commentary in two fascicles, the Minor Subcommentary in six fascicles, and the Ritual for Practice and Realization in the Bodhimaṇḍa in eighteen fascicles, all circulating together in the world. His presentation of the teaching is perfect, his seeing of the dharma is thorough, his explanation of principles is neat as splitting firewood, and his entering contemplation is bright as holding a candle. His wording goes only to the limit of reason and does not gallop in vain; his prose supports only the doctrine and is not carelessly ornamented. Because he did not fault others with his strengths, he offered no exclusionary assertions; because he did not eclipse others with what was not yet achieved, he produced no idiosyncratic theories. Magnificently, it is truly the eyes of the twelve divisions of scriptures, the marrow of the thirty-five patriarchs, the great root of sentient beings, and the pervasive path of the three periods of time. Even if there are authors in later generations, they will not surpass it. Could he be one of the four reliances? Or did he hear it directly in the Pure Land? How could he have exhausted its meaningful flavor like this!
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Someone might say: 'The Way is without form; those who look cannot behold it. The Way has no fixed direction; those who travel cannot reach it. How much less so with written words! It lies only in realizing one's nature; how could a trifling tens of thousands of words expound it?' I reply: 'Alas! This is not enough to speak of the Way. Was it not said before: that which unites all virtues in great completeness and outshines all darkness in solitary radiance is perfect enlightenment? For perfect enlightenment can give rise to all dharmas, and all dharmas have never departed from perfect enlightenment. Now, as for the texts of the three baskets of sūtras, vinaya, and treatises transmitted to China in more than five thousand fascicles, what do they expound? Discipline, samādhi, and prajñā, and nothing more. What is sought by practicing discipline, samādhi, and prajñā? Perfect enlightenment, and nothing more. Perfect enlightenment is a single dharma; why unfold myriad practices to seek it? It is because the faculties and capacities of sentient beings differ. If so, then the Great Canon is entirely the sūtras of perfect enlightenment, and this commentary is the commentary on the Great Canon. To gather the texts of five thousand scrolls and penetrate them with a commentary of a few fascicles—is that not exceedingly concise! Why say it is prolix? When one cuts off the path of words, quenches the mind of conceptual thought, forgets subject and object, and extinguishes mental images, only then is it attained; it certainly does not reside in verbal expression.' Alas! That by which sentient beings come and go is the six destinies. Ghosts and spirits sink in the misery of secluded sorrow; birds and beasts harbor the grief of being frightened and startled; asuras are just now enraged; the devas are revelling in pleasure. That which can regulate thoughts and turn toward bodhi—only the human destiny can do so! If humans will not do so, I know not what can be done with them. I have often wandered in the Dhyāna Master's inner chamber and received the Master's overt instructions; having no way to repay them, I straightaway praise his dharma and announce it broadly to the great assembly; the rest is fully set out in the original preface.
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Preface to the Mahāvaipulya-pūrṇabuddhasūtra-nītārtha-sūtra
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Exounded by the monk Zongmi of Caotang Monastery on Mount Zhongnan in the Tang.
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Origination, flourishing, advantage, and firmness are the virtues of the Qian hexagram, originating from the single qi. Permanence, bliss, self, and purity are the virtues of the Buddha, rooted in the One Mind. Concentrate the single qi to achieve softness; cultivate the One Mind to accomplish the Way. As for the mind, it is profound, empty, wondrous, and pure, brightly luminous and numinously clear; without going or coming, it secretly penetrates the three times; neither within nor without, it clearly permeates the ten directions. Unceasing and unarisen, how could the four mountains harm it? Free from nature and free from marks, how could the five colors blind it? Dwelling in the stream of saṃsāra, the black dragon's pearl alone shines in the vast ocean; seated on the shore of nirvāṇa, the cassia-moon alone shines brightly in the azure sky. Great indeed! It is that upon which the myriad dharmas rely for their inception. The myriad dharmas are illusory and false, arising through the convergence of conditions. Arisen dharmas are fundamentally non-existent; all is vijñapti-mātra. Consciousness is like an illusion or a dream; it is merely the One Mind. The mind is quiescent yet knowing; it is designated perfect enlightenment, completely filled with purity, not admitting anything else within. Therefore, its virtuous functions are boundless, all identical in the one nature. The nature arising becomes marks; objective realm and wisdom are distinctly apparent. When marks attain fusion with the nature, body and mind become vast. Comparing it to the sāgara-mudrā, it surpasses empty space; immensely vast and brilliantly radiant, it transcends thought and deliberation. Our Buddha realized this, took pity on beings' confusion about it, praised it repeatedly as 'marvelous!', and deliberated thrice upon the great matter. Having perfected the ten powers, he could destroy the demon armies under the tree; thereupon he aroused the four minds, wishing to reveal the treasure hidden within the house. Yet, mistaking one's head and abandoning one's father, enlightenment has ease and difficulty; hence in the Deer Park and at the bodhimaṇḍa, teachings arose as sudden or gradual. The gradual established the distinction of the five periods, emptiness and existence alternating in prominence; the sudden has no distinction of the two truths, its dark numen being absolute. Now, is this sūtra not of the sudden category? Therefore, the Tathāgata entered the Land of Quiescent Light where ordinary persons and sages share one source, manifesting the sambhogakāya, host and companions assembling together. The great being Mañjuśrī was the first to ask about the fundamental causal ground, and the Bhagavat supreme first raised the ultimate fruit. Illuminating this true body and eliminating those dreamlike forms, knowing there is no self or person, who undergoes transmigration? Diverse illusions are born from the enlightened mind; when illusions are exhausted, enlightenment is perfected, the mind penetrates and dharmas pervade. The mind is originally the Buddha, yet drifts and sinks due to the arising of thoughts; the shore in truth does not move, yet races along due to the movement of the boat. Suddenly eliminate the illusory master, and flowers will not grow in the sky; gradually exhaust the source of craving, and gold will have no remaining ore. The principle transcends cultivation and realization, yet wisdom appears to have hierarchical stages; awakening to earlier faults is named later stages—how much more so when the arising and ceasing of delusion are forgotten, and virtue equals perfect brightness! However, when the fine steed leaves the stable, it already reacts to the shadow of the whip; the great treasure buried in dust requires establishing methods of treatment. Therefore, the three contemplations are clear and bright, both the true and the provisional entered; the various wheels are intertwined, cultivated singly or doubly in perfection. The four marks hide their spirit, not being obstructions to enlightenment; the four defects expose their substance, and the flower of the mind blossoms. Furthermore, he causes long, intermediate, and short periods to constrain thought and collect thought for energetic cultivation; practicing separately and universally in turn, karmic obstructions and afflictive obstructions are eliminated. Accomplishing the wisdom body, with tranquility perfected and enlightenment pervasive, the buddha-realms of hundreds of thousands of worlds appear before one. For this reason, hearing the five names surpasses the merit of giving the jewels of a universe; expounding half a verse of its meaning excels the small vehicle [numerous as] sands of the Ganges. Truly, this is because there is no dharma it does not uphold, and no capacity it does not cover.
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Alas! The song of Ba finds many who harmonize, like a monkey's mind bounding in measurement; the song of white snow finds few to respond, its definitive meaning concealed within the dragon's treasury. In my youth, I, Zongmi, devoted myself exclusively to the texts of Lu, and upon reaching adulthood investigated the Indian scriptures; yet both drowned in the fish-traps and rabbit-snares, tasting only the chaff and dregs. Fortunately, along the Fu River, needle and magnet came together; in Chan I met the Southern School, and in the doctrine I encountered this scripture. With a single word, my mind-ground opened in comprehension; within a single scroll, the sky of meaning shone brightly. Formerly, I held that the Way was not an eternal way and all conditioned phenomena were impermanent; now I know that the mind is the Buddha-mind, and I will definitely become a buddha. However, the Buddha is called all-knowledge, and its cultivation relies on extensive learning; therefore, I again traveled to a hundred cities, and sat investigating diverse texts. Although my lectures were presumptuously comparable to Tai, my learning took An as its model. Having received the favor of an elder's acceptance, I was mistakenly granted the seal of a true heir. Meeting close friends once again, I felt even deeper gratitude for the Buddha's kindness. Having long lamented my solitary poverty, I was about to present the Dharma-gift. Gathering prajñā, weaving together Huayan, hoisting up the vinaya, and clarifying vijñapti-mātra. However, among the myriad types of medical formulas, one should choose the counter-remedy; among the thousand varieties of ocean jewels, one first seeks the wish-fulfilling gem. Looking at it, in richness of text and breadth of meaning, it truly yields to the Avataṃsaka; but in pointing directly to the essence and according with capacity, nothing rivals the Perfect Enlightenment. Therefore, consulting all treatises and examining a hundred masters to sharpen my tools, only then did I compose the commentary and explanation. Meditating on the sage's intent, exhausting thought in refining essence, its principles complete in nature and characteristics, its Chan uniting sudden and gradual, I compressed it into three fascicles to transmit it to zealous learners. However, upper, middle, and lower grades differ in capacities, desires, and natures. Now, adapting to their ways to bring them to completion, following conciseness and simplicity, I further search out the essential points and directly annotate the root sūtra, hoping that immediate events will be the immediate mind, increasing daily and decreasing daily.
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Preface to the Mahāvaipulya-pūrṇabuddhasūtra-nītārtha-sūtra
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Expounded by the monk Zongmi of Caotang Monastery on Mount Zhongnan in the Tang.
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Intending to explain this sūtra, there is a ten-fold analysis: first, the causes and conditions for the arising of the teaching; second, the classification and subsumption under the baskets and vehicles; third, the comparative differentiation of the provisional and real; fourth, the subtle depth of its scope; fifth, the capacities and temperaments addressed; sixth, the essence of that which expounds; seventh, the general and specific doctrinal orientations; eighth, the hierarchical stages of practice and realization; ninth, the general explanation of the title; tenth, the specific explanation of the text and its meaning. In the first, there are the general and the specific: the general means repaying causal vows, responding to requests, revealing the principle, and crossing over sentient beings—the emergence of the lifetime teachings all originates from this. If we trace back to the Buddha's original intent, it is solely for the causes and conditions of the one great matter. As for the specific, there are ten reasons for speaking this sūtra.
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First, to demonstrate that causal practice has a foundation.
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Illuminating pure enlightenment completely, understanding that avidyā is empty, and generating a pure mind, one only then cultivates the myriad practices.
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Second, to efface the marks of the fruit and accomplish perfection.
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Originally there is no bodhi or nirvāṇa; there is only the pure nature of enlightenment. Therefore, being without beginning or end, increase or decrease, it is only then the ultimate fruit.
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Third, to ascertain that when awakening to the principle, one should cultivate.
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Samantabhadra's intended question states: 'The nature of enlightenment is fundamentally complete, and everything is like an illusion. Illusions are empty and devoid of substance—who then speaks of practice? If one does not cultivate practice, by what cause does one realize enlightenment?' The Buddha explained that dependent on the arising of illusory wisdom, all illusions are eliminated; when illusions are exhausted, wisdom vanishes, and the mind of enlightenment is completely luminous. However, those who nowadays speak solely of emptiness and illusion drown in non-cultivation, while practitioners bind themselves to having attainment. Truly, because the meanings of awakening and cultivation appear contradictory yet coincide, they are most difficult to comprehend, and their principles must be determined.
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Fourth, because it completely exhausts the most profound doubts.
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The Bodhisattva's challenge means: 'Sentient beings are fundamentally Buddhas; since they are now possessed of ignorance, the Tathāgatas of the ten directions should later develop afflictions.' The Buddha's intended response states: 'This very discrimination is itself ignorance; therefore one perceives perfect enlightenment also as undergoing transmigration, just as when clouds drift the moon seems to move. But when not a single thought arises, the anterior and posterior limits are severed, just as when a film over the eye clears away, flowers [in the sky] vanish.' Sentient beings are themselves Buddhas, yet people rarely know this; those who know it rarely have faith; those who have faith rarely understand; and even those who understand rarely reach this realm. Now this sūtra definitively resolves it, which may truly be called exhausting the source; if one can master it thoroughly, all doubts will naturally be resolved.
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Fifth, because it eliminates and severs the root of saṃsāra.
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Generating karma to form seeds has ignorance as its root; nourishing karma to receive rebirth has craving and attachment as its basis. If one does not recognize their characteristics, they can act as thieves; if one does not comprehend their emptiness, they can never be severed. Therefore the answers to Mañjuśrī and Maitreya investigate them thoroughly and exhaust their root source.
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Sixth, because it tracks down the hidden obstacles to bodhi.
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This means that although the self, person, sentient being, and life-span share names with the other teachings, their mental characteristics are deep and subtle, difficult to eliminate step by step from coarse to subtle; therefore the single chapter on Purifying Karmic Hindrances tracks them down through layer upon layer.
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Seventh, because a brief text can subsume many gates.
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The text comprises only twenty-eight sheets, yet its meaning encompasses sudden and gradual, emptiness and existence, awakening and cultivation, and nature and characteristics.
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Eighth, [its teaching of] a single Dharma
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without exception takes perfect enlightenment as its premise and concludes by entering into perfect enlightenment in every passage. It skillfully accommodates the three capacities.
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The contemplation gate of Universal Eye accommodates superior capacities; the various wheels of the three contemplations accommodate middling capacities; and the preliminary practices in the sanctuary accommodate lower capacities.
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Ninth, because it causes one to cultivate deep dhyāna in accord with the nature.
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All three contemplations take awakening to the pure perfect enlightenment as their basis.
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Tenth, because it encourages serving an enlightened master free of characteristics.
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Although the Buddha is fundamentally what one is, one must cultivate diligently; although delusion is originally non-existent, it must be severed. Having no path to emulate and no traces to follow, one must rely on an enlightened master free of characteristics to instruct and guide one at every turn; hence it enjoins approaching them, giving one's life and casting away one's body, and so on.
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Second, concerning the classification and subsumption among pitakas and vehicles: among the three piṭakas, it is subsumed under the sūtras; among the two piṭakas, it is subsumed under the Bodhisattva piṭaka; among the vehicles, it is subsumed under the One Vehicle. Among the twelve divisions: 1. sūtra, 2. geya, 3. vyākaraṇa, 4. gāthā, 5. nidāna, 6. itivṛttaka, 7. jātaka, 8. vaipulya, 9. adbhutadharma, 10. avadāna, 11. upadeśa, and 12. nidāna.
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It is subsumed under the two divisions of sūtra and vaipulya.
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Third, concerning the comparative distinction between provisional and real: master teachers of India and China, past and present, have differed in their combination and separation of establishing tenets and classifying teachings. Some maintain a single flavor without division, while others establish lineages and make distinctions. We shall now briefly relate them, beginning with two approaches: first, non-division, and later, the explanation of dividing the teachings. There are five points in the intention of non-division: 1. The principle is fundamentally of a single flavor, because different paths lead to the same destination; 2. A single voice responds universally, because a single rain nourishes all alike; 3. Inquiring into the Buddha's original intention, it was for the sake of the one great cause; 4. In accord with each passage, various interpretations differ; 5. Multiple ways of expounding the Dharma become divergent branches; therefore it cannot be divided. This is the intention behind Bodhiruci of the Later Wei and Kumārajīva of the Yao Qin establishing the teaching of a single voice. Those who divide the teachings have eight intentions:
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The first five invert the preceding, and the last three are stated separately.
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1. Although the principle is of a single flavor, its expressions have shallow and deep. 2. Although the Buddha has a single voice, the teaching varies according to capacities. 3. When the original intention has not yet been declared, it is spoken in accord with the minds of others. 4. Words have general and specific applications, so they are spoken according to what is evident. 5. Through distinguishing provisional and real, one does not abide in divergent branches. 6. Like the secret words of a king, the words are identical while the matters differ. 7. If one does not recognize the Buddha's intention, taking deep as shallow loses great benefit, while taking shallow as deep renders one's effort futile. 8. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas themselves also distinguish them. With these considerations, opening them brings much gain and little loss, while combining them brings little gain and much loss; as long as one empties oneself to seek the tenet, how could dividing it conflict with the grand intention? Therefore we now divide it. However, regarding the division of teachings, various masters also differ. Now, relying on Master Xianshou, we comprehensively subsume them into five: 1. the Hinayāna teaching; 2. the initial Mahāyāna teaching; 3. the final teaching; 4. the One Vehicle sudden teaching; and 5. the perfect teaching. The first, because it adapts to capacities and follows the words of others, expounds the numerical categories of phenomena as entirely distinct, in order to differentiate heterodox and orthodox, distinguish ordinary and noble, separate repulsion and aspiration, and clarify causes and effects. However, the numerical categories of phenomena it expounds number seventy-five; it only speaks of the emptiness of persons and does not clarify the emptiness of phenomena, and solely relies on the six consciousnesses and three poisons to establish the root of defilement and purity; not having exhausted the source of dharmas, it gives rise to much dispute. Second, the initial teaching is also called the partial teaching. Because the teachings of the second and third periods in the Saṃdhinirmocana both allow that those of determined nature and those devoid of nature alike do not attain Buddhahood, we now combine them into a single teaching; since this has not yet exhausted the principle of the Mahāyāna Dharma, it is established as the initial, and because there are those who do not attain Buddhahood, it is called partial. It extensively expounds the characteristics of dharmas, yet even after paring down redundancies and recording their number, there are still one hundred; it seldom expounds dharma-nature. The dharma-nature it expounds is precisely the numerical category of dharma-characteristics, definitively and clearly resolved, hence there is little dispute. Third, the final teaching is also called the real teaching; both the two vehicles of determined nature and the icchantikas devoid of nature will all attain Buddhahood, and only this exhausts the ultimate exposition of the Mahāyāna; hence it is established as final. Because it accords with the real principle, it is called real. It expounds dharma-characteristics little and expounds dharma-nature much; the dharma-characteristics it expounds also resolve back into nature; hence it is without dispute. The above two teachings both cultivate to completion gradually in accord with the bhūmis and stages, and are collectively named gradual. However, the Mahāyāna teachings have three tenets in total, namely, characteristics of dharmas (Dharmalakṣaṇa) and refutation of characteristics (Mādhyamika), both of which are the beginning of the gradual teaching; that is, the two masters Śīlabhadra and Jñānaprabha each relied on a sūtra to establish teachings of three periods, mutually refuting each other. Yet those who transmitted and practiced them both recognized sūtras of dharma-nature to establish the tenets of their own traditions.
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[The tenet of] Dharma-nature
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permeates both sudden and gradual; as gradual it is the final teaching, because it brings the initial to a conclusion. The sudden is as expounded below.
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Now, contrasting dharma-nature with the two tenets to distinguish them, there are two approaches: first, contrasting it with dharma-characteristics; second, contrasting it with the refutation of characteristics. Within the first, the two tenets of nature and characteristics have many differences; now, grouping them by category, we briefly present ten points:
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1. Three Vehicles
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[Dharmalakṣaṇa holds] that natures are fivefold: first Hinayāna, next the one [vehicle] is provisional, and finally possessing three vehicles is definitive, as stated in the Saṃdhinirmocana.
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[versus] One Vehicle:
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[Dharma-nature holds] that sentient beings are of one [nature]: first Hinayāna, next the two [vehicles] are provisional, and finally only the One Vehicle is definitive, as stated in the Lotus Sūtra and elsewhere.
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2. Five Natures
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Because in the Laṅkāvatāra and elsewhere, five spiritual families (gotras) are expounded.
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[versus] One Nature:
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The Lotus Sūtra, Laṅkāvatāra, and Nirvāṇa Sūtra all state only one nature: because śrāvakas inclined toward quiescence are liberated by Buddhas in other lands; because bodhisattvas are given predictions that they will become Buddhas; because icchantikas possess buddha-nature; because the Mahāyānasaṃgraha establishes that the one dharma resides behind the three; and because the Lotus Sūtra refutes the three and encounters much jealousy and enmity.
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3. Mind-only as Deluded
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The eight consciousnesses arise from delusion and karma.
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[versus] True:
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The eight consciousnesses connect with the tathāgatagarbha.
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4. Tathatā as Inactive
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The eight consciousnesses arise and cease, hence they do not accord with conditions.
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[versus] According with Conditions:
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Because the eight consciousnesses rely on the garbha-nature, they are merely tathatā established in accordance with conditions.
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5. The Three Natures as Separated into Empty and Existent
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The imagined (parikalpita) is empty, while the dependent (paratantra) and perfected (pariniṣpanna) are existent.
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[versus] Identical:
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The lack of nature is itself the perfected.
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6. Sentient Beings and Buddhas Neither Increase nor Decrease:
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Because those of determined nature and those devoid of nature definitely do not attain Buddhahood, the realm of sentient beings does not decrease; and because the one principle is universally equal, there is neither increase nor decrease.
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7. The Two Truths as Separated into Empty and Existent
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The ultimate and conventional are distinct.
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[versus] Identical:
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The emptiness of the highest meaning encompasses both the true and the deluded.
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8. The Four Marks as Successive
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Ceasing indicates subsequent non-existence.
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[versus] Simultaneous:
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The substantial nature is itself cessation.
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9. Subject and Object in Severance and Realization as Separated
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Fundamental and subsequent [cognitions] take objects as conditions to sever delusion, realizing unconditioned principle through conditioned wisdom.
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[versus] Identical:
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Delusion is itself bodhi; seeing is itself tathatā.
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10. The Buddha-Body as Conditioned
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Because the four wisdoms rely on the seeds of arising and ceasing consciousness, the reward-body (saṃbhogakāya) is conditioned.
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[The ultimate teaching holds that the Buddha-body is] unconditioned.
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Because wisdom is based upon the tathāgatagarbha, the Buddha's transformation body is both eternal and dharmic, and does not fall within enumerations; how much less the essence of the reward body?
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If one knows the provisional and the real of these two teachings, then the two traditions also do not conflict with each other. That is to say: from the perspective of faculties there are three, while from the perspective of the Dharma there is one; in terms of newly perfumed [seeds] there are five [lineages], while fundamentally existent [nature] has no duality, and so forth. Second, concerning the refutation of characteristics, there are briefly five distinctions:
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1. Non-nature:
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Taking the absence of intrinsic nature in all phenomena to be tathatā.
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Original nature:
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Taking the eternally abiding true mind to be tathatā.
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2. True wisdom:
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That which is able to understand non-nature.
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True knowing:
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The real One Mind is originally able to know of itself, penetrating both principle and wisdom, thoroughly pervading both defilement and purity, as explained in the "Chapter on Inquiring into the Clear" of the Huayan [Sūtra].
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3. Two truths:
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Form and so forth are conventional; emptiness is the ultimate.
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Three truths:
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Adding the supreme truth, meaning that the nature of the One True Mind is neither empty nor form, yet capable of emptiness and capable of form, like the brightness of a mirror.
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4. The emptiness and existence of the three natures:
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For the Emptiness school, existence refers to the dependent and imagined, while emptiness refers to the perfected. For the Nature school, the fully imagined exists in delusion but is absent in principle; the dependent exists in characteristic but lacks intrinsic nature; and the perfected is absent in delusion but exists in principle, lacking characteristics but possessing nature.
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5. The Buddha's virtues are empty:
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Although it is said that the Buddha-body cannot be found through fivefold seeking, and that finding it is false while non-finding is real, being free from all marks is called the Buddha's virtues.
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Existent:
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All Buddhas are fully endowed with the real virtues of permanence, bliss, self, and purity; their bodies, wisdom, supernormal powers, and radiance are each inexhaustible. They are fundamentally inherent in the nature, not awaiting faculties and conditions.
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Having briefly distinguished these five, the rest can be known by analogy. Yet those who grasp the intention will find that they also do not conflict: since all phenomena are pratītyasamutpāda of the true mind, the non-nature of pratītyasamutpāda is directly the true mind. Initial [enlightenment] is not different from the original [enlightenment], and outside of knowing there is no wisdom; the other truths, natures, and so forth may be understood by analogy with this. However, this section differs from those before and after: there are only differences in teachings being beginning or final, gradual or sudden, but not differences in the Dharma being shallow or deep.
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Fourth, regarding the sudden teaching: when merely not a single thought arises, that is directly named a Buddha; it is not expounded in reliance on the gradual sequence of stages, and is therefore established as sudden.
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The Viśeṣacintā-sūtra says: "One who attains the correct nature of phenomena does not proceed from one stage to another stage." The Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra says: "The first stage is directly the eighth, up to having no existence at all." What sequence could there be?
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It does not speak of the nature of phenomena in general at all, but exclusively clarifies the true nature. All that exists is merely false conceptualization; all dharmadhātus are entirely beyond speech. The five dharmas and three intrinsic natures are all empty; the eight consciousnesses and two forms of selflessness are both discarded. It reproves the teachings and urges detachment, destroys characteristics and eliminates the mind; the arising of mind is directly falsehood, while non-arising is directly Buddha.
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This is because only when the traces of elimination are completely extinguished is the true nature revealed.
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Fifth, regarding the complete teaching: it clarifies that one stage is directly all stages, and all stages are directly one stage; therefore, the fulfillment of the mind in the ten faiths directly encompasses the five stages and accomplishes correct enlightenment, and so forth. Because host and companion are completely fulfilled, it is named the complete teaching—that is, the Huayan Sūtra. What it expounds is exclusively the inexhaustible dharmadhātu, wherein the ocean of nature is completely fused and pratītyasamutpāda is unimpeded, like the inexhaustible layers of the jewels in Indra's net. Having understood that the five teachings run through all expositions, it is not yet known how this sūtra and those [teachings] encompass each other. Now, to reveal this meaning, it is divided into three sections: 1. That fully encompasses this, while this partially encompasses that—meaning the complete teaching; 2. This partially encompasses that, while that does not encompass this—meaning the first and second [teachings]; 3. Each strictly encompasses the other in essence—meaning the final and sudden [teachings].
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The comparative clarification of the provisional and the real is concluded.
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Fourth, regarding the profound scope: according to the Awakening of Faith, the five layers of root and branch of all defiled phenomena are clarified in order to reveal the depth and shallowness of the scope expounded by the various traditions. In the treatise, first, the One Mind alone is the fundamental source. Second, based on the One Mind, two gates are opened: first, the gate of the mind as tathatā, meaning that the nature of mind is neither arising nor ceasing; second, the gate of the mind as arising and ceasing, meaning that based on the tathāgatagarbha coalescing with arising and ceasing, it is named the ālayavijñāna. Third, based on this consciousness, two meanings are clarified: first, the meaning of enlightenment (initial and original), meaning that the essence of mind is free from thought, and so forth; second, the meaning of non-enlightenment, meaning not knowing in accordance with reality that the dharma of tathatā is one, the non-enlightened mind arising, and so forth. Fourth, based on the latter meaning, three subtle marks arise: 1. Because of non-enlightenment the mind stirs, named the mark of karma; 2. Because of stirring there is the ability to perceive, named the mark of transformation; 3. Because of perceiving, sensory realms falsely appear, named the mark of manifestation. Fifth, based on the last, six coarse marks arise: 1. The mark of judgment;
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Distinguishing in reliance on sensory realms; that is, innate clinging to phenomena.
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2. The mark of continuity;
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Thoughts arising without interruption in reliance on judgment; that is, discriminative clinging to phenomena.
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3. The mark of grasping;
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Because the mind gives rise to attachment; that is, innate clinging to self.
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4. The mark of assigning names;
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Discriminative views of self; the above four are all afflictions.
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5. The mark of giving rise to karma (this is karma); 6. The mark of suffering bound by karma (this is retribution).
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As for the scope expounded by the various traditions: the vehicle of humans and gods extends only to karma and retribution; the Hīnayāna extends only to the last four coarse marks; the Faxiang reaches its limit at the three subtle marks; the final and sudden teachings thoroughly expound root and branch, only then exhausting the primary source of the One Mind. The primary source of the One Mind is directly the marvelous mind of perfect enlightenment of this sūtra, because the sūtra sets forth perfect enlightenment as its essential foundation, and says that all defiled and pure phenomena arise as manifestations from the enlightened mind.
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The first layer.
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The end of the Mañjuśrī chapter is directly the gate of tathatā. What the sūtra calls the distinctions of the tathāgatagarbha is directly the gate of arising and ceasing.
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The second layer.
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The single chapter of Samantacakṣus is directly initial and original enlightenment. Inquiring into and explaining avidyā is directly non-enlightenment.
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The third layer.
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The single chapter of Viśuddhakarman is directly the three subtle and two coarse marks.
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The fourth layer.
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The cause and effect of transmigration at the beginning of the Maitreya chapter is directly the last four coarse marks.
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The fifth layer.
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Thus we know that Perfect Enlightenment fully exhausts the five layers; that it is characterized as profound truly lies in this.
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Fifth, regarding the faculties suited to be addressed, there are briefly two aspects: first, examination and selection; later, universal gathering. The first refers to those who take pleasure in clinging to names and marks, taking the written word as understanding; those who remain tied to stages of practice, putting the sage's realm far out of reach; those whose sentiments esteem emptiness, reducing whatever is said to nothingness; those who rely on natural spontaneity, despising and neglecting progressive cultivation; and those who rigidly cling to what they first heard, carrying hemp while discarding gold. Those like the above are not suitable vessels; the opposite of the above are all suitable vessels. As for the later universal gathering: all sentient beings fundamentally possess buddha-nature; merely obtaining the hearing of it, none fail to gain benefit: those whose past faculties are deep awaken and enter, while those whose faculties are shallow believe and understand. Even those who completely lack past seeds are all perfumed to form the seed-nature of the complete and sudden teaching, like the simile of eating the vajra in the Huayan Sūtra.
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Sixth, regarding the essence of the expressive [teaching], it is briefly divided into four gates:
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1. The gate of conforming to characteristics. Furthermore, there are two kinds: 1. The essence of sounds, names, sentences, and words, because essence and function, provisional and real, assist each other; therefore, the Daśabhūmika-sūtra contains the simile of the wind (a simile for sound) drawing pictures (names, and so forth) in the sky. 2. Thoroughly encompassing the essence of what is expressed; for if they did not express meaning, the words would not be a teaching.
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2. The gate of vijñapti-mātra: because the preceding two are not separate from consciousness; however, there is the distinction between fundamental and reflected images.
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3. The gate of returning to the nature: because this consciousness has no substantial essence, being solely tathatā.
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4. The gate of non-obstruction: because mind and objects, principle and phenomena, mutually penetrate and encompass each other, for the one Dharma of the mind has two gates.
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Seventh, the central tenet (what is venerated by this text)
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and purport
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(that to which the tenet returns).
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Regarding general and particular: generally speaking, the Buddha's teaching takes causes and conditions as its tenet,
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within which there are distinctions such as Hīnayāna, the Emptiness school, Faxiang, Dharmatā, and Complete Interpenetration; here it is directly Dharmatā.
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Clarifying this sūtra in particular, there are again general and particular: generally, taking mind (quiescence) and objects (emptiness) as empty
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(the imagined nature is like snakes, ghosts, and so forth, as below states: "Because they are not produced, they are nonexistent," and so on),
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[and mind is] quiescent,
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(the dependent nature is like reflections and images, as below states: "The four great elements do not stir," and so on),
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the enlightened nature is perfect and complete,
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(by being empty and quiescent, it is the fully perfected consummate nature),
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and the equality of ordinary people and sages is the central principle (zong).
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(As below states: "Because enlightenment is perfectly luminous, up to the sense organs and dust-objects pervade the dharmadhātu," and so on.)
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Leading practitioners to forget emotional clinging
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(by awakening to the central principle, bondage and liberation are immediately discarded),
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and to be on an equal footing with the Buddha,
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(because feelings and clinging are forgotten),
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with rapid consummation of contemplative practice, is the ultimate purpose (qu). Furthermore, taking the preceding ultimate purpose as the central principle, bringing afflictions and karma to cessation so as to sever saṃsāra forever, and giving rise to great spiritual functionality with tranquil ease and self-mastery, is the ultimate purpose. Distinctively, there are five pairs: First, the pair of teaching and meaning: the verbal teaching is the central principle, and the intended meaning is the ultimate purpose. Second, the pair of principle and phenomenon: presenting phenomena is the central principle, and revealing principle is the ultimate purpose. Third, the pair of object and practice: the objective realm of principle is the central principle, and contemplative practice is the ultimate purpose. Fourth, the pair of practice and quiescence: contemplative practice is the central principle, and transcending contemplation is the ultimate purpose. Fifth, the pair of quiescence and function: the quiescence of mind that has transcended contemplation is the central principle, and giving rise to great spiritual functionality is the ultimate purpose. These five also arise progressively from the former to the latter, succeeding one another by turns.
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Eighth, regarding the stages and distinctions of practice and realization: if one relies solely on the doctrinal texts, only conceptual understanding is generated; there is another gateway for practice and realization that forgets verbal formulation. Therefore, transmission from mind to mind has continued unbroken across generations. Transmitted from the Buddha to Kāśyapa down to the present day, one lamp passing to another, its illumination is endless. Yet the Dharma transmitted does not go beyond samādhi and prajñā, awakening and cultivation, sudden and gradual. Without samādhi and without prajñā, one is either reckless or foolish; cultivating only one gate leads to ignorance and false views. When these two are exercised together, one becomes the Double-Sufficiency Honored One. Therefore, Tiantai's cultivation takes śamatha and vipaśyanā as its core.
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As for sudden, gradual, awakening, and cultivation: sudden awakening
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(like the sun rising or a child being born)
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[and] gradual cultivation
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(like frost melting or a child growing up)
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is awakening in understanding [followed by] gradual cultivation. Sudden awakening,
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(like felling a tree or entering the capital)
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gradual cultivation followed by sudden awakening,
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(like polishing a mirror or learning archery)
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and gradual cultivation followed by gradual awakening,
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(like ascending a nine-storied terrace: as one's footing gradually rises, what is seen gradually expands)
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all constitute awakening in realization. If it is sudden awakening and sudden cultivation,
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(like cutting a bundle of dyed threads)
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then it encompasses three meanings. That is: awakening first
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(clearly and suddenly comprehending)
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and cultivating later
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(neither clinging nor realizing, vast and open, merging with the Way)
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is awakening in understanding. Cultivating first (taking medicine) and awakening later (the illness being cured) is awakening in realization. Cultivation
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(no-mind, forgetting illumination)
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and awakening
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(functioning spontaneously in quiescent awareness)
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occurring at one and the same time pertains to both understanding and realization. If it is said that inherently possessing all buddha-virtues is awakening
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(like drinking from the great ocean)
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and that a single thought containing myriad practices is cultivation,
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(tasting the waters of a hundred rivers)
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this also pertains to both understanding and realization. This *Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment* provides all the aforementioned explanations: the chapter of Mañjuśrī represents sudden awakening in understanding; the completion of Samantacakṣu's contemplation represents sudden awakening in realization; the various wheels of the three contemplations represent gradual awakening in realization. Moreover, in each of the three contemplations, the pure perfect enlightenment that is awakened to is indicated first, the characteristics of practice are clarified next, and the accomplishment of merit is revealed last. The pair of the beginning and the middle is sudden awakening followed by gradual cultivation; the pair of the middle and the end is gradual cultivation followed by sudden awakening. These forms of sudden and gradual all refer to the application of mind, unlike the preceding section which merely classified the teachings. If one grasps their meaning, all become samādhi and prajñā; if one loses their essential purport, they become false thought and neutral ignorance. I hope students will examine and cultivate them carefully. As for the ninth and tenth sections, they will simply be commented upon following the root text, so their structural headings are not cited here.
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"The Great Expansive Perfect Enlightenment Ultimate Meaning Sūtra (*Mahāvaipulya-pūrṇabuddhasūtra-nītārtha-sūtra*)"
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The first five characters are what is expressed: "Perfect Enlightenment" is the Dharma, and "Great Expansive" indicates its meaning. Hence in the text, whether indicating or summarizing, each reference mentions only Perfect Enlightenment, and does not mention "Great" and the rest. The latter six characters pertain to that which expresses: "Sūtra" is the teaching. "Sūtra of Ultimate Meaning" praises the superior capacity of the teaching. The scripture has five titles, but the opening title contains only two. Truly it is because the central root, essence, and function are the grand framework of the Dharma and its meaning, while the expression, purport, and efficacy are the clear mirror of words and imagery. When matters are comprehensive and meanings are exhausted, five titles must be established; for a concise and essential title, two designations are provisionally retained. The three characters "Great" and so forth are essence, attribute, and function, each possessing two meanings:
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"Great" receives its name directly from the essence, taking permanence and pervasiveness as its meaning. "Directly from the essence" differs from the Dharma-characteristic school's [concept of] great that excludes the small; when there is a small outside the great to be excluded, it still has limits and bounds—how could it be the ultimate great? Here, because the essence of perfect enlightenment has no boundary and transcends all measurement, it is tentatively called "Great." As for "permanence and pervasiveness," permanence vertically penetrates the three times, while pervasiveness horizontally encompasses the ten directions. Vertically, it is without beginning in the past and without end in the future; no dharma precedes it, and it alone precedes all dharmas, hence it is called "Great." Thus the *Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra* states: "That which is called great is named permanent." Horizontally, seeking it through the ten directions, it has no border or shore. The *Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra* also states: "That which is called great has a nature that is vast and broad, just like empty space."
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"Expansive" (fang, method/norm) receives its name with respect to the Dharma, taking norm and maintenance as its meaning: guiding to produce understanding in beings, and maintaining its own nature. "Maintaining its own nature" means that all sentient beings possess original enlightenment; although they wander in the six destinies and assume various bodies, this enlightened nature is never lost or extinguished. "Producing understanding" means that when sentient beings awaken and enter into [buddha-]knowledge and vision, although they rely on the instruction of good friends, their cognitive understanding arises from the enlightened nature, just as moisture from water and soil causes the sprouts of grain and the like to grow. The sprout arises from the seed, not from the water and soil. Thus the text states: "Perfect enlightenment flows out as bodhi, nirvāṇa, and the pāramitās, teaching and instructing bodhisattvas."
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- 大方廣圓覺修多羅了義經略疏 — Classical Chinese