大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 15.7

15.7

Having consecrated the ground with adhiṣṭhāna, one must next use cords to determine the positions in the maṇḍala. As for "cords", the Sanskrit name is sūtra, which means to link and maintain manifold virtues so that they do not disperse; hence it is called "cord". There are four kinds of thread: white, yellow, red, and black. "Mindfully recollecting this" means that one should hold them with mindful recollection. One more kind is added: the colour of space. Space can contain all forms and appearances; that is, it is endowed with all colours. If one relies solely on the colour of space, it is a pale blue-green colour, like the colour of the leaves of grasses and trees. White signifies faith; yellow is vigor; red is mindfulness; black is concentration, the colour of concentration being identical with the colour of nirvāṇa. Wisdom is great emptiness: great emptiness is endowed with all characteristics yet has no characteristic; therefore it is all colours. Whenever twisting the cords together, if one does so completely in accordance with the method, one should erect a separate maṇḍala, arrange treasure vases, incense, flowers, ointment, lamps, etc., as well as various foods and drinks, and make diverse offerings (further inquire about the method). Then have a maiden twist them. One should first administer the eight precepts to her, have her wear fresh, clean clothes, and bathe with fragrant water so that inside and out she is pure and clean, and have her sit in the center of the altar to twist them. As for the method of twisting the cords: beforehand make fine threads extremely uniform and balanced, keeping their size, looseness, and tightness properly proportioned, and do not break or splice them in the middle. Furthermore, when twisting, cover the mouth with a piece of silk cloth. For each colour of thread, fold it back and forth to make nine strands, and then twist them into a single strand. The thread should have only one beginning end and be bent and folded, without any splicing in the middle. One strand of each colour; all five colours are twisted together to make one cord. If in twisting the cord, the slackness, tightness, coarseness, or fineness are not balanced, and one does not apply one's whole mind to making it, it will create obstacles when applied to mantras, harming both the master and the disciple, or causing them to become mad and disordered; one cannot fail to be cautious. Personally, I hold that the maiden represents samādhi. Because samādhi is extremely even and balanced, the five powers and the five faculties are perfected; through these faculties and powers, one can link and maintain the manifold practices (further inquire). "Equally held in the sky": there are two kinds of this. If it is an ācārya of profound practice who wishes to construct the altar, having purified the ground of bodhicitta, in yoga for the sake of delivering the disciple, he contemplates the adhiṣṭhāna positions of the Garbha Great Maṇḍala with correct attention, so that all the divisions and positions are vividly clear. Like being "equally held in the sky": "equal" means pervasive; "held" means it should be made like this; "made" means knowing the sequence, first establishing the space, with the positions of the revered ones being equal. Second, placing the cords on the ground of the maṇḍala, as if directly before one's eyes; however, for the sake of delivering people and conforming to worldly truth, one applies the cardinal directions to the altar ground, and then above it uses the five-coloured cords and outlines to determine the directional positions. If it is an ācārya of profound practice, he must also first use these cords to determine the directional positions. Having determined the directional positions, he should carefully deploy his mind to arrange them one by one, also causing all the directional positions to appear as if directly before his eyes. Or he may copy them down with paper and brush to refer to and apply at the time, so that when encountering the task, he does not doubt or make an error. What is called "equally in the sky" means, as explained above, first facing the disciple, pulling the cords to determine the directional positions, not yet letting them touch the ground. First draw them taut facing each other in the air, each holding them at heart level, making them go around in sequence. If there is no fully qualified disciple capable of building the altar together, one may also plant a peg in the disciple's place to do it. Having determined them like this, one then uses the mind to arrange and determine the positions and ranks, and then snaps the cord to draw each one. If he is a yoga ācārya, he also establishes the directional positions within this [contemplation], seeing all the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, devas, spirits, and so forth vividly fixed in their places; only then, conforming to worldly conventions, does he snap the cords according to the positions, representing them according to their forms and colours. One should know that this is the supreme position. "All Buddhas and wise ones": the Buddha-sons praise the bodhisattvas as possessing wisdom. "All Buddha-sons and wise ones, the lotus delights the mind and is supreme, praised by the world as auspicious"—meaning what the world praises as auspicious. This next answers regarding the symbols of the seats. Just as worldly people regard the lotus as auspicious, pure, and capable of delighting people's hearts, now in the secret repository, the wondrous Dharma lotus of the Great Compassion Garbha is also the most deeply secret and auspicious, and the bodies of all adhiṣṭhāna Dharma-gateways sit upon this flower terrace. Yet worldly lotuses also have immeasurable gradations, namely differences in size, opening and closing, and variations in colour and hue; likewise, the flower terrace of the mind-ground also has distinctions of provisional and real, open and closed, etc. Hence it says, "The wise should know this." If it is a Buddha, one should make an eight-petaled puṇḍarīka, a white lotus flower, causing its petals to open and spread in the four directions. If it is a bodhisattva, one also makes this flower seat, but has the flower half-opened, not letting it fully open (the flower may be white or yellow, or made as a jewelled lotus, any of which is permissible; but the red one is a worldly flower and is placed below). If it is a pratyekabuddha or śrāvaka, they should sit upon a flower terrace, or sit upon the petals of a kumuda flower, representing partial wisdom of shallow discernment and broadness. This is the blue lotus. This is merely a lotus of blue colour; yet there is also a distinct blue lotus, sitting upon the blue lotus leaves of the water lily (jīva/padma), leaves born from the lotus flower, whose species is not of this kind. If it is the devas of Śuddhāvāsa up to the Brahma devas of the first dhyāna, who are conventionally designated in the world as Brahma and so forth, they all sit within red lotus flowers. "Mindful" means recollecting without forgetting. Its colour is pure red, which the world calls the king among seats. If it is the devas of the desire realm, earth-dwelling spirits, etc., one uses symbols according to their respective ranks. For example, for the image of Śakra Devendra, paint Mount Sumeru, the mountain spirit sits on a mountain, the water spirit sits on water, the tree spirit sits on a tree, the city spirit sits on a city; there are very many such cases, which can be understood by analogy. For the lower devas, allocate the ground as their seat; that is, the devas of the desire realm, etc., sit either on grass or on dry leaves, etc. "Mindful" means reflecting with thought. Furthermore, the Tripiṭaka Master said: "In the Western regions there are many kinds of lotus. The first is padma (there are two kinds: one is red, which is the lotus flower of this country; the second is white, which is the white lotus now present in this country, not the puṇḍarīka). The [second is] utpala (also having two colours, red and white; there are also those that are neither red nor white, whose shape resembles the nīlotpala flower). The [third is] kumuda (having two kinds, red and blue; it is also said that kumuda is the blue-coloured lotus). The [fourth is] nīlotpala (this flower grows from cow dung seeds and is extremely fragrant; it is what Mañjuśrī holds. His eyes being like blue lotuses also refers to this. There is also the sugandhika flower, which is similar but with smaller flowers). The [fifth is] puṇḍarīka (the flower may have a hundred petals, petal overlapping petal, round, neat, and lovely; the outermost petals are extremely white, and toward the inside the colour becomes gradually faintly yellow, until the innermost ones are close in colour to the calyx. This flower is extremely fragrant. Formerly, when King Virūḍhaka harmed the Śākya maidens, Mahākāśyapa took this flower from Lake Anavatapta, wrapped it with water of eightfold virtues, and sprinkled them; the bodies and minds of the maidens attained peace and comfort, and when their lives ended they were born in heaven. Because he cast the flower into the lake, it subsequently became a seed, which still exists today. The flower is large and lovely, more than a foot in diameter, and especially lovely. This is the one cited in the Lotus Sūtra. It is the eight-petaled one of the maṇḍala)."