大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 2.96

2.96

The sūtra says: “Furthermore, Lord of Secrets, when bodhisattvas practicing bodhisattva conduct through the mantra gateway accumulate immeasurable merit and wisdom through immeasurable, countless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas, and fully practice all conducts, all immeasurable wisdom and upāya are fully accomplished.” This intends to clarify the mind that transcends the third kalpa. In order to cause those who see and hear of it to give rise to faithful joy and reverence, its merit is first praised. This can be understood. Bodhisattvas in other teachings practice the path of upāya and antidotes, gradually eliminating mental defilements stage by stage through immeasurable asaṃkhyeya kalpas, some attaining bodhi and some not attaining it. Now, the bodhisattvas of this teaching are not like this: they take the mantra directly as their vehicle and leap across to enter the gateway of the pure bodhicitta. When one sees the luminous path of this mind, the blessings and wisdom cultivated by bodhisattvas over countless kalpas are spontaneously complete. For example, suppose a person travels by boat and cart, passing through perilous and harsh paths to reach five hundred yojanas. Suppose there is another person who directly mounts supernatural powers and flies through the sky to cross over: although the places they traverse and the destination they reach are no different, the vehicle they mount is distinct. Furthermore, the reason the Bhagavān first extensively explained the characteristics of the minds above was to instruct the practitioners of contemplation in the mantra gateway that when they practice to such realms, they must clearly recognize them, and must not claim to have arrived when they have not yet arrived and tarry along the way. Furthermore, just as when the crown prince of a wheel-turning king is first born, he is fully endowed with all the major marks without any deficiency: though he has not yet comprehensively mastered all the arts or ruled over the four continents, he is already capable of holding the seven treasures and accomplishing the royal lineage of the sage king. Why is this? Because he is the complete embodiment of the wheel-turning king. A mantra practitioner’s initial entry into the pure bodhicitta is also like this: though they have not yet, over countless asaṃkhyeya kalpas, fully equipped themselves with the myriad practices of Samantabhadra or perfected great compassion and upāya, these tathāgata virtues are nevertheless all already accomplished. Why is this? Because this is the complete dharmakāya of Vairocana. Therefore the sūtra says: “Through immeasurable, countless kalpas […] even wisdom and upāya are all fully accomplished.” Furthermore, just as when a prince is newly born, he is already that which dragons, spirits, and the myriad common people venerate and turn to, the initial generation of the pure bodhicitta is also like this: it is already a great refuge for devas and humans in the world who have lost the right path. If clarified according to conventional treatises, upon realizing this mind, one is called a Buddha. Therefore, Śāriputra and all the other śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas cannot measure it even by exhausting the power of their wisdom. The sūtra says: “It is said to surpass all levels of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.” When a practitioner attains this mind, they immediately know that Śākyamuni’s pure land is never destroyed; they see that the Buddha’s lifespan is immense, and that the body of the fundamental ground dwells together in one assembly with the bodhisattvas who welled forth from the earth, such as Viśiṣṭacāritra. Although those who cultivate the path of antidotes may trace their footprints adjacent to the stage of succession, they do not recognize a single person among them; therefore this matter is called secret. Furthermore, this bodhisattva is able, within the utterly pure mind, to assemble all buddhas and bodhisattvas of the dharmadhātu in the ten directions, and is also able to personally travel throughout the ten directions to make offerings to all good spiritual friends and inquire after the correct Dharma; only they alone clearly understand this, and none of the devas or worldly people can know it. Due to these causes and conditions, it is also called secret. In the previous two kalpas, although it is said that they transcended the levels of the two vehicles, even though Subhūti and others could still rely on the Buddha’s majestic supernatural power to expound that both persons and phenomena are empty, upon encountering this secret one-vehicle mind they gave rise to alarm and doubt, not knowing where it tended; therefore it is said to directly surpass the levels of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas. At that time, the devas of great majesty, not seeing where the bodhisattva’s mind relied, all gave rise to reverent faith; thus Śakra Devendra made this vow: “Now this superior person will not be long in realizing buddhahood. When he realizes buddhahood, I shall offer auspicious kuśa grass.” The Four Heavenly Kings also gave rise to this thought: “When this bodhisattva realizes buddhahood, I shall present an alms bowl.” Brahmā also gave rise to this thought: “When this bodhisattva realizes buddhahood, I shall request the turning of the wheel of the Dharma.” Therefore it says that they draw near and pay reverent homage. This concludes praising the merit of entering the mantra gateway. Yet by what dharma does the practitioner enter this gateway? Thus the sūtra next says: “That is, the nature of emptiness.” The nature of emptiness is the nature of one’s own mind being equal to space. The passage above stating “immeasurable like space” up to “the manifestation of the fully enlightened one” is an analogy for this mind. In the previous kalpa, one awakened to the fact that the ten thousand dharmas are mind-only and that outside the mind there are no dharmas; now, one contemplates that this mind is itself the Tathāgata’s spontaneous wisdom, and is also Vairocana’s all-pervading body. Because the mind is like this, all dharmas are also like this. Both sense faculties and sense objects enter the syllable A gateway, hence it says: “free from faculties and objects.” Reflections do not depart from the light of eternal quiescence, hence it says: “signless.” Because the wisdom of the dharmatā of the mind realizes the dharmatā of the mind, and object and wisdom are both the prajñāpāramitā, it says: “without realm.” Because the ten similes here, when viewed in relation to the previous ten similes, again become prapañca, it says: “transcending all prapañca.” When the third layer of the subtle one hundred and sixty minds—the seeds of defilements, karma, and lifespan—are eliminated, the sprout of the Buddha-tree further arises, hence it says: “all boundless Buddha dharmas equal to space.” Developing continuously based on this, it does not destroy causes and conditions and thus enters the dharmadhātu; nor does it disturb the dharmadhātu, which is itself dependent origination. One should know that the arising and ceasing of causes and conditions is itself the arising and ceasing of the dharmadhātu, and the non-arising and non-ceasing of the dharmadhātu is itself the non-arising and non-ceasing of causes and conditions; hence it says: “free from the conditioned and unconditioned realms.” Whether a tathāgata appears in the world or does not appear in the world, all dharmas abide naturally just as they are; hence it says: “free from all fabrications.” As stated in the Prajñā: “All dharmas tend toward the eye, and this tendency cannot be surpassed.” It is like the hundred rivers flowing toward the sea, having no other place to go. Therefore one should know that the eye is itself the supreme reality-limit. Within the supreme reality-limit, even the eye is ungraspable, let alone tending or not tending. Ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are also like this, hence it says: “free from eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.” When the practitioner attains such subtle wisdom, they contemplate that all defiled and pure dharmas, down to the slightest fraction like a subtle atom, all without exception arise from conditions. If they arise from conditions, they have no intrinsic nature; if they have no intrinsic nature, they are originally unborn; being originally unborn is the mind’s reality-limit; and the mind’s reality-limit is also ungraspable; hence it says: “the mind of ultimate lack of intrinsic nature is born.” Compared to the previous two kalpas, this mind is like a lotus flower in full bloom; compared to the subsequent two minds, it is the fruit turning again into a seed; hence it says: “Such an initial mind, the Buddha says, is the cause of realizing buddhahood; therefore, it is liberated from karma and defilements, yet karma and defilements are fully relied upon.” Here, when it says “the Buddha says,” the Bhagavān takes the buddhas of the ten directions and the three times as witnesses, stating that through this single matter of causes and conditions, they open the pure knowledge and vision for sentient beings, and their path is profoundly identical. When the practitioner is liberated from all karma and defilements, they immediately know that all karma and defilements are nothing other than Buddha-works: originally there is no bondage, so whom would one cause to be liberated? It is like a good physician transforming poison into medicine to eliminate various diseases; it is also like empty space transcending all forms, yet the myriad images fully rely upon it. If one abides in this inconceivable liberation, one is a true arhat, not clinging to the conditioned or the unconditioned, and worthy of receiving vast offerings from all the world. Therefore the sūtra says: “Venerated by the world, they should always receive offerings.” Furthermore, because the ācārya wished to clarify this worthiness of receiving offerings, he synthetically discussed the beginning and end of the three kalpas and made the analogy of the precious jewel: It is like a wish-fulfilling jewel embedded in a rock ore: because worldly people do not recognize it, it is discarded by the roadside, no different from rubble. But one who distinguishes jewels sees a subtle sign barely showing through on the outside, and immediately recognizes it. First, they use sharp iron to chisel away the dull stone. As they approach the jewel king, the stone gradually softens, and they further corrode it with various medicinal elixirs to dissolve the ore’s impurities without damaging its substance. At that time, the coarse dirt has been removed, but fine dirt still remains; they then wash it with ash-water and polish it with clean felt, using various upāyas to bring out its brilliance. Once it achieves radiance, it is placed atop a high banner, capable of universally raining down myriad items in accordance with whatever is sought. At that time, worldly people produce a sense of wonder and revere this jewel as if it were a great deva, because it is capable of fulfilling all that is wished for. Yet this jewel simultaneously responds universally to the minds of all beings, and what they receive is each different. Now, were these myriad items preexisting within the jewel, or were they previously nonexistent? If they were preexisting, how could this single small jewel instantaneously contain myriad items? If they were previously nonexistent, how could it instantaneously rain down myriad items? Even the jewel-nature of this world is already inconceivable, how much more so the bodhicitta jewel of sentient beings! Therefore, as soon as good spiritual friends see the eight worldly minds of sentient beings merely beginning to sprout, they immediately recognize that it is a true jewel and know there is a principle by which it can be quarried. Just as that appraiser, having previously known many jewels, recognizes it as soon as they encounter it, the buddhas and bodhisattvas are also like this: they have long since realized and known it, having personally proceeded from a single hair's breadth of good to attain the great bodhi path. Therefore, observing the dispositions of those beings, they are filled with great joy and use upāya to entice and advance them so that they receive the three refuges, as was previously explained. This is like collecting that stubborn stone and keeping it in one's home. Next, by means of the three kinds of threefold mind, they uproot the foundation of karma and defilements and the seeds of ignorance, like the sharp iron chiseling away the coarse ore. Next, they contemplate the non-objective vehicle and the selflessness of phenomena, like gradually reaching the soft part and using medicinal substances to dissolve it without damaging it. Next, they give rise to the mind of ultimate lack of intrinsic nature, like wiping and polishing it with ash-water to make it extremely lustrous and clean. At that time, one is born into the Buddha's family, which is called being placed atop a high banner and raining down various jewels. By virtue of these causes and conditions, one is worthy of receiving vast offerings from the world. If a practitioner directly gains sight of the mind-jewel from the mantra gateway, it is like a wizard skilled in incantations who obtains it through supernatural power. Although skillfulness and clumsiness, difficulty and ease differ, the jewel obtained is ultimately not of a different path. Therefore, this sūtra's extensive clarification of the characteristics of mind from shallow to deep is entirely to reveal the fundamental and incidental causes and conditions of the bodhicitta. If one merely follows conventional doctrinal characteristics, one cannot say: ‘I now fully expound the great secrets of all buddhas.’