大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 3.19

3.19

The sūtra says: 'Furthermore, Secret Lord, just as when a person holds a firebrand in hand and spins it around in the air, the appearance of a wheel is produced,'—this is like a person holding a firebrand and rotating it in the air to create various appearances, whether square, round, triangular, or a crescent, large or small, long or short, as one pleases. The foolish and young observe it, take it to be a real thing, and form an attached thought. Yet in reality, no phenomenon is produced at all; it is merely that the swift force in the hand is able to wield a single fire to form immeasurable appearances. When mantra practitioners are in yoga, whatever they wield in accord with the mind is accomplished without exception, even to the point where spinning unhindered at the single syllable A gateway forms immeasurable Dharma gateways. At that time, they should form this contemplation: it is brought about solely through the skillful use of the swift power of the single substance of the pure bodhicitta; they must not form various views within it, deeming it superior and marvelous and generating prapañca. The *Treatise* does not have the fire-wheel simile, but has a different shadow simile, which says: 'Like a shadow that can be seen but cannot be grasped, all phenomena are likewise: seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing through the visual faculties and the rest are truly ungraspable. Furthermore, like a shadow that appears when reflecting light and is absent when not reflecting it, when the afflictions of the defilements obstruct the light of right view, there are the characteristic marks of self and the characteristic marks of phenomena. Again, like a shadow that departs when the person departs, moves when the person moves, and stays when the person stays, the shadow of good and bad karma is also like this: when going to a future life, it also goes; when staying in the present life, it also stays, because retribution is uninterrupted. When [karmas of] fault and merit ripen, it emerges. Yet this shadow is not an existent thing; it is merely a phenomenon that deceives the eyes.' Just as spinning a firebrand swiftly turns to form a wheel without being truly existent, the meaning of the simile is largely the same.