大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 5.9

5.9

The first half-gāthā praises the path of the Secret Vehicle. The 'wondrous vow' refers to the vow of sarvajñatā. If one enters this gateway of pure bodhi, one illumines and sees the clear path of the mental phenomena, which is the great bodhi path of the ancient buddhas; therefore it is called 'this wondrous path of vows'. The meaning of 'great mind' is as explained above under mahāsattva. The multitude of great minds of past, future, and present all ride this jewel vehicle straight to the place of awakening (bodhimaṇḍa); therefore it is called 'the Mahāyāna of the great mind'. The next gāthā praises the merits of the practitioner giving rise to the bodhicitta, and directly by means of the definitive Dharma seal of all tathāgatas confers upon them the prophecy of great bodhi; therefore it says: 'Now that you can resolutely seek, you shall accomplish the Tathāgata, / the great nāga of innate wisdom, revered by the world like a stūpa.' 'Innate wisdom' is the wisdom of the Tathāgata's own self-awakening and self-realization; Dharma that was previously unheard and unknown naturally appears clear and manifest before one without obstruction, hence it is so named. 'Mahānāga' is an alternative title for the Tathāgata, used as a metaphor for his inconceivable and boundless great function. 'Caitya' is translated as 'cluster of blessings', meaning that all merits of the buddhas are clustered therein; therefore people of the world all make offerings and pay reverence to it to seek blessings. Now that you have given rise to the bodhicitta, you can also embrace the boundless clusters of blessings of all tathāgatas; therefore the world should revere you with the thought of a stūpa. Next there is one and a half gāthās showing the seal of the real mark of the pure bodhicitta, which is opening the knowledge and vision of the Buddha to make them pure. 'Transcending both existence and nonexistence' refers to the inconceivable middle path arising from conditions, going beyond nihilism and eternalism, neither existent nor nonexistent, the place where all mental measures cannot reach; therefore it is named the stainless space-vajra-jñānamudrā. 'All phenomena are exceedingly deep and profound': because the mind-nature is exceedingly deep, one should know that the skandhas, dhātus, āyatanas, and so forth up to sarvākārajñatā are also exceedingly deep, because all phenomena do not depart from the real mark of the mind. Such a real mark can only be known by a buddha and a buddha, and cannot be reached by cogitation and conceptual differentiation; therefore it is called 'exceedingly deep and profound'. 'Mundane wisdom cannot comprehend': this states that this mind-nature cannot be conceived by any worldly persons of sharp faculties and intelligence; even if great debate masters such as the long-nailed brahmacārin (Dīrghanakha) use various causes, conditions, metaphors, and adornments to compare and measure it, in the end it is not their realm, and bitterly pondering and seeking it will only drive them mad; only those of firm faith relying on this secret upāya can enter it. 'Having no containment': what is called 'difficult to comprehend' lies precisely in this state of having no containment; because one knows in accordance with reality that the skandhas and the ālaya are originally unborn, there is nothing apprehended and nothing contained; at that time, all deluded thoughts and prapañca of the mind, thought, and consciousness (citta-manas-vijñāna) are completely purified, and the dharmadhātu is circularly illumined like an autumn moon in the sky; therefore the next line says, 'free from all deluded thoughts'. The Sanskrit text says 'free from all prapañca and deluded thoughts'; here, because the wording in the verse is abbreviated and the meaning is not different, it is not preserved in full. The next line says, 'because prapañca is originally nonexistent': if preserved in full according to the Sanskrit text, it should say 'because prapañca is without prapañca'; for all prapañca arises from conditions and has no intrinsic nature (svabhāva). Having no intrinsic nature is precisely being originally unborn; therefore it explains the previous line by stating that this very prapañca is itself without prapañca. Here it is expressed according to the general sense, hence it says 'originally nonexistent'. Next there are two lines explaining the ultimate upāya of this pure bodhicitta: by going beyond all deluded karma, one is able to accomplish the Tathāgata's wisdom-karma. The universal guidance and benefit is entirely a great cause and condition; therefore all that is done is without equal; hence it says 'all karma is peerless'. Next, explaining the previous line in turn, it unifies and discusses the grand principles of the conventional and the ultimate, hence saying 'always relying on the two truths'. This is what the treatise states: 'The buddhas preach the Dharma always relying on the two truths.' Now, the doctrine of this sūtra is that performing various fully equipped upāyas all conforms to conventional truth, and through this condition one obtains the seal of sarvajñajñāna, which is the ultimate truth; therefore the conventional truth is the cause and the ultimate truth is the fruit; the cause is like the four flavors, all being impermanent, and the fruit is like ghee, which is permanent. Yet when viewed with the lines on the ten conditionally arisen metaphors, the real mark of conventional truth is precisely the paramārtha-satya; therefore the provisional and the real are mutually identical and both inconceivable. Although these two lines are succinct, they can cause the practitioner to have no further doubt regarding all the upāyas of the tathāgatas; therefore one should extend this by analogy to connect and penetrate the text and meaning of the entire work. Having briefly revealed the path of great bodhi, it concludes by encouraging and sealing it; therefore it says: 'This vehicle is a wondrous vow; you should abide in this path', which is also to reiterate the meaning of granting the prophecy.