首楞嚴義疏注經 1.9

1.9

In the first [gate], there are two parts: first, general; second, specific. Regarding the general: it refers to responding to causes and answering requests, revealing principle and delivering sentient beings. The arising of the teachings of the [Buddha's] entire generation all stems from this. If we trace the original intent of the Buddha, it was solely for the one great causal condition, desiring to cause sentient beings to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter the Buddha's knowledge and vision. Although the three carts were all promised, he only bestowed the white bullock cart; it was solely for the one vehicle, with neither three nor two. Regarding the specific, there are ten reasons for speaking this sūtra: First, in order to clearly reveal the true samādhi. This means that Ānanda encountered disaster precisely because he lacked true meditative stability; therefore, he requested the initial expedient means of the wondrous śamatha, samādhi, and dhyāna through which all buddhas achieve bodhi. And the Buddha agreed, saying there is a samādhi called the King of the Great Buddha-Crest Śūraṅgama, fully endowed with the ten thousand practices, the wondrously adorned path by which the tathāgatas of the ten directions transcend through a single gate. As for his repeated request and self-reproach, expecting [the Buddha] to bestow it upon him, his verse praising it as rare, and so forth, down to the Tathāgata reciting and praising it by the name vajra-king illusion-like samādhi; commanding the exposition of perfect penetration, Mañjuśrī's selecting and displaying it, pointing out that the buddhas of the three periods share this same gate; the preparatory practices in the sanctuary, accomplishing the holy stages, establishing the title of this sūtra, destroying the seven destinies, and identifying various demons—all were for this purpose. Second, in order to broadly refute various false attachments. This means Ānanda attached to falsehood and was deluded about the real, and King Prasenajit attached to permanence as annihilation. There was the sevenfold interrogation on the mind and the three doubts raised in contention. The Buddha spoke again: 'If you cling to the discriminating consciousness as your mind,' and so forth. Therefore, based on the two approaches of mind and seeing, he broadly refuted according to their attachments; the characteristics of these attachments are not apart from person and dharmas. Third, in order to disclose the wondrously bright mind. This means when Ānanda initially requested samādhi, the Buddha first examined his initial aspiration; since he displayed the source of love and views, he was completely deluded about the real essence. He then said: 'Sentient beings' continuous cycle of birth and death from beginningless time is entirely due to not knowing the permanently abiding true mind.' This true wondrous brightness is itself the fundamentally pure essence of bodhi and nirvāṇa. Therefore, Ānanda reproached himself for not knowing the quiescent and eternal, and the Tathāgata granted permission to reveal the wondrously bright nature. First, with respect to the two approaches of mind and seeing, he alternately interrogated and revealed; later, through the three categories and seven great elements, he distinctly and clearly converged them, causing them to see in each and every dharma that the nature is eternal, completely pervasive and harmonious, containing and subsuming without obstruction. The assembly all understood, knowing of themselves that the mind pervades the ten directions, all existing things are themselves the wondrous essence of bodhi, and the fundamentally bright mind completely contains the ten directions of space; body, realm, and space are entirely ungraspable, and there is only the single, fundamentally wondrous, permanently abiding and unperishing [nature]. When Pūrṇa doubted phenomenal characteristics and Ānanda questioned causes and conditions again, the Buddha gave instructions accordingly, causing them to attain knowledge and vision. Fourth, in order to cut through the net of doubts of the assembly. This means when the Buddha revealed true seeing, Ānanda gave rise to doubts with each seeing: shrinking or cutting off, separation from the body, causes and conditions, spontaneity, combination, non-combination, clinging to characteristics and doubting the nature, the great elements being pervasive and perfect, the extinction of falsehood giving rise to falsehood, becoming real or unreal, cultivating an impermanent cause to obtain a permanently abiding fruit. Since the net of doubts was manifold, the Buddha severed them accordingly. Fifth, in order to analyze the gate of practice. This means when the Buddha broadly demonstrated the essence of the tathāgatagarbha, Ānanda understood it deeply; he presented an analogy of a heavenly king bestowing an ornate mansion: although knowing of what was bestowed, he had no doorway to enter, having realized that extensive learning does not match actual cultivation. Thus he asked: 'From where does one subdue past conditioned clinging to enter the Buddha's knowledge and vision?' The Buddha presented two decisive meanings as the initial mind of generating awakening; that is, śamatha and vipaśyanā are the essentials. First, he commanded him to reverse falsehood with clarity to achieve non-arising and non-ceasing; next, he commanded him to examine afflictions closely to know the faculties and subdue them. Once one faculty is reversed, the remaining faculties naturally revert; all delusions dissolve away, so what need to wait for the real? Sixth, in order to distinguish between correct and deviant practice. This means Ānanda had already awakened to cultivation, but future generations would not know the correct and the deviant; although aspiring to the correct path, many fall into deviant traditions, like pouring water into a leaky vessel—how could it ever be filled? Ānanda requested: 'Sentient beings are gradually further removed from the Buddha, and deviant teachers preaching the Dharma are extremely numerous; we wish to cause their minds to enter the Buddha-vehicle and stay far from demons without retrogressing.' The Buddha presented the four clear instructions on purity, the common path of all the sages; if the root of the precepts is uncompromised, meditative stability and wisdom can be relied upon. If one is not strict regarding pure prohibitions, even if dhyāna and wisdom are vast and deep, one can hardly escape becoming kin of ghosts and demons; seeking to advance but stepping backward, how truly lamentable! Seventh, in order to reveal the supreme efficacy of the mantra. This means Ānanda's peril lay with Mātaṅgī, and the Tathāgata sent the mantra to rescue him. Although the power arrived, the secret words had not been heard. How much more can it covertly protect the gates of the faculties and guard against past habits; the purification precepts are naturally fulfilled without being formally received, and the realization of fruits is obtainable without being far off. Dispelling difficulties and gaining benefits, practicing for oneself and transforming others, both causal persons and fruition persons accomplish their tasks by this. Eighth, in order that realization of entry has stages. This means principle transcends cultivation and realization, while phenomena retain stages and gradual progress; leaning to one side leads to the sickness of emptiness or existence, while perfect penetration harmonizes the real and the conventional; therefore, without damaging quiescence, the various stages are established. Ānanda, knowing the capacities, made the request, and the Tathāgata gave instruction according to practice: beginning with gradual steps and ending in the ultimate fruit, establishing fifty-seven stages within the forbearance of non-arising dharmas; severing without severing, the obstacles of delusion are necessarily destroyed; realizing without realizing, the spiritual functions are fully prepared. How could it be like demons and outsiders having no stages whatsoever? The text says: 'These various grounds all employ the ten profound analogies of vajra contemplation of the illusion-like; within śamatha, one employs the pure cultivation and realization of all the tathāgatas' vipaśyanā, gradually entering deeply.' Ninth, in order to broadly demonstrate the various demonic realms. This means among those who cultivate dhyāna contemplation, none fail to have a beginning, but few are able to carry it to the end; this is because they do not understand the demonic realms, falsely give rise to graspings, fail to comprehend that it is mind-only, and consequently branch off into various paths. The Buddha's compassion is unconditional; he preached without being asked. In contemplation breaking the aggregates, with ten kinds for each aggregate, the fifty realms analyze the sources of deviance, so that in the final age those cultivating dhyāna may avoid being deluded by them. Tenth, in order to exhaustively investigate the source of false thinking. This means all sūtras speak of the five aggregates, but none have heard of them being formed of five false thinkings. Now it is clarified that when breaking one aggregate, one false thinking emerges; breaking them proceeds from coarse to subtle, while their arising manifests from subtle to coarse; their root source is solely the single aggregate of consciousness; the aggregate of consciousness has no substance, being merely the perfect and eternal. The text says: 'Subtly entering and uniting with clarity, returning to the boundary of consciousness.' Having known that the five aggregates are all false thinking, what is there that the dharmas subsumed by the five aggregates do not encompass? The treatise says: 'All dharmas have distinctions solely reliant on delusional thoughts; if one is free from thoughts of the mind, there are no characteristics of any realms.' For these ten purposes, this sūtra was spoken.