請觀音經疏闡義鈔 1.108

1.108

「但除」下，病謂妄情，法謂三障。妄情若去，障體元真，若破三障即是破德，故但除病不除其法。「蛇虺」者，虺亦蛇也。《爾雅》云「蝮虺博三寸，首大如擘。」注云：身廣三寸，頭大如人擘指。此自一種蛇，名為蝮虺。螫音哲，又音適。蠆，田界反。螫，蠆毒也。蛇虺如三障，毒如妄執。今遣妄執如除毒，不迷三德如不侵人，三障本真如不殞命。如世呪蛇之法，但除其毒耳。「調善」者，謂調惡令善也。「堪任乘御」者，《大經》明呪師呪毒龍等堪可乘御，非殞彼命也。「隨應得度」者，以性惡不可斷故，故至果上為機所扣，現四惡趣身。

Below "only removing," the illness refers to delusive feelings, and the dharmas refer to the three obstacles. If delusive feelings are gone, the essence of the obstacles is originally true; if one destroys the three obstacles, that would be destroying the virtues, hence one only removes the illness and does not remove the dharmas. Regarding "serpents and vipers," a viper is also a snake. The Erya says: "The pit viper is three inches broad, its head as large as a thumb." The commentary says: its body is three inches wide, and its head is as large as a person's thumb. This is a distinct kind of snake, named the pit viper. Zhe (螫) is pronounced zhe, or pronounced shi. Chai (蠆) has the fanqie pronunciation tian-jie. Zhe is the poison of a scorpion. The serpents and vipers are like the three obstacles, and the poison is like delusive attachment. Now, expelling delusive attachment is like removing the poison; not being deluded about the three virtues is like not harming people; the three obstacles being originally true is like not taking its life. Just as in the worldly method of incanting snakes, one only removes their poison. Regarding "taming to goodness," it means taming the evil to make it good. Regarding "fit for riding," the Great Sūtra explains that when a spell-master incants poisonous dragons and the like, they become fit for riding, rather than having their lives extinguished. Regarding "liberated according to appropriateness," because inherent evil cannot be severed, when reaching the fruit, stimulated by capacities, he manifests bodies of the four evil destinies.