金剛般若論會釋 1.19

1.19

The passage below the sūtra text "if there is feeling, it is all suffering" is the treatise's explanation: feeling suffering, because of the arising of that suffering, is the suffering of suffering; feeling pleasure, because of its destruction, is the suffering of change; being inseparable from the impermanence of the previous two is the suffering of conditioned existence. The desire realm possesses all three, the form realm possesses two, and from the fourth dhyāna upward there is one. Later it speaks of the metaphors of the three periods of time, conforming to the characteristic of renunciation, because being free from the three periods of time does not generate the preceding faults, and conforming to the two selflessnesses one attains renunciation. If one grasps the three periods of time, then one knows there is no renunciation through the two selves. Therefore, it only speaks of nine metaphors, neither more nor less, which differ from eight metaphors, five metaphors, and so forth, and should be harmonized and explained. However, Vasubandhu's treatise says: What merit is obtained from contemplating these nine dharmas? It also agrees with this: "Contemplating characteristics, enjoyment, and matters in the three periods of time among conditioned phenomena, one attains undefiled mastery." By contemplating the dependent nature of these nine dharmas, one is not bound by the evil karma of saṃsāra, and readily attains the sublime fruit and mastery in renunciation.