金剛般若論會釋 1.2

1.2

The whole work is divided into three parts: first, venerating one's master and stating the intention of the composition; next, outlining the cardinal doctrines and properly commenting on the text of the sūtra; and finally, lamenting that because of foolishness the profound Dharma has become obscured and extinguished. Within the first part, the three verses are divided into two sections: the first two and a half verses take refuge in and venerate the masters, while the latter half verse states the intention of the composition. Within the first section there are again two parts: the first two verses distinctly display the Three Jewels, and the latter half verse generally pays homage to the masters. Within this first part there are again two: the first verse and a half solely venerates the Dharma, and the latter half verse venerates the Buddha and the Saṃgha. Within the veneration of the Dharma, it is divided into three: the first half verse praises the divine power of the Buddha's Dharma, because it gives birth to the saṃbhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya, and manifests the dharmakāya; the next half verse praises the depth and subtlety of the Dharma, its words and principles being firm and pure, because the host of sages are baffled by it; the latter half verse praises the profound conciseness of the Dharma, whose phrasing is brief while its meaning is vast, because its majestic power is supreme. The 'Wise One' refers to the Buddha. 'Having heard it, he explained it for me' refers to the Saṃgha of the Bodhisattva Maitreya; for the verses of Vasubandhu's treatise were spoken by the Bodhisattva Maitreya to Asaṅga, and Asaṅga transmitted them to Vasubandhu, instructing him to compose an explanation. Vasubandhu's verse states: 'The semantic topics and sequences of the Dharma approaches / Are not understood by the world without clear wisdom; / The Great Wise One who has penetrated them instructed us...' This clarifies that Maitreya directly instructed Asaṅga, and Asaṅga in turn instructed Vasubandhu. Taking refuge and paying homage to the field of merit ought in principle to be all-pervasive, but these three are spoken of here because they are what the sūtra relies upon and what generates it: the expounder and what is expounded, the basis of teaching and the basis of meaning—each is revered in its preeminent chief, thus subsuming all the rest.