金剛般若論會釋 1.3

1.3

Next, outlining the cardinal doctrines and properly commenting on the text of the sūtra is divided into two: first, clarifying the seven semantic topics to set forth the grand framework of the correct exposition; and thereafter, from 'For what reason does the World-Honoured One, through tranquility...' onward, re-explaining the preceding text to explain the immense details of the profound doctrine. The first text is again divided into two: first, identifying the seven semantic topics to manifest the main purport of the entire work; and second, explaining the preceding text and correlating it to the locations in the text of the sūtra. As for the explained terms and meanings, the expressive names and phrases—using the teaching to express meaning—are called phrases endowed with meaning (arthapada), being the phrases of the meaning. Or alternatively, meaning is the expressed, and the phrasing is the expressive; because phrasing follows meaning and both possess seven, they are called seven semantic topics (arthapada). Whether phrased or meant, both possess seven. If following Vasubandhu's 'semantic topics and sequences of the Dharma approaches', it is the meaning of the phrase, termed semantic topic, or it is solely the meaning. Within identifying the seven semantic topics, it is divided into two: first, identifying and listing the seven semantic topics; and second, showing that the seven have distinctions. The first text has three: first, identification; next, listing; and finally, explanation and conclusion. Among the seven, the first six are the expressed meanings, because they are the affairs of a bodhisattva; the seventh is the expressive phrase, because it is the expressive semantic phrase. In both explanations of arthapada, they are expressive. Among the first six, the first three are the sequence of the text, the meaning of the distinct segments; the remaining three abodes clarify that their antidote is the extreme grasping to be severed, and non-loss is the Middle Way to be cultivated. The stages are the specific positions of these two dharmas; they are generally called abodes because they are the grounds upon which those who arouse the mind of the Great Vehicle rely, and they are specifically called stages (bhūmi). The tainted and untainted dharmas of those positions, which promote the arising of each distinct superior dharma of those positions and are able to uphold them without loss, are called stages. That which the general dharmas rely upon and abide in is called an abode (sthāna); that which upholds and generates specific dharmas is called a stage (bhūmi)—such is the distinction between the two.