金剛般若論會釋 2.91

2.91

That treatise also says: Relying on the samādhi of sealing and conforming, one generates the lower knowledge conforming to reality; one definitively seals and maintains that there is no object grasped, and regarding the absence of the grasping subject, one also conforms to, delights in, and approves it. Since there is no real objective realm separate from the grasping consciousness, how could there be a real consciousness separate from the grasped realm? This is because the grasped and the grasping are established in mutual dependence. At the time of sealing and conforming endurance, it is collectively designated as endurance (kṣānti); sealing what precedes and conforming to what follows, it is designated as 'sealing and conforming'; enduring the emptiness of both realm and consciousness, it is therefore also called 'endurance.' The meaning here is that endurance has three grades: lower endurance seals the absence of the grasped object; middle endurance conformingly contemplates the grasping subject as empty; upper endurance seals and maintains that the grasping subject is nonexistent. When first engaging in search-seeking (saṃparyeṣaṇā) to contemplate the absence of the grasped object, the contemplation is not yet superior, so it is divided into [the stages of] heat and summits. Their duration is somewhat long. During the three periods of endurance: first one seals that the grasped is nonexistent, next one contemplates that the grasping is nonexistent, and finally one seals that both are nonexistent. Because [understanding the emptiness of] the grasping is easy, they are combined into one designation and not divided into multiple stages. Because lower endurance seals the absence of the grasped, and the upper stage of contemplation seals the absence of the grasping, middle endurance—although it is not a sealing—is collectively designated 'endurance' because the first and last are sealings. Regarding the absence of the two graspings, one is already able to contemplate them distinctly and already able to seal them, but because one has not yet sealed both simultaneously and has not yet realized tathatā, immediately thereafter in a single thought-moment one seals both simultaneously, which is called the stage of supreme worldly dharmas (laukikāgradharma), whereupon one immediately enters realization. The Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi says: Relying on the immediate samādhi, one generates the upper knowledge conforming to reality, which seals the emptiness of both graspings, establishing the stage of supreme worldly dharmas. This means that while the preceding upper endurance only seals the emptiness of the grasping subject, the present supreme worldly dharmas simultaneously seals both as empty. From this point, without interval, one must enter the path of seeing, hence the name 'immediate' is established; because this is the most supreme among the dharmas of ordinary beings, it is called the 'supreme worldly dharmas.' Therefore, this twelfth [remedy], 'freeing from the obstacle of having no oral instruction and cultivating the practice of seeking oral instruction,' corresponds to endurance and supreme worldly dharmas. Because supreme worldly dharmas lasts for only a single thought-moment, simultaneously sealing the emptiness of the two preceding graspings without separate extensive practice, they are spoken of collectively. Therefore, from this summit stage up to the culmination of search-seeking, one abides in conformity with what is contemplated; in the endurance stage, the mental modes become increasingly superior, so without seeking instruction, there is no way to advance cultivation. If one wishes to advance cultivation, one must seek oral instruction; once oral instruction is obtained, practicing according to the teaching, one then enters the stage of the noble ones. It is not that one seeks oral instruction only after having passed beyond the four stages before entering the path of realization, because within a single thought-moment without any interval or separation, one enters tathatā immediately.