佛遺教經論疏節要 1.9

1.9

Sūtras have two titles: general and specific. "Buddha's Bequeathed Teaching" is the specific title; "Sūtra" is the general title. In Sanskrit, it is fully stated as "Buddha"; here it is translated as "Awakened One", referring to one who is awakened to nature and characteristics. It possesses three meanings: first, self-enlightenment, awakening to the fact that one's own mind originally has no arising or ceasing; second, enlightening others, awakening to the fact that all phenomena are nothing other than suchness; third, perfection of enlightenment, when the principle of the two enlightenments is roundly perfected, it is called "perfection". According to the Qixin lun, three meanings are also displayed: first, initial enlightenment, which is the wisdom that can realise; second, original enlightenment, which is the principle realised; third, ultimate enlightenment, where wisdom and principle merge and initial and original [enlightenment] are non-dual. Furthermore, the first roll of the Buddhabhūmi-śāstra states that "Buddha" has ten meanings, which are omitted to avoid prolixity. "Bequeathed teaching" means leaving behind instructions and admonitions to urge those various capacities. "Teaching" (jiao) means to emulate (xiao), causing sentient beings to emulate it. "Sūtra" in Sanskrit is sūtra; anciently translated as "matching warp" (qijing), the correct translation is "thread". Since this land does not value the term "thread", "sūtra" (jing) is retained. The Buddhabhūmi-śāstra states: "Because it can string together and gather in, it is called a sūtra." This is because the Buddha's bequeathed teaching strings together the intended meanings and gathers in the sentient beings to be transformed.