俱舍論頌疏論本 9.63

9.63

The commentary says: The World-Honoured One taught dependent origination solely in terms of sentient beings in order to dispel delusion regarding the three limits of time. Question: "How do sentient beings have delusion regarding the past limit?" Answer: "They give rise to doubts regarding the past limit such as: 'Did I exist in past lifetimes or not? What kind of self did I have? How did I exist?'" The explanation states: "Existed or did not exist" doubts the existence or non-existence of the self. "What kind of self" doubts the intrinsic nature of the self—whether the self is identical with the skandhas or separate from the skandhas. "How did I exist" doubts the particular characteristics of the self—whether it was an eternal self or an impermanent self.
Question: "How do sentient beings have delusion regarding the future limit?" Answer: "They give rise to doubts regarding the future limit such as: 'Shall I exist in the future or not? What kind of self shall I have? How shall I exist?'" The explanation states: "Shall exist or not" doubts the existence or non-existence of the self. "What kind of self" doubts the intrinsic nature of the self. "How shall I exist" doubts the particular characteristics of the self.
Question: "How do sentient beings have delusion regarding the intermediate limit?" Answer: "They give rise to doubts regarding the intermediate limit such as: 'What is the self? How is this self? Whose is this self? What shall I become?'" The explanation states: "What is the self" doubts the intrinsic nature of the self. "How is this self" doubts the particular characteristics of the self. "Whose is this self" doubts the cause of the self—namely, belonging to what past cause is this present self? "What shall I become" doubts the result of the self—namely, what result shall I possess?
It is to remove such delusions regarding the three limits of time that the sūtras teach dependent origination solely of sentient beings. For a sūtra states: "Monks, listen attentively: if there is a monk who can view dependent origination and dependently arisen dharmas with correct wisdom as they truly are, he will certainly have no delusion regarding the three limits of time, thinking: 'Did I exist in past lifetimes or not?' and so on."