中觀論疏 10.35

10.35

「答曰」下，第二正明十二因緣觀。問：何故聲聞入道觀十二因緣耶？答：欲明三乘同度十二緣河，故同觀此也。問：觀十二因緣有幾種耶？答：約三乘人，亦得即成三品。又《智度論》釋〈無盡品〉亦明三品：一者下品，即是凡夫順十二因緣河。二者中品，所謂二乘逆十二緣河。三菩薩上品，悟十二緣不生不滅非逆非順，故異彼聖凡名獨菩薩法。問：菩薩為從果觀十二、為從因觀？答：《智度論》云「愛多者從果觀，見老病死破著樂心；見多者從因觀，知因果相生不起邪見。菩薩是利根，為眾生故亦從果觀。」《婆沙》「問云：菩薩於一切根中最上，何故前觀果耶？一解云：隨順法故。菩薩見老病死，作是思惟：此老病死何由而有？知從生有，故前觀果。」此解與智度論同。又解：為初學者，前觀於果。菩薩於最後生名為初學，雖曾無數劫觀於因緣，復若觀時還從本起。如人雖數上樹，後若上時還從根上。問曰：此是何等菩薩？答：此猶明三藏中小乘菩薩耳。若本大乘菩薩，觀因果無定，亦不作因果而觀。如《涅槃》十二因緣具足十不。問：若小乘菩薩既從果觀十二，今此文云何從因觀耶？答：聲聞法中自有利鈍。鈍者從果觀，故四十四智，謂老死果、老死集、老死滅、老死滅道。一支有四，故成四十四智。利根人觀十二有七十七智，無明緣行，此是生法智也；非不無明緣行，此審法智也。一世有二，三世為六，此六是法住智，并泥洹智故稱為七。一枝有七，故合七十七也。四十四除無明，七十七除老死。

From 'He answers' onward is the second part, directly explaining the contemplation of the twelve links of dependent origination. Question: Why do Śrāvakas enter the Path by contemplating the twelve links of dependent origination? Answer: In order to show that the three vehicles cross the river of the twelve links together, they therefore contemplate this alike. Question: How many kinds of contemplation of the twelve links of dependent origination are there? Answer: In terms of the persons of the three vehicles, there are also three grades. Furthermore, the *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa*, explaining the 'Inexhaustible Chapter', also clarifies three grades: first, the lower grade, which is ordinary beings going along with the river of the twelve links of dependent origination; second, the middle grade, which is the two vehicles going against the river of the twelve links; third, the superior grade of bodhisattvas, who awaken to the twelve links as neither arising nor ceasing, neither going against nor going along with; hence, being different from those saints and ordinary beings, it is called the unique dharma of bodhisattvas. Question: Does a bodhisattva contemplate the twelve links starting from the effect, or starting from the cause? Answer: The *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa* says: 'Those with more craving contemplate from the effect, seeing aging, sickness, and death to break the mind attached to pleasure; those with more [wrong] views contemplate from the cause, knowing the mutual arising of causes and effects so as not to give rise to heterodox views. Bodhisattvas possess sharp faculties, and for the sake of sentient beings, they also contemplate from the effect.' The *Vibhāṣā* asks: 'A bodhisattva is the foremost among all faculties; why does he first contemplate the effect?' One explanation says: 'Because it accords with the way dharmas are. Seeing aging, sickness, and death, the bodhisattva reflects: Whence do this aging, sickness, and death arise? Knowing they arise from birth, he therefore contemplates the effect first.' This explanation is the same as that of the *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa*. Another explanation: for beginners, he contemplates the effect first. A bodhisattva in his final life is called a beginner; though he has contemplated dependent origination for countless kalpas, when he contemplates again, he still begins from the root. Just as when a person climbs a tree many times, whenever he climbs later, he still starts from the base. Question: What kind of bodhisattva is this? Answer: This still refers to the Hīnayāna bodhisattva in the Tripiṭaka. If he were fundamentally a Mahāyāna bodhisattva, his contemplation of cause and effect would not be fixed, nor would he contemplate them as cause and effect. As in the *Nirvāṇa-sūtra*, the twelve links of dependent origination are endowed with the ten negations. Question: If the Hīnayāna bodhisattva contemplates the twelve links starting from the effect, why does the present text contemplate from the cause? Answer: Within the Śrāvaka dharma, there are naturally sharp and dull faculties. The dull contemplate from the effect, hence the forty-four knowledges, which are: the effect of aging and death, the origin of aging and death, the cessation of aging and death, and the path to the cessation of aging and death. One link has four, thus making forty-four knowledges. Persons of sharp faculties contemplate the twelve with seventy-seven knowledges: 'ignorance conditions karmic formations'—this is the knowledge of arising dharmas; 'not that ignorance does not condition karmic formations'—this is the knowledge of ascertaining dharmas. One period of time has two, and the three times have six; these six are knowledges of the abiding of dharmas, which together with the knowledge of nirvāṇa are called seven. One link has seven, thus totaling seventy-seven. The forty-four exclude fundamental ignorance, and the seventy-seven exclude aging and death.