中觀論疏 1.3

1.3

Sengrui was a man from Changle in Weijun. Leaving home in his youth, he took Master Sengxian as his teacher. He once attended lectures given by Kang Senglang of Zhongshan, frequently raising critiques and difficult objections, which that master deeply praised. At the age of twenty-four, he traveled widely through famous regions, constantly expounding and propagating the Dharma, his deportment upright and noble. One text states: "Of fragrant deportment and noble integrity, of icy, frost-like purity of character." When Kumārajīva arrived in Chang'an, [Sengrui] studied under him. Among the three thousand disciples, only eight were admitted to the inner chamber, and Sengrui was foremost among them. As the saying goes, "Among the elder [students] were Daorong and Sengrui; among the younger were Daosheng and Sengzhao." Kumārajīva sighed with praise, saying: "The transmission of my teachings rests upon Daorong, Tanying, and Sengrui!" When Kumārajīva finished translating the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra, he instructed Sengrui to lecture on it. He said to Daorong: "In this polemical treatise there are seven places that refute the Abhidharma, where the phrasing is somewhat obscure. If he can manage without asking me, he may truly be called a superior talent." Daorong said: "His intellectual capacity is well endowed; he will not necessarily need to consult you." [Sengrui] then analyzed and untangled it exhaustively, and the assembly revered and admired him all the more. When the Son of Heaven Yao Xing heard of Sengrui's exemplary conduct, he asked Yao Song, the Marquis of Ancheng: "What kind of man is Sengrui?" Yao Song replied: "He is like the pine and cypress of the Ye and Wei rivers." Later, [Yao Xing] personally summoned Sengrui for an audience, and said to Yao Song: "He is indeed an exemplar for the whole world; how could he be confined only to the Ye and Wei?" Thereupon his admirable reputation spread far and wide, resounding both near and abroad. He composed prefaces to the Madhyamaka-śāstra, the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra, the Dhyāna-sūtra, and others, which were elegantly circulated in the world. He lived to sixty-one years of age. More than one person composed a preface to the Madhyamaka-śāstra: Tanying composed a preface to his commentary on its meaning, and Daolang of Hexi also composed a treatise preface. Yet Master Sengrui's phrasing and meaning are complete and comprehensive, his principles and particulars refined and profound. When the Preceptor of Xinghuang Temple gave lectures, he would always read it aloud, truly trusting and loving antiquity, transmitting rather than inventing. However, its prose contains subtle and obscure points, which I shall briefly explain. Regarding this single preface, it is divided into seven sections: first, general indication of the person and the teaching; second, explaining the title; third, recounting the treatise's background and origin; fourth, praising and explaining its function; fifth, discussing Piṅgala, who annotated the treatise; sixth, extensively praising the four treatises; seventh, the author's own expression of modesty. "The five hundred verses of the Madhyamaka-śāstra" indicates the teaching that was composed. "Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna" introduces the person capable of composing it. The Way does not operate in isolation; its propagation depends upon people. Therefore, the Way that was propagated is clarified first, and the person who propagated the Way is introduced after. Furthermore, titling it with the five hundred verses of the Madhyamaka-śāstra honors the teaching; [naming] Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna reveres the person. Furthermore, the first clause distinguishes it from the teachings of the two extremes; the second clause differentiates him from persons of the Hīnayāna. As for the term "Madhyamaka-śāstra," this has already been fully explained in the Profound Meaning. Now, in explaining the preface, five meanings are briefly clarified: First, this treatise determines the biased and the orthodox within the Buddha's Dharma, and decides the root origin of gains and errors; hence Nāgārjuna designated it by the name Madhyamaka-śāstra. Second, this text treats the principle of the middle and the real, deriving its name from the true principle it expounds; thus it is called Madhyamaka-śāstra. The "Chapter on Karma" states: "The meaning clarified by this treatise is free from views of annihilation and permanence; therefore it is called Madhyamaka-śāstra." Third, Nāgārjuna composed altogether three treatises: first, the extensive Akutobhayā; second, the abridged Dvādaśamukha-śāstra; and now this is an intermediate, balanced exposition, and is therefore called Madhyamaka-śāstra. Fourth, expressing meaning through phrasing: this treatise has no background account at the beginning, and leaves off surplus elaboration at the end, having only the primary text to express the meaning and principle through its words; hence it is called Madhyamaka-śāstra. Fifth, the Great Being Nāgārjuna is a person of the middle way, and this is what a person of the middle way has produced; deriving its title from the person, it is called Madhyamaka-śāstra. "Five hundred verses": having previously indicated its title, it now introduces the number of verses. There are two kinds of verses: First, the śloka, which refers to the Central Asian method of counting scripture, being a general verse. "General verse" means that regardless of whether it is prose or metrical verse, so long as the count reaches thirty-two syllables, it constitutes a verse. Second, specific verses, which refers to rhymed, concluding verses; regardless of whether they are four-, five-, six-, or seven-syllable lines, so long as four lines are complete, it constitutes a verse. As for "verse," in the full phonetics of foreign countries it should be pronounced jieye (geya), or called geya; here, retaining an abbreviation, it is simply called ji (verse). Ji means line or stanza. Furthermore, regarding the term ji, the Chinese books of this land also contain this sound, glossed as "exhausting the meaning" (jie), signifying that it completely exhausts the clarification of the meaning; hence it is called ji. But verses formed of concluding lines are of two kinds: first, loka verses, which are verses summarizing prose; second, gāthā verses, which are independent verses. The verses referred to in this treatise are specific verses among the two kinds of general and specific, and the latter kind among the two, namely independent verses. As for "five hundred": examining the text, there are altogether four hundred and forty-six verses; this either rounds up to the major total, or the translation was not complete, and it is called five hundred based on the original. The texts of various sūtras and treatises are of three kinds: first, prose only, such as the Śata-śāstra; second, verse only, such as this text; third, having both kinds, such as the Dvādaśamukha-śāstra and its sort. Nāgārjuna's Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā states: "Some take pleasure in prose, some in metrical verse, and some in miscellaneous decorative expressions and phrasing; as their preferences differ, I accommodate them without rejection." Treatises having three types being so, the principle of the sūtras is likewise. As for Nāgārjuna: according to Sanskrit phonetics, it should be ga-na-fu-li-cha (Nāgavṛkṣa); gana means nāga (dragon), and fulicha means vṛkṣa (tree). The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa states: "Tonglongmo means nāga, and fulicha is the general name for tree; its specific name is arjuna, like the pear and plum trees here." Question: What stage of person was Nāgārjuna? Answer: The traces of the sages are unfathomable; their heights and depths cannot be easily measured. We merely narrate their depth based on scriptures and biographies. Master Sengrui said: "His merits reached the tenth bhūmi, his path modeled after one in his final rebirth before Buddhahood; he was a person of consummate study." A biography states: "The sun of wisdom had already set, and this man made it shine once more. The world had long slept in darkness, and this man awakened them to study. Foreign countries erected shrines to him and served him like a Buddha. How could one know that he was not a Buddha manifesting as a bodhisattva?" Master Yuan of Mount Kuang said: "His name penetrated the stages of the Path, his virtue was equipped with the three patiences; he was also an exalted person of the ten bhūmis." According to the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra, Bodhisattva Mahāmati asked: "After the World-Honoured One passes into nirvāṇa, who will uphold the Buddha's Dharma?" The Buddha answered: "Mahāmati, you should know that in the great land of South India there will be a bhikṣu of great virtue named Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna. He will preach the supreme Mahāyāna Dharma to people, be able to destroy views of existence and non-existence, abide in the initial Pramuditā-bhūmi, and be reborn in the Land of Peace and Nurture (Sukhāvatī)." Commentators explain this passage differently. The old view held that Nāgārjuna was a person of the first bhūmi. Yao Dao'an of Guannei, who studied the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, said: "This was Nāgārjuna guiding sentient beings to enter the first bhūmi, whereas in reality he was a person of the tenth bhūmi." Question: Which reliance among the [four] reliances was he? Answer: If he is said to be of the first bhūmi, he was a person of the second reliance; if he was one of consummate study, he was a person of the fourth reliance. Question: What are the four reliances? Answer: Taking one classification for the moment: in the Hīnayāna, prior to the path of seeing, those possessing afflictions are the first reliance; srotāpannas and sakṛdāgāmins are the second reliance; anāgāmins are the third reliance; and arhats are the fourth reliance. With respect to the Mahāyāna, compared to that, those at the stage of the ten dedications are the first reliance; the first bhūmi through the seventh bhūmi are the second reliance; the eighth and ninth bhūmis are the third reliance; and the tenth bhūmi is the fourth reliance. According to the Laṅkāvatāra, he was the second reliance; according to Master Sengrui, he was the fourth reliance. Because in Śākyamuni Buddha's Dharma there is no separate Bodhisattva Saṅgha, and Nāgārjuna was an ordained monastic, he is categorized according to the stages of the Hīnayāna. "His name penetrated the stages of the Path" is a general designation for the bodhisattva stages. "His virtue was equipped with the three patiences" refers to the patience of faith, the patience of compliance, and the anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti. Question: Did Nāgārjuna have other names? Answer: Yes. The Mādhyamakānugama-śāstra was composed by Vasubandhu. Calling it the Treatise in Accordance with the Middle means it extensively cites sūtras such as the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā to corroborate and explain the eight negations. The eight negations are precisely the middle way; explaining the meaning based on the text, it is called the Mādhyamakānugama-śāstra. The Mādhyamakānugama-śāstra refers to "Bodhisattva Nāgajaya (Longsheng), not Nāgārjuna"; they should now be reconciled. Because he perfected his supreme path through the dragon (nāga), he is called Nāgajaya; this merely narrates his courtesy name. The former presents both the monastic and lay aspects, so there is no conflict in meaning.