中觀論疏 8.9

8.9

"Not severed by seeing the truths, but severed only by contemplation": the third section differentiates the category of severed and unsevered. The Mahāyānasaṃgraha, according to the Mahāyāna doctrine, divides [defilements into those of] seeing and contemplation: the first bhūmi is the path of seeing, and from the second bhūmi up to the vajra[-like samādhi] is the path of cultivation; when the ālaya reaches the state of the vajra-mind that counteracts it, the fundamental consciousness is entirely extinguished. Since the ālaya is a resultant consciousness, it is subsumed under the truth of suffering; as realization gradually brightens, the resultant consciousness of saṃsāra gradually diminishes; when it reaches the counteracting state, the truth of origination within the ālaya is severed completely, and the aspect of the ālaya as the truth of suffering is also extinguished, yet it is not truly severed. In terms of the understanding of seeing and contemplation, the severing of the seeds of the delusions of seeing and contemplation within the fundamental consciousness is merely the severance of origination; the aspect of the ālaya as the truth of suffering is not severed at all, yet because origination ceases, suffering also ceases. Now, the text states that it is not severed by seeing the truths but is severed by contemplation because the ālaya is the indeterminate retribution of the truth of suffering in saṃsāra, bound by the conditions of the delusions of seeing and contemplation. The understanding of seeing the truths does not exhaust the severance of the bondage of conditions, whereas the understanding of contemplation exhausts the severance of the bondage of conditions; hence it is said to be not severed by seeing the truths, but severed by contemplation. For the followers of Buddhadeva, sentient beings are indeterminate retribution; for the Dharmaguptakas, the mind is indeterminate; for the Sāṃmitīyas, the unerring phenomenon (avipraṇāśa) is indeterminate. By analogy to this meaning, none of them are severed; all are bound by the conditions of the two types of delusion, and the path of seeing does not exhaust their severance, while contemplation exhausts the bondage; thus it is merely called severance. Question: Could it also be that the arising of the understanding of seeing the truths impairs the fundamental consciousness, yet the fundamental consciousness is not yet exhausted, and only upon reaching the counteracting state is the fundamental consciousness entirely exhausted, and this is called not severed by seeing the truths, but severed by contemplation? Answer: There is also this meaning. However, the present text discusses severance, and the ālaya is indeterminate retribution, which has no meaning of being severed. The Dharmaguptakas do not sever karma at all; they merely sever afflictions, and the seeds of karma wither on their own. For the Sarvāstivādins, the rope of possession (prāpti) applies to both severances and to the unsevered, so it cannot explain this text. In the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra, the provisional person has no phenomenon that is severed; merely upon the path of the non-learner, one abandons the provisional person and enters nirvāṇa, which is also not severance. The Sāṃmitīyas explain that seeing the truths only severs the eighty-eight unwholesome afflictions; it does not sever indeterminate phenomena, and therefore does not sever the unerring phenomenon. The Śāradīputrābhidharma (or Viniścayasamgrahaṇī) states: 'When a single thought of evil arises, there are two [accompanying factors]: first, acquisition (prāpti); second, the unerring phenomenon. Since acquisition applies to the three natures, if a thought of repentance arises, acquisition is immediately destroyed. But the unerring phenomenon is not unwholesome; when the counteracting path arises, it is not severed, and necessarily must obtain its fruit. Therefore, when an arhat experiences retribution, it is because this unerring phenomenon upholds it.' Question: How can the delusions of seeing the truths bind what is indeterminate? Answer: What is indeterminate is subsumed under suffering and origination; the delusions of seeing the truths take the principle of suffering and origination as an objective support and bind the principle of suffering and origination, and therefore bind what is indeterminate. Question: One should only sever the delusions upon the mind; how can one sever delusions upon the objective realm that is supported? Answer: Because one severs delusions upon the mind, the delusions upon the objective realm that is supported are thereby severed; thus it is called severance.