瑜伽師地論略纂 3.86

3.86

Regarding the treatises on the finite and infinite, the text also has four parts; all rely on the supernormal knowledge of past lives through dhyāna before this view arises. As for "If one seeks the edge of the world relying on the boundary of cessation," etc.: when observing the interval of cessation during the aeon of destruction and not seeing subsequent formation, one gives rise to the conception of the finite. Because it is not that "I" will be born later, it is not the view of the finite. If one sees the aeon of formation but does not see the aeon of destruction, one gives rise to the conception of the infinite. If, relying on seeking broadly throughout the ten directions, one sees the extreme boundaries in the upper and lower directions, one gives rise to the conception of being also finite; and when extending supernormal power horizontally reaching one or two thousand realms, but not reaching three thousand, one thinks one has reached infinity, and gives rise to the conception of being also infinite. Because the supernormal cognition of worldlings does not exceed three thousand realms, when it is said here to be "infinite," it is only that they extend horizontally to one or two thousand realms, not exceeding three thousand, nor do they reach the boundary. Fascicle eighty-seven explains this differently. It says: when one recollected the states of the aeon of formation, at that time three kinds of false conceptions arose: if one exclusively recollected the upper and lower boundaries, one dwelt in the conception of the finite; if one exclusively recollected the horizontal infinity, one dwelt in the conception of the infinite; if one recollected both the upper/lower and the horizontal together, one gave rise to the conception of being both finite and infinite. When one recollected the states of the aeon of destruction, one gave rise to the conception of being neither finite nor infinite, because the vessel world could not be apprehended at all. Each mentions one clinging, and they do not contradict each other; both are subsumed under this finitude and infinitude.