瑜伽師地論略纂 4.72

4.72

Under cessation, regarding 'in the conditioned phenomena of the two fruits': this refers to the two fruits of aging and death, the truth of suffering. Regarding 'their causes': the truth of origination. Regarding 'their cessation': the truth of cessation. Regarding 'the practice leading to their cessation': the truth of the path. Fascicle ninety-three states: in the past when the World-Honoured One was a bodhisattva, feeling compassion for sentient beings, he contemplated dependent origination. Contemplating the truths in succession, he first took present aging and death as the foremost, examining them correctly by means of three characteristics: first, contemplating the subtle cause; second, contemplating the coarse cause; third, contemplating the non-indeterminate. The causal conditions that induce birth are also termed 'birth'—namely craving, grasping, and existence, which are the subtle causal conditions. The entity of the cause of birth is also termed 'birth'—namely the link of birth, which is the coarse causal condition. He contemplated that due to the presence of subtle birth, there is aging and death; he also contemplated that due to coarse birth, there comes to be aging and death. For future aging and death, subtle birth is the cause, because the fruit has not yet arisen; for present aging and death, coarse birth is the cause, because the fruit has already arisen. These are called contemplating the first two causal conditions. 'Non-indeterminate' means that aside from the two kinds of birth-entities included in that rebirth-state, nothing else is definitely able to bestow the fruit of aging and death. Not being satisfied with such contemplation of the origination of the truth of suffering, he then further contemplated the present truth of suffering as the causal condition for subsequent origination—namely, fully contemplating in reverse order feeling, contact, the six sense bases, name-and-form, and consciousness. Having realized that future suffering has present origination as its cause, and that present origination also has the consciousness arisen from past origination as its limit, present suffering exists. In this manner, having generally contemplated that the cause of suffering arises from origination, and origination arises because of suffering, he no longer contemplated from what present suffering arises, as it is not different from the previous. Therefore, the bodhisattva turned back at consciousness, and instead contemplated in direct order down to aging and death. Having completed the contemplation of the truths of suffering and origination, in order to contemplate the truth of cessation, he entered in reverse order from beginning to end, from aging and death up to ignorance. He contemplated: how will all present suffering be completely extinguished? Namely, by not creating new karmic activities conditioned by ignorance. Having thus sequentially contemplated the three noble truths, he next sought: by what path and what practice can this noble truth of cessation be realized? He gave rise to mindfulness of past abodes, calling to mind the mundane right view cultivated in the past and causing it to appear manifest. Sequentially contemplating the truths, through right view he gained entrance to direct realization among the truths, and gradually realized unsurpassed bodhi. This is the practice of contemplating the four truths here: by contemplating the principle of dependent origination, one attains the pure vision and knowledge of the trainee and the non-trainee. Fascicle ten below also contains this question and answer, explaining the reasons why the lengths of contemplation of the dark and white sides differ. Furthermore, another explanation states: 'conditioned phenomena of the two fruits' refers to the two links of birth and aging-and-death; because the coarse cause and fruit of the conditioned phenomena are spoken of together, it is a general contemplation of all present truth of suffering. Although this explanation exists, the cutting off of practice is hard to understand, so the former explanation is preferable.