成唯識論了義燈 3.28

3.28

Fifth, identical names with distinct substances: for instance, the links of birth, aging, and death in conditioned origination, and the touches of birth, aging, and death among the touches, and so forth. How are they distinguished? Answer: birth as a link of conditioned origination refers to the real substance of the five aggregates from the intermediate existence until the basic existence prior to decline and transformation, which is termed the link of birth. Aging refers to grey hair or decrepitude prior to death. Death refers to approaching the end—both the time of impending death and actual death. Both encompass the five aggregates, having real dharmas as their substance, and the links of conditioned origination are manifested by their characteristic names. Conceptual and real states have different distinctions: although the states of the four characteristics of a single period may be identical, the conceptual and real are distinct. Furthermore, destruction in a single period refers to what has already ceased being called death; while death as a link of conditioned origination refers to impending death and actual death, because what has already ceased is not a link. Regarding aging and death among touches, fascicle fifty-four states: "Aging is established based on the disharmony of temporal transformation; death is established based on the disharmony of the vital faculty's transformation." The meaning here is that aging and death are effects; because aging and death exist based on the states of touch, the name of the effect is established on the cause. For example, the substance of the touch of hunger and thirst is nominally established on states of the four great elements and exists only in the form aggregate. The aging and death of the four characteristics generally rely on the five aggregates. Taking the distinctive meaning above, in the four udānas, the substance of the five aggregates and the four characteristics are both generally called impermanent, because they lack that permanence. Fascicle forty-six states: "Because permanence is unobtainable in these conditioned formations, they are called impermanent," which accords with the Abhidharmasamuccaya. Sūtras also state: conditioned formations are impermanent, for they are of the nature of arising and ceasing. The impermanence established in treatises on pramāṇa refers solely to cessation, yet it encompasses both substance and characteristic. The Sāṃkhya holds characteristic cessation; against the Śabdavādin and others, they establish substantial cessation. If impermanence encompassed both arising and ceasing, then thesis and reason would not be distinct, which would fall under the fallacy of analogy.