肇論 1.59

1.59

Named says: Names and titles do not arise in vain; designations and appellations do not spring forth of themselves. What the sūtras call nirvāṇa with remainder and nirvāṇa without remainder are true names for returning to the origin, sublime titles for the spiritual path. Pray let me try to explain them: 'With remainder' refers to when the Tathāgata's great awakening first arose and the Dharma-body was first established: bathing in the pure stream of the eight liberations, resting in the luxuriant grove of the seven factors of awakening, accumulating myriad goods over vast kalpas, and clearing away the remaining dust of beginninglessness. The three clarities mirror within; the spiritual light shines without. Fastening the armor of resolve (saṃnāha) in the initial mind, he completes it with great compassion to hasten to perils. Looking upward, he climbs to the profound root; looking downward, he rescues the helpless and lost, transcending the three realms and treading the Great Way alone. He opens the level path of the Eightfold Noble Path, smoothing the easy road for the multitude, galloping the divine steeds of the six spiritual penetrations, riding the peaceful chariot of the five vehicles. Reaching the point where he can emerge into birth and enter into death, shifting along with things, there is no Dao he does not harmonize with, no virtue he does not bestow. Exhausting the mother of transformation in originating things, reaching the utmost subtle function of the dark pivot, expanding the void realm without boundary, shining with all-knowledge (sarvajñatā) to illuminate the dark, he is about to cut off signs in the nine abodes and forever sink into the Great Void; yet remaining conditions are not exhausted, and lingering traces are not obliterated. Karmic retribution still lingers in spirit; sagely wisdom still persists. This is nirvāṇa with remainder. A sūtra says: 'Smelting the dust and dross is like refining pure gold. The myriad entanglements are completely exhausted, yet spiritual awakening alone remains.' 'Without remainder' refers to when the ultimate man's teaching conditions are all concluded, spiritual illumination is forever extinguished, and open voidness is without a sign; hence it is called 'without remainder'. Why so? Of great afflictions, none is greater than having a body; hence the body is extinguished to return to non-being. Of toil and labor, none is foremost over having wisdom; hence wisdom is severed to sink into the void. Thus, wisdom tires on account of the body, and the body toils on account of wisdom; revolving along the long road, they grow weary without cease. A sūtra says: 'Wisdom is mixed poison; the body is a shackle. Profound silence is distant on account of them; afflictions and perils arise on account of them.' Therefore, the ultimate man turns the body to ash and extinguishes wisdom, abandons form and severs thought. Within, he has no toil of functioning illumination; without, he ceases the root of great affliction. Transcendent, he is forever severed from the multitude of existents; blended, he is of the same substance as the Great Void. Quiet without sound, placid without omen, he departs forever into obscurity, none knowing whither he goes. It is like the lamp exhausted and the fire extinguished, oil and brightness both depleted. This is nirvāṇa without remainder. A sūtra says: 'The five skandhas are forever exhausted, like a lamp being extinguished.' Thus, 'with remainder' can have an appellation, while 'without remainder' can be nameless. When 'nameless' is established, those who honor emptiness take delight in and esteem quietude; when 'having an appellation' arises, those who cherish virtue all the more revere sagely efficacy. These are indeed the texts handed down by canonical scriptures, the tracks left by former sages. Yet you say that being and non-being are cut off within, appellations sink away without, where seeing and hearing cannot reach, and where the four formless attainments are obscured! This causes those who cherish virtue to cut themselves off, and those who honor emptiness to have nothing to rely on. It is no different from stopping ears and eyes within an embryonic shell, hiding celestial images beyond the clouds, and then demanding the distinction between gong and shang notes, or discerning the difference between black and white! You only know to relegate the ultimate man far beyond being and non-being, singing lofty tones and peerless melodies outside form and name; yet the purport of your treatise ultimately has nowhere to return, and the dark path inherently remains hidden and unrevealed. Reflecting quietly and searching profoundly, I find nowhere to lodge my thought. How could this be called 'brightening a great light in a dark chamber, or playing profound notes where nothing is heard'?