肇論疏 3.27

3.27

“Examining” (覈) means investigating reality. It means critically examining the essence of nirvāṇa, hence it is spoken of in this way. “The Named One says: Now designations do not arise in vain, and titles do not emerge of themselves”: “The Named One” is the challenger. The challenger maintains that nirvāṇa must have names and designations and cannot be said to have none. These two lines share a single meaning, both explaining that because there are causes and conditions, therefore names exist. “They are truly the real names for returning to the origin, the wondrous designations of the spiritual path”: The Zhongbenqi jing says: “All dharmas are fundamentally empty and without a master through causes and conditions; ceasing mental activity and reaching the fundamental source is therefore called being a śramaṇa.” Now, speaking of “returning to the origin” means reaching the fundamental source. “Spiritual path” refers to the wondrously spiritual Path. This refers to the Tathāgata’s great awakening first arising, the Buddha first achieving enlightenment. “The Dharma-body was first established”: first obtaining the five-part Dharma-body, namely morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation. “Bathing in the pure stream of the eight liberations”: taking the eight liberations as a pure stream in which to bathe. Inwardly possessing the conception of material form while outwardly observing forms is the first liberation; inwardly having no conception of material form while outwardly observing forms is the second liberation; experiencing the pure liberation in one's person is the third liberation; the concentration of the sphere of empty space is the fourth liberation; the concentration of the sphere of consciousness is the fifth liberation; the concentration of the sphere of nothingness is the sixth liberation; the concentration of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is the seventh liberation; the concentration of cessation [of perception and feeling] is the eighth liberation. These are found in the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā and other sūtras. “Resting in the luxuriant grove of the seven factors of awakening”: taking the seven factors of awakening as a luxuriant grove in which to take rest. The awakening factor of analysis of dharmas, the awakening factor of energy, the awakening factor of mindfulness, the awakening factor of concentration, the awakening factor of joy, the awakening factor of equanimity, and the awakening factor of tranquility constitute the seven. These also appear in sūtras such as the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā and the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. “Washing away the lingering dust from the beginningless [past]”: the lingering dust and defilements from the beginningless past, namely the subtle habitual propensities (vāsanā). “The three clarities reflect within”: “within” refers to the mind. These are the divine eye, [knowledge of] past lives, and [knowledge of] the exhaustion of taints. “The spiritual radiance shines brightly without”: “without” refers to the Dharma realm. “Fastening the armor (saṃnāha) at the initial mind”: saṃnāha-saṃnaddha is Sanskrit, translated as the four universal vows. When first generating the [bodhi-]mind, one first puts on these vows broadly. “Culminating in great compassion to rush to calamity”: ultimately, with a mind of great compassion, rushing to rescue sentient beings from their suffering and distress. “Looking up to grasp the profound root”: looking up to seek the root source of the profound principle. “Reaching down to lift those weak and lost”: “reaching down” is descending; “lifting” is receiving. It means the Great Sage descends to receive the weak sentient beings about to be lost, hence it says “reaching down to lift those weak and lost.” “Transcending the three realms to tread alone upon the great expanse”: “transcending” is crossing beyond; “stepping” is treading. The three realms are the triple world. The “great expanse” is the Mahāyāna. “Opening the level road of the eightfold correct path, flattening the even way for the multitude”: “opening” is initiating, initiating the eightfold correct path. Right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration make eight. These appear in sūtras such as the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā and the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. The “multitude” refers to sentient beings. The “even way” is like the level road mentioned above. “Spurring the divine steeds of the six supernormal powers”: The Guangya says: “Spurring means racing.” The Zilin says: “A steed is a thousand-li horse.” Galloping with the talented steeds of the six supernormal powers. The divine eye, [divine] ear, [reading] other minds, [knowledge of] past lives, [supranormal] powers, and the exhaustion of taints constitute the six supernormal powers. “Riding the peaceful carriage of the five vehicles”: “Vehicle” (衍) is from the Sanskrit mahāyāna; mahā is great, yāna is vehicle. Speaking of “five” refers to the five vehicles: the human vehicle, the heavenly vehicle, the śrāvaka vehicle, the pratyekabuddha vehicle, and the Buddha vehicle. When these five vehicles enter the Tathāgata vehicle, all are called great; hence, “riding the five vehicles.” Regarding the “peaceful carriage,” the Quli says: “When a grand master reaches seventy and retires from office, he is granted a peaceful carriage and bestowed an armrest and cane. When traveling to the four directions he rides the peaceful carriage and calls himself ‘this old man’.” The commentary says: “A peaceful carriage is one ridden seated, like today's small carriage.” (Xuanzhi asked: “Since the Buddha rides that Great Vehicle, he should only be compared to a great carriage. Now calling it a seated carriage makes it seem small—why is that?” Answering on behalf of the commentator: “Since he is called ‘old man,’ age implies greatness. Subsuming the vehicle under the person: when the person is great, the carriage is great; it is both great and peaceful. Saying other vehicles are not yet peaceful, the Buddha vehicle is therefore termed a peaceful carriage. It is also like the previous meaning of the five vehicles: when the lesser vehicles enter the Tathāgata vehicle, all are called the Great Vehicle. The sūtra says: ‘This Great Vehicle is secure and blissful.’ This is precisely its meaning. This is the Middle Way, not like that of the Quli.”) “Even able to go forth into birth and enter into death, shifting along with things”: Responding to the birth of things is going forth; “going forth” is birth. Responding to the cessation of things is entering; “entering” is death. Advancing and retreating in accord with the mundane world, hence it says “with things.” “Shifting along” means advancing and retreating. “Reaching” means soaking and permeating. “Dispensing” means establishing. “Mother of transformations”: the correct Path can nurture the myriad things, just as children are born from a mother. The thousand changes and myriad transformations do not depart from the substance of the Path; the Buddha exhausts its source, hence it is called the “mother of transformations.” “The profound pivot”: “profound” means obscure and deep; “pivot” means the essential hinge. This means that the utmost principle is profound and the gateway of teachings is the essential hinge, which the Buddha exhausts completely. “Broadening the empty expanse without bounds”: opening wide the Dharma-realm expanse so that it has no boundaries, like the Lotus Treasury Adornment World-Ocean in the Avataṃsaka. “Illuminating the obscure with sarvajñā”: sarvajñā is Sanskrit, translated here as omniscience (all-knowledge). Shining upon the obscure and dark is called illuminating the obscure. It also means the light of the Dharma shines secretly, hence illuminating the obscure. “About to sever traces in the nine abodes”: “about to” is desiring to; “sever” is extinguish; “traces” are tracks. The “nine abodes” refers to the nine dwellings of sentient beings: within the desire realm, excluding the three evil destinies, taking humans and devas as one; within the four dhyānas, excluding the fourth dhyāna, taking the first three dhyānas as three; the Heaven of Non-perception as one; the four formless realms as four, making nine dwellings in total. The places where the nine classes of sentient beings dwell are the nine abodes. (Xuanzhi noted: “Since it says excluding the fourth dhyāna, and then says non-perception is one, isn't that precisely the fourth dhyāna heaven? Please examine this closely.”) “Forever submerging in the Great Void”: sinking long into empty space. “Yet with residual conditions not exhausted, lingering traces not obliterated”: residual conditions refer to the sentient beings that ought to be transformed and saved. Lingering traces refer to the bodily traces of the [nirvāṇa] with residue that have not yet vanished. (Xuanzhi noted: “All these words are the challenging arguments from the previous ninefold refutation. The meaning of the challenge is: Since he can broaden the empty expanse, shine with sarvajñā, and is about to sever traces, thus causing him to sink into identity with the Great Void where nothing at all remains, how could there still be sentient beings not yet saved, residual conditions not exhausted? And the Buddha's body still remaining, lingering traces not obliterated? If one simply reads the commentary, one does not see the intention of refuting and challenging at all. Now pointing out this text, it seems understandable; may the discerning examine it. If mistaken, do not sneer.”) Next, the commentary [explains]: “Karmic retribution is like the soul, and holy wisdom still remains”: the soul is the master of the body; having that body, there must be residual karma; karma must be experienced, and experiencing it is called retribution, such as paying the penalty of the wooden spear, eating horse barley, and so forth—these are matters of karmic retribution. It is still like the soul (hunpo): the soul necessarily abides in the body; having a body and having a soul directly incurs karma; hence it says “karmic retribution is like the soul.” “Like” (猶) means resembling. Thus the next line says “holy wisdom still remains.” “Remains” means persists. Since the Buddha still has wisdom and thought persisting, one knows that karma cannot be forgotten. (This is also the wording of the refutation and challenge; Xuanzhi's opinion.) The sūtra says: “Smelting and purifying dregs and defilements is like refining genuine gold.” The method of refining gold is washing it in water and smelting it in a furnace. It means the sage purifies defilements and dregs in this way. “The [nirvāṇa] without residue below”: reversing the [nirvāṇa] with residue above is the [nirvāṇa] without residue. “Of great troubles, none is worse than having a body”: bodily troubles are the greatest. “Worse” (若) means like, hence “none is like [it].” Intellectual stirring comes first, hence “none is prior [to it].” “Extinguishing wisdom to submerge in emptiness”: meaning sinking and submerging into identity with empty space. “A long journey”: a long road. “Without ceasing”: without stopping. The sūtra says: “Wisdom is a mixed poison; the physical form is shackles and manacles.” When wisdom departs from goodness, it ultimately exhausts the consciousness; like eating mixed poison, it ultimately harms the body. The Shuowen says: “Zhi are leg shackles; gu are hand manacles.” The text says that shackles and manacles are instruments that harm the body. “Deep silence becomes distant on this account; troubles and calamities arise on this account”: “deep” means profound; “silence” means quiescent. It means that having a body and having wisdom, discrimination, troubles, and calamities arise from them, while reaching the profound and subtle Path becomes distant; hence it says “deep silence becomes distant on this account; troubles and calamities arise on this account.” “Ashing the body and extinguishing wisdom, abandoning the form and ending cognition”: “abandoning” is casting away. It means since the body is such a source of trouble and calamity, it must be ground down and extinguished to be like ash and dust, and intellectual cognition must be cast away and cut off, so that there are no troubles or entanglements. “Inwardly, there is no toil of active contemplation; outwardly, the root of the great trouble is stilled”: inwardly, if there is no wisdom, then there is no mind of active stirring, nor the concern of examining contemplation; outwardly, if there is no body, then there is no affliction of cold and heat, nor the toil of provisions and expenses. “Aloof, forever separated from the realms of being below”: refers to the meaning of discerning that the nature of all dharmas is fundamentally empty. Aloof as if permanently parted from all realms of being, in reality there is no parting. Why no parting? Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Facing ordinary mortals who do not understand, it seems as if permanently parted; but when the sage's contemplation realizes its essence, not only is there no form, even emptiness does not exist. “Silent, with nothing heard”: having no sound, it cannot be heard; having no omens, it cannot be seen. “None knowing where it goes”: not knowing where it proceeds. “Like the lamp being consumed, the flame extinguished, oil and brilliance exhausted together”: Fascicle 9 of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: “The icchantika sees the Tathāgata’s ultimate nirvāṇa as like a lamp being extinguished, the oil and fuel exhausted together.” “Therefore, [the nirvāṇa] with residue may be designated as existent below”: concludes the challenge. It means that nirvāṇa with residue may be named existent, and nirvāṇa without residue may be named non-existent. “Admiring and esteeming the tranquil and silent”: those who cherish and value emptiness, hearing of the [nirvāṇa] without residue, rejoice, esteem, and seek it. “Increasingly revering the sage's achievements”: those who cherish and value existence, hearing of the [nirvāṇa] with residue, place faith in its merit and seek it. “This is the reason why classic texts handed down their writings below”: canonical texts and instructions handed down their written principles. This refers to the various Mahāyāna sūtras. The path trodden by the assembly of sages is therefore called “the ruts and tracks.” “Ruts” (gui) are the rules for making carts; “tracks” (che) refers to the wheel-ruts left by carts. “Causing those who cherish virtue to cut themselves off below”: those who cherish virtue, hearing that nirvāṇa is not existent, do not seek it; those who take emptiness as fundamental, hearing that nirvāṇa is not non-existent, do not learn it. “Cutting themselves off” means having no mind to seek; “without reliance” means having nowhere to lodge the mind. “No different from blocking ears and eyes within an eggshell below”: blocking the ears and eyes inside an eggshell and demanding discrimination of the gong and shang musical notes cannot be done. Veiling heavenly phenomena beyond the clouds and skies and demanding discrimination of black and white cannot be done. “Mystic phenomena” refers to heavenly signs. “Mystic” (xuan) is black; “obscure” is dim; “plain” (su) is white. “Yet the purport of the treatise ultimately knows not where to turn”: not knowing what it clarifies. “The profound path is thus self-contained and not revealed”: principles are accumulated and stored, hence not clearly revealed. “Contemplating quietly and searching deeply, there is nowhere to lodge one's thoughts”: having no place to settle one's mind. “How could it be said”: it does not mean. “Illuminating the great brightness in a dark room”: sentient beings are blind and ignorant as in a dark room; making this exposition now is not meant to illuminate a dark room to let them see. Sentient beings are without knowledge and hearing; making this exposition now is not performing profound sounds to let them hear. The Xiaoya says: “Zou and yi both mean to advance.”