華嚴經內章門等雜孔目章 3.42

3.42

The three sufferings are the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and the suffering of conditioned existence. Suffering is the substance of painful feeling. Pain is the external instrument of suffering; change is the condition of suffering. The suffering of change is the substance of painful feeling. Conditioned existence means that impermanent flux does not abide, which is also a condition for painful feeling. Question: Impermanent conditioning is merely the meaning of impermanence; how does it get the name 'suffering'? Answer: Impermanence has two meanings: first, the impermanence of its own substance; second, impermanence pressing close upon oneself is called suffering. Although the meaning of suffering is the same, in view of phenomena there is a distinction between coarse and subtle. It may also be said that there is no distinction. Why? Because impermanence pressing close upon oneself, being attached within contemplation, slightly touches upon great suffering. The eight sufferings are the suffering of birth, the suffering of aging, the suffering of sickness, the suffering of death, the suffering of being separated from what is loved, the suffering of associating with what is hated, the suffering of not getting what is sought, and the suffering of the five aggregates of clinging. The suffering of the five aggregates of clinging has two meanings: first, gathering the preceding seven sufferings together into the five aggregates of clinging; second, the coarse and heavy afflictions of all sufferings are called the five aggregates of clinging. The eight sufferings differ in terms of phenomena, but their substance of suffering is not distinct from the three sufferings. The arising of the teaching on these two [classifications of] suffering was originally to cause those newly entering the Dharma to generate the aspect of revulsion; thus they are subsumed under the category of suffering and not yet endowed with principle. If one enters the four truths, they are subsumed under the truth of suffering. Why? Because the noble teaching arises to enable one to attain the truths. Up to the meaning of the noble truth of suffering, one may likewise understand it by extension; that it is understood in this way is because the meaning of the Mahāyāna encompasses the initial and final. This suffering is the category of suffering in ordinary persons, and enters the truth of suffering in śrāvakas. In the bodhisattva stages, the initial teaching takes emptiness as the noble truth of suffering; hence the Vimalakīrti Sūtra states: 'Penetrating the five aggregates of grasping as empty and without arising—this is the meaning of suffering.' If considered according to the final teaching, suffering is precisely true suchness, because all phenomena are likewise thus. If considered according to the Ekayāna, the preceding meanings are designated by the Ekayāna and called the Ekayāna. Moreover, the four meanings, including the category of suffering, enter the subtle [net of] Indra and so forth, becoming inexhaustible. The remaining meanings are as in the separate chapter.