止觀輔行傳弘決 1.115.4

1.115.4

「驪龍」者，黑色無角，雌龍也。 又驪，黑色馬也。 今以黑色名龍，故曰驪龍。 頷者，頭下骨也，曰頷車骨。 論云「此珠在此龍腦中，有福德者方乃得之。 如地獄器，於有罪者方乃得之。 此珠能出四事，乃至火燒不然等。 」故知龍在極淵、珠在龍頷，其龍又毒，豈唯薄德之所致耶？ 如此顯是，初單約苦諦，次約四四諦，次約四四弘，後約六即。 從廣之狹、從麁至細，方乃顯於圓妙之是，九但顯深不勞別對。 夫立譬者何必盡取？ 如其對者數則不便，況將淵龍並須合喻； 法則煩重於義非急，況復六即不異四諦。 又四弘中第四無作，若開權竟前三俱實，故四弘文末簡云「今顯是何，故併言是。 」開權顯實則四俱是，將何簡之？ 故不可也。 一往通取簡非為一，二四為八合為九重，六即以為所顯菩提，用珠為譬有何不可？ 但四諦四弘及以六即並是能顯，發菩提心並是所顯，一一皆顯菩提心故，莫非神珠故亦不便。 言「有志有德方乃得」者，如《大論》十四云「能施太子欲求此珠以濟眾生，先生龍宮而為太子，父母愛重。 即以自身飴金翅鳥，生閻浮提為王太子，名為能施。 生已即能索物布施，藏空不足，聞說龍珠欲入海求。 父母言：『唯汝一子，藏物恣施（云云）。 』剋日與五百賈客從海道行，有一盲人曾七反入海等（云云）。 至七寶山諸人欲取，菩薩言：『不取。 』諸人得已將還，菩薩獨去。 七日行水至臍，七日行水至腰，七日行水至膝，七日行泥，七日行華，七日行毒蛇頭。 過此至七寶城，有七重塹，塹有毒蛇，見菩薩云：『此非凡人，必是菩薩大福德人。 』聽前入門。 此龍失子未久，猶故啼哭，見菩薩來，婦有通智，知是己子兩乳流汁。 令菩薩飲，云：『汝是我子。 』菩薩亦知是己父母。 問：『汝生何處？ 』答：『生閻浮提，為王太子。 愍念眾生求如意珠。 』母言：『汝父頭上唯有此珠以為首飾，難可得也。 諸藏任取。 』菩薩不用，即往見父。 父念子故，云：『須任取去。 此珠難得，閻浮提人以薄福故，不應見之。 』太子曰：『先以珠施，次以法導。 』父言：『汝若去世，當還我珠。 』答曰：『如教。 』菩薩得珠，騰空而還，著長表上立誓雨寶。 」故知少福而不能致。 若不窮於生死之淵、煩惱毒龍，何由可得究竟菩提？ 故以苦諦升沈、曲折行願、六即等簡，方顯圓是。 「競執」等者，重舉況喻。 《大經》第二斥三修中云「汝等當知，先所修習無常苦等，非是真實。 譬如春時，有諸人等在大池浴乘船游戲，失瑠璃寶沒深水。 是時諸人悉共入水，競執瓦礫草木，各各自謂得瑠璃珠，歡喜持出乃知非真。 是時寶珠猶在水中，以珠力故水皆澄清。 於是大眾乃見寶珠故在水中，猶如仰觀虛空月形。 是時諸人以方便力安徐入水，即便得珠。 故不應修無常苦等以為真實。 」章安云：「春適悅時以譬欲境，諸人譬放逸之徒，大池譬生死，浴譬恚慢，乘船譬諸業，遊戲譬愛果，失寶譬無解，入水譬初教，求覓譬劣三修，瓦石譬證劣三修，各各謂生滅度之想，內執在懷故云歡喜。 向佛稱歎故云持出，乃知非真去譬常解。 」今以三教通例三修，即以三教所觀境等名為欲境，餘文次第以三教意替彼三修亦應可解。 若作通取四教菩薩，亦當斥於三修聲聞，是故復以池喻雅合。 自古講者消此喻文，未為帖帖。 「末學膚受」等者，膚，薄皮也。 末代淺學，不知顯是獨在圓妙，乃至開顯在一心中，將何以為發心所期？ 所期既無，發何所趣？ 發大心竟。

"Black dragon (lílóng)": a hornless black dragon, which is female. Also, lí means a black horse. Here, a dragon named for its black color is called a lílóng. The jaw (hàn) is the bone beneath the head, called the jawbone (hànchē gǔ). The treatise says: "This jewel is located within the brain of this dragon; only someone with merit and virtue can obtain it. Just as the vessels of hell can only be obtained by those who have guilt, this jewel can produce the four necessities, and cannot be burned even if touched by fire, and so forth." Thus we know that the dragon is in the deepest abyss and the jewel is in the dragon's jaw; moreover, this dragon is venomous—how could it possibly be obtained by one of meager virtue? Demonstrating the correct [aspiration] in this manner: first, taking simply the truth of suffering; next, taking the four [interpretations] of the four truths; next, taking the four [interpretations] of the four vast vows; and finally, taking the six identities. Moving from the broad to the narrow, from the coarse to the subtle, only then is the correctness of the perfect and marvelous demonstrated. The nine simply demonstrate the depth; one need not pair them off separately. When setting up an analogy, why must one match every detail? If one were to pair them off, the numbers would become awkward, not to mention that the abyss and the dragon would both have to be fitted into the analogy; the dharma [exposition] would become tedious and repetitive, while adding nothing urgent to the meaning, and all the more so since the six identities are not different from the four truths. Furthermore, among the four vast vows, the fourth is unconditioned. Once the provisional is opened, the preceding three are all real. Therefore, the end of the text on the four vast vows discriminates by asking: "Now, in demonstrating the correct, why are they all called 'correct'?" Opening the provisional and revealing the real means that all four are correct—how could one discriminate them? Therefore, it cannot be done. If one takes it generally in passing: rejecting the incorrect makes one, two sets of four make eight, which together make nine levels; and taking the six identities as the revealed bodhi, what would be wrong with using the jewel as an analogy? However, the four truths, the four vast vows, and the six identities are all that which reveals, while arousing the aspiration for bodhi is that which is revealed. Since each and every one reveals the aspiration for bodhi, none of them is not the divine jewel, so doing so would also be awkward. As for the statement "Only one who has resolve and virtue can obtain it": as the Dazhidulun, scroll fourteen, states: "Prince Nengshi (Sarvaṃdada) wished to seek this jewel to save sentient beings. He had previously been born in the dragon palace as a crown prince, deeply loved by his parents. He offered his own body as food to the garuḍa bird, and was reborn in Jambudvīpa as a king's crown prince named Nengshi ('Able to Give'). As soon as he was born, he asked for goods to give in charity. The treasury became empty and insufficient, so hearing talk of the dragon jewel, he wished to enter the ocean to seek it. His parents said, 'You are our only son; give the treasures of the storehouse at your will' (and so forth). Appointing a date, he traveled the ocean route with five hundred merchants. There was a blind man who had entered the ocean seven times, and so forth. Arriving at the mountain of seven treasures, the people wished to take them, but the bodhisattva said, 'I will not take them.' When the others had obtained them and were about to return, the bodhisattva went on alone. For seven days he walked through water up to his navel; for seven days he walked through water up to his waist; for seven days he walked through water up to his knees; for seven days he walked through mud; for seven days he walked over flowers; for seven days he walked over the heads of venomous snakes. Passing beyond these, he reached the city of seven treasures, which had seven moats. In the moats were venomous snakes. Seeing the bodhisattva, they said, 'This is no ordinary man; he must be a bodhisattva of great merit and virtue,' and permitted him to proceed and enter the gate. This dragon had lost its son not long before and was still weeping. When she saw the bodhisattva arrive, the wife possessed penetrative wisdom and knew he was her own son, and milk flowed from both her breasts. She bade the bodhisattva drink, saying, 'You are my son.' The bodhisattva also knew that they were his parents. She asked, 'Where were you born?' He answered, 'I was born in Jambudvīpa as a king's crown prince. Out of pity for sentient beings, I am seeking the wish-fulfilling jewel.' The mother said, 'Your father has only this jewel on his head as a crown ornament; it is difficult to obtain. Take whatever you wish from the various storehouses.' The bodhisattva would not take them, and went to see his father. Because the father longed for his son, he said, 'Take whatever you need. This jewel is difficult to obtain; because the people of Jambudvīpa are of meager merit, they should not see it.' The prince said, 'First I will bestow gifts with the jewel, and then guide them with the Dharma.' The father said, 'When you depart this world, you must return the jewel to me.' He replied, 'As you instruct.' The bodhisattva obtained the jewel, soared into the sky to return, set it upon a tall pillar, and made a vow to rain down treasures." From this we know that those with little merit cannot acquire it. If one does not penetrate to the depths of the abyss of birth and death and the venomous dragon of afflictions, how could one ever obtain ultimate bodhi? Therefore, using the ascents and descents of the truth of suffering, the intricate twists of the practices and vows, the six identities, and so forth to discriminate, only then does one reveal the perfect correctness. As for "vying to grasp," and so forth: this again brings up a figurative analogy. In the second scroll of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, in rebuking the three cultivations, it says: "You should know that the impermanence, suffering, and so forth that you previously cultivated are not real. For example, in springtime, several people are bathing in a large pond and playing on a boat; they lose a lapis lazuli jewel, which sinks into deep water. At that time, all the people enter the water together, vying to grasp bits of rubble, grass, and wood, each thinking that they have obtained the lapis lazuli jewel. Holding them up with joy, only then do they realize they are not genuine. At that time, the precious jewel is still in the water, and due to the power of the jewel, the water becomes completely clear. Thereupon the crowd sees that the precious jewel is still in the water, just like looking up at the shape of the moon in the empty sky. At that time, through skillful means, the people calmly enter the water and immediately obtain the jewel. Therefore, you should not cultivate impermanence, suffering, and so forth, taking them to be real." Zhang'an says: "Spring as a delightful season is an analogy for the realm of desires; the people are an analogy for heedless persons; the large pond is an analogy for birth and death; bathing is an analogy for resentment and pride; riding the boat is an analogy for various karmic actions; playing is an analogy for the fruits of affection; losing the jewel is an analogy for having no understanding; entering the water is an analogy for the initial teaching; searching is an analogy for the inferior three cultivations; rubble and stones are an analogy for realizing the inferior three cultivations; each giving rise to the thought of extinction, holding it within their bosom, is why it says 'joy'; presenting it to the Buddha with praise is why it says 'holding them up'; 'only then do they realize they are not genuine' onward is an analogy for understanding permanence." Here, using the three teachings to correspond uniformly to the three cultivations: the objects contemplated in the three teachings are called the realm of desires, and in the remainder of the text the three cultivations are sequentially replaced with the meaning of the three teachings, which should also be understandable. If one takes it as encompassing the bodhisattvas of the four teachings, it also rebukes the śrāvakas of the three cultivations, which is why the pond analogy fits so elegantly. In the past, lecturers explaining this analogy did not make it fit well. As for "superficially learned by late scholars," and so forth: fū means thin skin. In late ages, shallow scholars do not understand that demonstrating the correct lies solely in the perfect and marvelous, and further, that opening and revealing lies in a single mind. What will they take as the goal of their aspiration? If the goal is absent, toward what does the aspiration turn? This concludes arousing the great aspiration.