止觀輔行傳弘決 2.11

2.11

"The four grounds of non-concealment" are body, speech, mind, and livelihood. The treatise extensively explains these forty qualities; here their names are cited briefly. In the "Chapter on Maturation" of the Bodhisattvabhūmi, there are one hundred and forty unshared qualities, namely: the thirty-two marks; the eighty minor characteristics; the ten powers; the four types of unhindered understanding; the four fearlessnesses; the three stations of mindfulness; and the seven unsurpassables: (1) unsurpassable body, referring to the major and minor marks; (2) unsurpassable practice, referring to saving others; (3) unsurpassable rectitude, referring to correct view, deportment, and pure livelihood; (4) unsurpassable wisdom, referring to the four fearlessnesses; (5) unsurpassable supernormal power, referring to the six superknowledges; (6) unsurpassable cessation, referring to the exhaustion of defilements; (7) unsurpassable abidings, referring to the holy, brahma, and heavenly abidings, and so forth. In texts such as the Dazhidulun, the eighteen unshared qualities, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the four unhindered understandings, great compassion, and the three stations of mindfulness make up the forty unshared qualities. Here we follow the text of the Mahāvibhāṣā, taking it provisionally as our authority; though the numbers differ, their essential meaning is no different. The Mahāvibhāṣā states, "Mindfulness of the Buddha deepens until one sees the true-mark body." Therefore the verse says that not craving after the physical and dharma bodies and so forth restates the three bodies. As for "knowing well that all phenomena are eternally quiescent like empty space," the treatise says, "All phenomena are originally unarisen and unceasing. Because the bodhisattva has faith in and delights in the physical and dharma bodies as being like empty space, he attains obstructionlessness in all places." "Obstructions" refer to Mount Sumeru and the like. Why is this? This person has not yet attained the divine eye; yet through mindfulness of the Buddhas of other directions, he obtains the dharmas of meditative concentration and attains supreme joy. These are marks of the samādhi's fulfillment, allowing one to see the Buddha at will. In the section on "Exhorting Practice," real wisdom is the "Buddha's mother," and seeing the middle is the "Buddha's eye"; skill in means is the father, and unconditioned great compassion is the mother. Question: How can there be two mothers? Answer: Real wisdom is that which gives birth, and great compassion is that which nurtures. If compassion and wisdom are not both complete, the true child cannot be formed; for all Buddhas without exception, it is like this. As for "like milking a cow," and so forth: taking the time of a single pull as one milking. The character gou (構) is a vulgar form; properly it should be written gou (𤚲), meaning to take milk from a cow. As for hearing of this samādhi's four tiers of merit mentioned above: the present text differs slightly from the treatise, but this has a profound intention. We now record the text of the treatise and next elucidate their mutual relation. The treatise states: "Suppose a person is light and swift, as fast as the wind, traveling for a hundred years without ever resting, traversing all the ten directions. The distance this person travels could not be known by anyone except the Tathāgata. If all the places this person walked were filled with real gold and given away in charity; yet if someone regarding this samādhi engages in the four kinds of rejoicing, dedicating [it] to bodhi and constantly seeking broad learning, saying: 'Just as the Buddhas of the past rejoiced in this samādhi when practicing the bodhisattva path, so do I also rejoice; and so too with the future and the present, and so too with the samādhi practiced by the bodhisattvas of the three periods of time.'" The Buddhas of the three periods of time form three tiers, and the bodhisattvas of the three periods of time form one tier. "This merit of rejoicing, compared to the aforementioned merit of giving gold, does not equal even one part in a hundred thousand koṭis. Therefore, if one hears this samādhi and is not alarmed, one will attain boundless retribution: if one falls into the kalpa-fire, the fire will instantly extinguish; if one encounters legal troubles, lions, tigers, wolves, ferocious beasts, evil dragons, various venomous insects, or if yakṣas, rākṣasas, kumbhāṇḍas, and the like bring harm, there is no such possibility—excepting only karma whose retribution must inevitably be received. If one contracts diseases of the eyes, ears, wind, and so forth, there is no such possibility. One will constantly be protected by the eight classes of devas and nāgas, and devas and Buddhas will come to one's abode. Even if one were to speak of it for an entire kalpa or slightly less than a kalpa, one could not finish, let alone if one believes, practices with a concentrated mind, or accomplishes it." This weighing of merits also contains four tiers of retribution: first, not being alarmed; second, receiving with faith; third, practicing with a concentrated mind; and fourth, being able to accomplish it. Next, to clarify their mutual relation: the present text uses swift walking to represent the dust-mote realms. Giving gold and giving jewels differ in name but are identical in meaning. It first takes the four tiers of retribution to weigh against the merit of giving jewels; then it takes the four tiers of rejoicing to weigh against the four tiers of retribution. Saying that accomplishing it for oneself is inferior to the greater merit of rejoicing: this sūtra is shared with the Hinayana. If one does not dedicate and rejoice, but merely cultivates and accomplishes it for oneself, the meaning corresponds to the small [vehicle]; therefore it uses the four tiers of dedication to reprove the four tiers of retribution. This is an provisional word of encouragement. As for "if one does not cultivate," and so forth: this values the samādhi as precious. If one does not cultivate this Dharma, those among humans and devas who cultivate this samādhi feel sorrow and grief for them, lamenting the distress of their losing such great benefit. "Like a person without a sense of smell," and so forth: this is a metaphor for one who does not practice the Dharma. A person without smell has a disease of the nose and cannot detect scents. The sūtra scroll is like "sandalwood." Encountering this sūtra is signified by "holding it in hand." Breaking precepts and lacking faith are signified by the nose lacking smell. Refusing to cultivate is like "not smelling." "Like a farmer's child": this is a metaphor for one who does not recognize the Dharma. The practice of the samādhi is like a mani jewel; a person lacking understanding is like a farmer's child, casting away the wondrous Dharma of practice and instead craving the five desires, just like trading a jewel for an ox. Therefore, the upper fascicle of that sūtra states: "Like a foolish child who is given a handful of sandalwood by someone and refuses to take it, thinking it is impure. The owner of the incense says: 'This is sandalwood; do not consider it impure. Just take and smell it.' Such a foolish person closes his eyes, turns his back, and will neither look nor smell. Those who hear of the samādhi do not accept it, and discard it without keeping the precepts, abandoning this wondrous sūtra." It also states: "Suppose a merchant obtains a mani jewel and shows it to a farmer's child. The man asks the merchant: 'How much is it worth?' The merchant replies: 'At night in a dark place, the area illuminated by its radiance is worth all the treasures within that space.' The man, failing to understand, conversely disparages the jewel, saying: 'Could it be traded for even a single ox?' The merchant does not offer it to that person again." It is also like the Dṛṣṭānta-sūtra, which says: "There was an elder's son who could not distinguish merchandise; his father sent him to a foreign country to trade. First, he took a load of sandalwood to another country to sell, but for a long time it did not sell. He then asked someone: 'What is valuable in the marketplace?' The other replied: 'Charcoal is valuable in the market.' Thereupon he burned the sandalwood into charcoal."