止觀輔行傳弘決 3.9

3.9

Next, in the extensive explanation, explaining the names is the beginning of one's own practice; giving rise to the teachings is the beginning of transforming others; and pointing to the final return is the conclusion of both oneself and others. If discussed separately, nirvāṇa is solely the fruit; but here, following the comprehensive meaning, it pervades beginning and end, and is thus used as an equivalent to serve as the basis of practice. Next, in the passage beginning with "If used...", which directly clarifies mutual connection: first, as for "using the two characters to connect mutually with the three virtues," if one separates the two characters they cannot be replete with the virtues; thus, the two must be combined in meaning so as to be replete with the three. In the passage beginning with "Question...", doubts are resolved. Generally, a name that is capable of connecting connects to that which is connected; only when the capable and the object correspond can one expect to reach [the goal]. If one only uses two dharmas as the capable connecting name, how can it connect to the three dharmas that are connected? Answer: The two dharmas of calming and contemplation in the Tripiṭaka and shared teachings are separate and distinct, and cannot even connect to the separate and distinct three virtues. If it is the inconceivable calming and contemplation of the single mind, then it can connect to the three virtues of the single mind. Although two and three are different, they are the inconceivable one; being not two and yet two, they connect to the two virtues, and being two and yet not two, they connect to the dharma-body. In the passage beginning with "Furthermore, the Dapin...", citations are adduced as proof. Thus, in fascicle fifty-two of the Dazhidulun, having listed and explained in detail the one hundred and eight samādhis, it immediately says: "The preceding eighteen kinds of emptiness have finished explaining prajñā." Here, using the one hundred and eight samādhis to explain dhyāna, since it is Śūraṅgama dhyāna and prajñā of the knowledge of all modes, we know that these two cannot stand in isolation. Thus, within each emptiness is all emptiness, and within each emptiness is all concentration; within each concentration is all concentration, and within each concentration is all emptiness. Sūtras and treatises list numbers based on phenomena: refuting the eighteen forms of existence is called the eighteen kinds of emptiness, and countering the one hundred and eight distractions is called the one hundred and eight concentrations. Just as fire burning objects takes its name according to the object, how could the differences in what is burned make the fire itself different? Therefore, the eighteen kinds of emptiness are cited to prove contemplation, and the one hundred and eight samādhis are cited to prove calming; being two and yet not two proves the dharma-body. In the passage beginning with "Therefore...", the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra is again cited to corroborate that the two names implicitly encompass the three virtues. Fascicle twenty-five states: "All sentient beings fully possess the Śūraṅgama concentration. The Śūraṅgama concentration is also called prajñā, also called the vajra samādhi, also called the lion's roar, and also called buddha-nature." The sūtra states that the Śūraṅgama concentration has five names, and the Śūraṅgama is also within the five names. Here, citing buddha-nature as having five names, buddha-nature is also within the five names. The present citation is because the comprehensive encompasses the specific. What does this mean? Answer: The sūtra explains that sentient beings possess the Śūraṅgama concentration, and therefore says that the Śūraṅgama has five names. If spoken of comprehensively, saying that the lion's roar has five names, or even that prajñā has five names, would not be faulty in principle. Although none are faulty, among the five names, buddha-nature is comprehensive because it encompasses both concentration and wisdom; the remaining four names are paired and provisionally restricted: prajñā and lion's roar are named from the perspective of wisdom, while vajra and Śūraṅgama are named from the perspective of concentration. Here it is clarified that buddha-nature is neither concentration nor wisdom and yet is concentration and wisdom; hence it says buddha-nature has five names, in order to prove that the present text is "not two and yet two." In the passage beginning with "Furthermore...", each connects individually. First, the intention of individual connection is clarified. Because calming and contemplation mutually possess each other, each is able to connect. Just as calming possesses contemplation, it also naturally possesses neither calming nor contemplation; if contemplation possesses calming, it also naturally possesses neither calming nor contemplation; therefore, calming and contemplation can each connect to the three. In the passage beginning with "Like resting...", next is the actual individual connection: first calming, then contemplation. Furthermore, the previous mutual connection was for the convenience of names; the present individual connection is for the convenience of meaning; hence two kinds of calming are matched with two virtues. The meaning of "non-calming calming" resembles neither calming nor contemplation, and thus connects to the dharma-body; contemplation is also like this and can be inferred accordingly. Furthermore, the term "mutual connection" in the passage below "Calming and contemplation..." differs from the previous mutual connection of the two characters. Here, calming and contemplation each have three meanings; the two pairs both connect, and hence it is called mutual. In the passage beginning with "Furthermore, the three virtues...", the three virtues are again connected to calming and contemplation. Question: Calming and contemplation connecting to the virtues is the capable-of-explaining connecting to that which is explained; why are the virtues again used to connect to calming and contemplation? Answer: When names evoke principle, it is called names connecting to virtues; when principle corresponds to names, it is called virtues connecting. If principle did not correspond to names, the names would have nothing to connect to; if names did not evoke principle, the principle would have nothing to reveal it. Furthermore, because names are identical to principle, calming and contemplation connect to the virtues; because principle is identical to names, the virtues connect to calming and contemplation. Furthermore, because both calming and contemplation possess the meaning of the three virtues, calming and contemplation connect to the virtues; because the three virtues also possess the meaning of calming and contemplation, the virtues connect to calming and contemplation. For these three reasons, virtues connecting is again necessary. In order to reveal that principle and teaching are interfused and unimpeded, they are mutually distinguished to make the present text consummate. That the name is primary and the principle secondary has already been stated above. One should also discuss the mutual connection of calming and contemplation with the virtues in terms of practice; the meaning lies in the text below, so it is not analyzed here. Therein, first is mutual, and next is individual. Mutual means that the three virtues mutually connect to calming, contemplation, and neither calming nor contemplation; individual means that each of the three virtues individually possesses three, as can be seen in the text. In the passage beginning with "If one believes...", examples are given to exhort faith. First, different names are adduced to exhort faith in the three virtues. That which is called the mutual connection of calming and contemplation originally shows that calming and contemplation are absolute and subtle, capable of connecting to the absolute, subtle, and inconceivable virtues. Having believed in the three virtues, one must believe in calming and contemplation. In the passage beginning with "If one believes...", analogies are adduced to exhort faith. In the passage beginning with "Yet the various sūtras...", the names are partial but the meaning is round. First, concerning the various sūtras, the Śūraṅgama and Zhidu have been cited as proof above, and that they are "not two and yet two" is already briefly known. Since each is complete with all dharmas, one should know that none is not the secret treasury. Regarding the term Śūraṅgama, others say it is the name of a jewel, and all great bodhisattvas use this jewel as a headdress. When a bodhisattva obtains this headdress jewel, they are complete with samādhi; named after the jewel, it is called the Śūraṅgama concentration. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: "Śūraṅ means all matters are finished; gama means firm; when all is ultimately attained and firm, it is called Śūraṅgama." Fascicle eighteen of the Dazhidulun translates it as "heroic aspect." Both the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra and the Dazhidulun take all three characters as Sanskrit sounds, all naming a samādhi. For the two explanations in Chinese and Sanskrit, no basis has been found; thus we know that the sūtra title is not derived from a headdress. In the passage beginning with "Calming and contemplation are also like this...", calming and contemplation are adduced to draw an analogy with the various sūtras. In the passage beginning with "Singling out...", a comparative explanation is given. If the various sūtras singling out [one name] are still complete with the three virtues, how much more so when the present calming and contemplation are a round presentation? This is "roundly complete," not meaning "round and sudden"; although the meaning is round and sudden, the intent of the phrasing is provisionally like this. Next, connecting to the various different names is as in the text. As for "Furthermore, connecting to the various sets of three names," sets of three names are limitless, so it says "all." Now, relying on the Suvarṇaprabhāsa, Guanyin xuan, and Jingming shu, thirteen are used as examples to explain the three virtues. Regarding the thirteen, a verse says: "Paths, consciousnesses, natures, prajñā, / Bodhi, Great Vehicle, and bodies, / Nirvāṇa, Three Jewels, and virtues: / Each and every one has three dharmas." The present text briefly lists three beginning with bodhi, yet still briefly does not explain them. Now, relying on those works, they are briefly correlated. The three virtues are as above. The three bodhis: the real nature is the dharma-body, the real wisdom is prajñā, and the expedient means is liberation. The three buddha-natures: the direct cause is the dharma-body, the revealing cause is prajñā, and the conditional cause is liberation. As for the Three Jewels: the Dharma Jewel is the dharma-body, the Buddha Jewel is prajñā, and the Saṅgha Jewel is liberation. The three paths: afflictions are prajñā, bound karma is liberation, and suffering is the dharma-body. As for the three consciousnesses, Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha says: "The ādānavijñāna, the seventh consciousness, is translated here as the consciousness grasping at self; this is the nature of delusion, and its essence is the conditional cause. The ālayavijñāna, the eighth consciousness, is named the storehouse consciousness; because it can hold and maintain the seeds of wisdom without loss, its essence is non-submerged ignorance, and the nature of ignorance is the revealing cause. The amalavijñāna, the ninth consciousness, is named the pure consciousness, and is the direct cause." The Tang Tripiṭaka Master did not accept this explanation, saying: "The ninth is merely a different name for the eighth." Therefore, the new translation of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha does not retain the ninth, and within the Daśabhūmika treatise text there is also no ninth; it only matches the eighth with the direct cause, the seventh with the revealing cause, and the sixth with the conditional cause. Now, relying on Paramārtha, we still combine the sixth and seventh together as the conditional cause, because within the sixth, phenomenal good and evil are also the nature of delusion. A detailed explanation of the meaning of consciousness is not the present topic; merely correlating the essences of the three consciousnesses with the three virtues and three causes is sufficient in principle. Although the treatise masters say that consciousness is transformed into wisdom, they do not immediately illuminate that the three consciousnesses are the single mind, and that this single mind is complete with the three wisdoms. The three prajñās: true mark is the direct cause, contemplative illumination is the revealing cause, and words and letters are the conditional cause. Their correlation with the virtues can be known. The three Great Vehicles: the vehicle of principle is the dharma-body, the conforming vehicle is prajñā, and the attaining vehicle is liberation. As for the three bodies, they are as in the Zhigui. The three nirvāṇas: essential purity is the dharma-body, complete purity is prajñā, and expedient purity is liberation. The ancients did not establish complete purity, and still correlated expedient means with the reward body, which is refuted in various texts (and so forth). However, these thirteen correspond to one another, and their meanings are not different. Although their meanings are not different, their sequence of arising is not without precedence and succession. Beginningless transmigration does not go beyond the three paths; transmigration is due to consciousness; consciousness internally possesses nature; illuminating nature is due to wisdom; when wisdom is fulfilled, the path is completed; the path is arrived at through the vehicle; arriving, therefore the body is revealed; being revealed, it must be nirvāṇa; because nirvāṇa is complete, they are called the Three Jewels; the Jewels must possess the virtues. Therefore, from beginning to end, these [thirteen] are provisionally listed.