止觀輔行傳弘決 4.20

4.20

Third, regarding the place: the Snowy Mountains are the highest, as already explained before. The dhūtas are intermediate, which refers to the four places among the twelve dhūtas: namely, an araṇya, a cemetery, beneath a tree, and in the open air; relying on these four places, one must constantly sit. Question: The araṇya has the same meaning in both the lower and intermediate places; what difference is there? Answer: "Araṇya" is a Western sound, translated here as "leisure and quietude." The intermediate place refers to open and desolate terrain. The lower place refers to open and desolate dwellings and quiet monasteries. The Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā, explaining open and desolate places, says: "Dwelling in an araṇya has ten benefits: first, coming and going with ease; second, having no sense of 'mine'; third, acting as one wishes without hindrance; fourth, the mind delights in the araṇya place; fifth, having few desires and few affairs; sixth, not sparing life and limb, being fully endowed with merit; seventh, being apart from the noisy talk of the multitude; eighth, although practicing merit, not seeking gratitude or repayment; ninth, easily obtaining a unified mind; tenth, easily giving rise to the thought of unhinderedness." It also says: "An araṇya monk enters stupas and monasteries on ten occasions, not like non-Buddhists: first, to supply a sick person; second, to seek a physician for a sick person; third, to seek a caregiver for a sick person; fourth, to teach the Dharma to a sick person; fifth, to teach the Dharma to other people; sixth, to listen to the Dharma and be transformed; seventh, to revere and make offerings to great worthies; eighth, to supply the noble assembly; ninth, to recite deep sūtras; tenth, to teach others to recite deep sūtras. When fear arises while dwelling in an araṇya, one should think: 'Those who guard goodness, even though traversing perilous roads, great oceans, or battle arrays, are peaceful and free of misfortune. Furthermore, for guarding the body, nothing surpasses making good one's actions of body, speech, and mind to guard oneself.' Therefore, the Buddha told King Prasenajit: 'Well guarding the three karmas is called well guarding.' Furthermore, one thinks: 'The beasts in the mountains do not make good their three karmas, yet they have no fear. How could my mind and wisdom not equal theirs?' Moreover, by being mindful of the Buddha, one destroys all fear. Therefore, when hair stands on end in an araṇya, one is mindful of the Buddha's ten epithets. Furthermore, there are four dharmas before one may dwell in an araṇya: first, extensive learning; second, skill in determining meanings; third, joy in cultivating correct mindfulness; fourth, practicing in accord with what is taught." The treatise further lists fifty dharmas before one should dwell in an araṇya. "If separated from..." onward is admonition and encouragement. "Settlement": The Guoyu states, "When Guan Zhong served as chancellor of Qi, he stipulated that thirty families constitute a settlement (yi)." This refers to what a village venerates. The Shangshu dachuan states: "Whenever an ancestral temple houses the spirit tablets of former kings, it is called a capital (du); without them, it is called a settlement (yi)." This private fasting hall is conceptually equivalent to having no lord. The Vimalakīrti states: "Sometimes acting as a master in a settlement, sometimes acting as a guide for merchants"—this clarifies that the bodhisattva benefits living beings without fixed limits. Regarding the place of contemplating the mind: "seven expedient means" is as explained before. Here, the three grasses and two trees are unfolded into these seven stages: the small grass is unfolded into humans and devas; the medium grass is unfolded into the two vehicles; the superior grass and two trees are unfolded into the bodhisattvas of the three teachings. The two grasses and two trees all rely on the earth; the seven kinds of expedient means take reality as their foundation. Therefore, although the three grasses and two trees each grow according to their species, examining their roots and foliage, none are not from the earth and the rain. The earth is the perfect principle. The rain is the perfect teaching. In terms of gradual leading-in, they are called expedient means; when remaining in their respective stages without having transformed, they are called unable to arrive. The supreme place is true mark itself. Furthermore, if a single hair of goodness has not been directed toward bodhi, it is called "traces severed, unable to arrive." Because it pervades horizontally and vertically, being equal to the dharma-dhātu, it is called "unmoving." It is also free from the two kinds of clamor, as explained earlier, and is called "tranquil." Not producing the fruits of the seven expedient means, not giving rise to the causes of the seven expedient means, and moreover not producing conceptual attachments to the perfect fruit, is called "unproduced and unarisen." As for "The Prajñā Sūtra's 'if a thousand yojanas'...", the Dazhidulun, fascicle eighteen, explains: "A bodhisattva without expedient means, even if in a wilderness beyond a hundred yojanas—a dwelling place of birds, beasts, ghosts, spirits, and rākṣasas—for hundreds of thousands of tens of thousands of years, or exceeding this number, if he does not know the bodhisattva's dharma of distancing, and arousing the aspiration for awakening, conceives clinging to it, this practice of distancing is not permitted by the Buddha. One who truly distances does not see the mark of distancing. Such a bodhisattva is praised: 'Excellent! Excellent! This is what the Buddha spoke; he will swiftly attain bodhi.' If a bodhisattva gives rise to attachment, saying: 'What I practice is the practice of distancing. If one is near a city, who will praise you?' you should know that this bodhisattva is a caṇḍāla, a defiled bodhisattva, a counterfeit bodhisattva, a thief among humans and devas, a thief clad in the Dharma robes; those seeking Buddhahood should not associate with him. This is falling into superior pride." One should know that the treatise's intention takes conceiving attachment in deep mountains as turmoil, and understanding the principle near a city as freedom from turmoil. Thus one knows that a person who gives rise to attachment considers the turmoil of an attached mind to be non-turmoil. Giving rise to the mind of the two vehicles is already turmoil, let alone an attached mind clinging to a quiet place! "Turmoil" means confusion. If one accords with principle, raising a foot or lowering a foot is nothing other than the place of awakening (bodhimaṇḍa); only this is called the supreme place. There are people in the world who misapply the notion of "hiding in court and market," having the words without the principle. Thus one knows that Zhuangzi merely used physical places to distinguish high and low, not understanding the high, intermediate, and low of the truths and principle. "Village" refers to where men and women dwell. "Xiao" means clamor. "In reality, not..." and so forth distinguishes differences relative to phenomena. "Mountains and forests" corresponds to the intermediate and upper places; "secluded room" corresponds to the lower place. Using principle to reprove phenomena, it therefore says "in reality, not...," and so forth.