止觀輔行傳弘決 4.7

4.7

From "Next" onward, [the text] further draws upon the five terms to make a contemplative interpretation. Throughout the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü), there are only four terms; following ancient commentaries, only three terms were retained, namely śīla, vinaya, and mokṣa. Therefore, Nanshan [Daoxuan], in citing the eighteen divisions, notes that the two terms 'vinaya' (pini) and 'statute' (lü) do not run parallel. Our school's intention is to fully rely on the various names to preserve four. Although the names do not run parallel, since it is named 'lü' and also named 'vinaya', the present text adopts the names and uses both. It also incorporates the name of the fundamental Eighty Recitations (Bashi song)—that is, the name derived from Upāli ascending the seat to recite it eighty times during a single summer retreat—and thus generally draws upon five names to unfold the contemplative interpretation. Although the distinct names across the various schools are established differently according to circumstances, they share the meaning of recitation; therefore, mentioning 'recitation' subsumes the various schools. Now, since the ten precepts have been combined into the three contemplations, the contemplation of the mind across the five names is also explained in terms of the three contemplations; the remaining names can be inferred. What is called 'statute' (lü) does not take the pitch-pipe 'lü', but simply refers to worldly statutes and ordinances, first instituted by Gao Yao and Emperor Shun and made into the Nine Chapters by Xiao He, because they gradually distinguish weight and details with precision. The Erya says: 'It means law.' Legal statutes serve to evaluate and measure light and grave, offending and non-offending, and so on. Contemplating the mind is likewise: it evaluates and measures delusion and wisdom, each having its characteristics of light and grave, upholding and violating. As in the aforementioned section on 'within the mind of bodhi' and so forth: in the first section on arousing the mind through stimulus and response, concluding the text of the three types of calming and contemplation, the distinctions between coarse and fine, difficult and easy, deep and shallow, skillful and clumsy, are also the meaning of evaluating and measuring. Regarding the four kinds of persons: if discussed in terms of retributive rebirth, the southern continent (Jambudvīpa) is the lowest of the low; if discussed in terms of encountering a Buddha, then the southern continent is the highest of the high. Hence Dazhidulun, fascicle sixty-two, states: 'Jambudvīpa surpasses even the gods and exceeds the northern continent in three things: first, the ability to sever sexual desire; second, the power of mindfulness; third, the ability to advance vigorously with courage. Furthermore, the Prajñāpāramitā is written down here, which is why the gods descend to listen to the Dharma.' Hence the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, fascicle thirty-three, states: 'Through lowest-of-the-low causes and conditions one is born in the northern continent, up to: through highest-of-the-high causes and conditions one is born in the southern continent.' As for 'the superior grades have many varieties': like the six desire heavens, the sun, moon, and stars, which are divided into nine grades—from the highest of the high being the Paranirmitavaśavartin heaven down to the lowest of the low being the stars—down to many differing kinds of karmic retribution. As the Vimalakīrti-sūtra says: 'According to their merits, the colour of the food varies, up to the various dhyānas being individually different.' As in the sūtras and treatises, according to their intended meaning, the classifications and textual divisions differ respectively. As for 'this can be grasped through understanding, so there is no need to trouble the text': it refers to evaluating and measuring light and grave within the contemplative interpretation—whether horizontal or vertical, whether self or other, whether in a single mind or different minds—much more so since each and every one encompasses what is boundless; it can only be grasped conceptually, so how could it be fully set out in text? From 'Privately inquired' onward, there is a re-explanation. This means that Zhang'an personally inquired and resolved doubts face-to-face with the Great Master. Where texts simply say 'Privately considered', it is Zhanran setting forth his own thoughts after the Master's passing. The opening text presents his own question. The previous three contemplations each have three grades: emptiness is lower, provisionality is middle, and the middle is superior. Emptiness and provisionality each having three grades are both explained in terms of manifesting the real; entering the middle also has three grades, which takes the five grades as lower, the purification of the six sense faculties as middle, and the initial stage of abiding as superior. If so, why is it that among these three grades there are both the real and the semblance? This question is posed strictly according to a broad division. The three grades of emptiness and provisionality do not entirely manifest the real either: for example, the three grades of provisionality take the Tripiṭaka bodhisattva as the lowest, as in the first round of interpretation. The three grades of entering the middle can also all manifest the real; it is merely with reference to the latter round that this question is posed. 'Answer' provides the Great Master's response. It has two meanings: first, in saying 'the former three paths have not yet merged', because within the three grades of emptiness and provisionality they correspond to differences in capacities and conditions of the three teachings, they are laid out horizontally against three kinds of persons. Since the persons differ, explaining them all in terms of manifesting the real entails no doctrinal flaw. Once one has entered the middle, even the slightest good is entirely merged, so it is explained solely in terms of the six identities, its meaning resembling a vertical [progression]. From 'It may also' onward, based on the persons and the teachings within this middle way, it can also be discussed horizontally. The three [types of beings], such as the distinctive teaching being received into the perfect, each break one grade [of ignorance]; viewed in comparison to one another, can these three persons not be considered horizontal? Although they are called horizontal, the realized path has no duality; speaking still from the standpoint of the original, they are provisionally three horizontal [grades]. As for 'How could it be limited to boiling, burning, covering, and obstructing?': unlike the sections and categories of the vinaya text—each having its fundamental, preliminary, subsequent, oriented to mind or to object, whether an offense or a circumstance, whether double or single, and with respect to retribution having the light and grave aspects of boiling, burning, and so forth—the three contemplations are mutually identical, and the three truths mutually interfused; corresponding to whatever is evaluated, a single dust mote, a single thought-moment, or a single contemplation pervades the entire dharma-dhātu. In the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya (Shisong lü), hells are referred to as 'boiling, burning, covering, and obstructing'. The eight hot hells and the sixteen [subidiary hells] are collectively 'boiling and burning'; the eight cold hells, dark hells, and so forth are collectively 'covering and obstructing'. From 'If in terms of circumstances' onward, there is a comparison and determination. Thus, regarding circumstances, one is exhorted to further apply contemplation, and not, having heard of contemplation, to neglect circumstances. Thus, using the threefold contemplation in a single mind to illuminate upholding and violating—how could this be the same as merely guarding the sense faculties and restraining the six consciousnesses?