止觀輔行傳弘決 5.48

5.48

From "Unborn" onward, next the horizontal inclusion is explained. This first concludes the preceding and introduces what follows. From "*Dapin*" onward, it directly shows the horizontal gate. Question: Previously, the vertical gate of the unborn was also seen at the head of the forty-two syllables. Why now are the syllable-gates taken as horizontal? Answer: Previously, entering vertically through the single gate of the unborn, there was the perspective of cause and effect in terms of shallow and deep; hence it was called vertical. Now, viewing the twenty-four syllables with respect to each other, this already of itself constitutes the horizontal. Furthermore, as each of them contains the forty-two syllables, what is contained within each single syllable is also horizontal. Therefore, one should know that both the horizontal and the vertical are fully contained within it; this is also discussing the horizontal and the vertical while being neither horizontal nor vertical.

From "This intention" onward, wishing to broadly display the characteristics and explain the functions of the meaning, it is first brought up. But simply speaking of the cause and effect, horizontal and vertical, meaning of the unborn is still difficult to perceive; therefore, one must further rely on the *Storehouse of the Buddha* and so forth. Now in this text, in explaining the meaning of the storehouse of the Buddha, first is the phenomenal, next is contemplation. In the phenomenal explanation, first the sūtra is directly cited to clarify the external functioning, and next it is coordinated with the gate of the unborn.

Regarding the external functioning: the upper roll of the sūtra states: "Expounding nominal characteristics within the absence of nominal characteristics is all the inconceivable power of the Tathāgata. It is like someone chewing Mount Sumeru while flying through empty space; crossing the ocean on a stone raft; carrying the four continents and Mount Sumeru, and climbing to the Brahmā palace using a mosquito's leg as a ladder; when the kalpa ends in fire, putting out the kalpa fire with a single spit, and bringing the world into being with a single blow; suspending Mount Sumeru on a lotus filament; catching the rain of the four continents with one hand. All phenomena spoken of by the Tathāgata are signless and unconditioned, unborn and unceasing; causing people to believe and understand this is extremely difficult to find, extremely rare. If one has even the slightest apprehension of an obtainment, disputing with the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, one enters into perverse paths, and is not permitted to renounce the household life, receive the precepts, or drink a single cup of water."

One should know that the sūtra clarifies the external functioning of the unborn in order to reveal the unborn of cause and effect in the marvelous principle. Thus, if one does not understand the eternal presence of the Three Jewels of single substance, one is not permitted to renounce the household life. Saying that one is "not permitted" means that if one does not understand this, one's precepts are incomplete. This is identical to the concluding explanation of the *Śrīmālā[devī-sūtra]* at the end of the third roll above. The internal coordination with the unborn below that sūtra: blowing and spitting are simply the functions of wisdom and eradication; because wisdom and eradication are non-dual, blowing and spitting occur simultaneously. If there are those who claim to have attained the unborn, please test their external functioning.

From "One must recognize" onward, next the meaning of the *Storehouse of the Buddha* is explained in terms of the contemplation of mind. Contemplating the mind is precisely the cultivation of the cause of wisdom and eradication; therefore one must further explain it in terms of the contemplation of mind. The arising of a single thought-moment is called a "sentient being." Arising and ceasing in that very moment is called a "single lifetime." In every thought-moment, the three poisons constantly arise, which corresponds to the meaning of the three disasters at the end of a kalpa. Among the three poisons, greed is foremost, and among the three disasters, fire is the beginning. One contemplates these three poisons with inconceivable calming and contemplation (and so on).