止觀輔行傳弘決 7.5

7.5

Next are questions and answers for critical analysis. The first question and answer analyzes the differing designations. The text of the question is plain to see. In the answering text that follows, it first [treats them] generally and next distinctively. Since it says "one sense", this is called general. [Since it says] "there are also differences", this is called distinctive; within the distinctive, it divides into three differing senses. As to "in terms of understanding": when understanding is perfect and without attachment, this is called a pass; when understanding is biased and gives rise to attachment, this is called a blockage. As to "in terms of practice": understanding is the root of practice, and practice arises from understanding; depending on whether understanding is biased or perfect, it causes practice to have gain or loss. As to "in terms of letters": letters are just the teaching; having both name and reality is called knowing letters, while having a name without the intended purport is called non-letters. Like an insect gnawing on wood that accidentally forms the letter [shape] yi, this insect does not know whether this is a letter or non-letter, let alone knowing whether this letter has an intended purport or lacks an intended purport. Next, citing the Golden Light [Sūtra] is to substantiate the three designations collectively; this is the text of the chapter on Saṃjñāya. The next question and answer analyzes pass and blockage. As to the four in the question: this question is framed in terms of establishing the meanings of horizontal and vertical at the beginning of this fascicle, further setting forth the preceding text so that this can be understood. The four noble truths, causes and conditions, and the six perfections are called horizontal passes; suffering, accumulation, ignorance, and the six obscurations are called horizontal blockages; first emptiness, next provisionality, and later the middle are called vertical passes; [the afflictions of] views and thoughts, dust-and-sand, and ignorance are called vertical blockages. The horizontal and vertical passes and blockages are paired against one another to make four questions. The question draws out the meaning of the perfect [teaching] to reveal the purport of the text. However, although the intent of this question takes the three afflictions and three wisdoms as the vertical, it specifically points to ignorance as the vertical blockage because it is the most subtle and ultimate; it specifically points to the middle way as the vertical pass because it is the highest and most remote. If the horizontal is woven into the vertical, along with checking and examining the three—truths, conditions, and perfections—even if they reach the middle way, if they do not weave into the vertical, they remain only in immediate emptiness. Therefore, the answering text below points to the three—suffering, accumulation, and so forth—within the realms specifically as horizontal blockages, and the true truth of immediate emptiness specifically as a horizontal pass. The question is a general inquiry in a broad manner, whereas the answer divides into two manners. It first establishes the two manners, and next explains the two senses. First, from "certainly" onward, it first explains the initial take. "Certainly" means approving. Just as in the horizontal and vertical asked about above, all are mutually passes and blockages; this is the meaning of the non-gradual nature of the perfect and sudden. Furthermore, since the gradual and the non-gradual were already fully clarified previously, the question on an initial take seems to ask about the non-gradual, but in fact broadly asks about both gradual and non-gradual. Therefore, the answer divides into two senses: because the afflictions to be cured have both the aspect of identity and the aspect of separation, they cause that which can cure to also have identity and separation. If practiced gradually, the passes and blockages are both distinct, as in the subsequent second take; if non-gradual, they are of one substance without distinction, as in the preceding initial take. As for "the initial take": ignorance has no separate substance and refers entirely to [afflictions of] views and thoughts. Afflictions of views and thoughts obstruct the truths and conditions, and ignorance can also obstruct them. Once the truths and conditions are obstructed, they also make for blockages within the horizontal. This is solely based on the initial mind in which the three afflictions are completely unsevered, so the truths and conditions of the true truth are also obstructed by ignorance. "The wisdom of the middle cures all": when a person of the perfect [teaching] cultivates the wisdom of the middle, it not only breaks ignorance, but also cures suffering and accumulation within the realms, which obstruct the true truth; therefore it is called a vertical pass that also opens up the horizontal blockages. This can also be said based on the initial contemplation of the middle. In the text, if one conforms to the preceding text of the question, the remaining two lines are still missing, and therefore one should further say: a horizontal pass opens up a vertical blockage. Namely, the truths, conditions, and perfections not only cure afflictions of views and thoughts, but also break ignorance; when one is empty, all are empty, so the three afflictions are all broken. A horizontal blockage obstructs a vertical pass: namely, suffering, accumulation, and so forth not only obstruct the true truth, but also obstruct the middle way; when one is suffering, all are suffering, so they obstruct the three truths. As for what is called "the second take": suffering and accumulation within [the afflictions of] views and thoughts, as well as ignorance and the six obscurations, solely obstruct the true truth and cannot obstruct the middle way. The truths, conditions, and perfections of the true truth can only break [the afflictions of] views and thoughts, and cannot break ignorance. Ignorance obstructs the middle of itself, so it does not concern the true truth. The wisdom of the middle breaks ignorance, and also does not concern [the afflictions of] views and thoughts. Therefore, the present text says: "The vertical meaning corresponds specifically."