止觀輔行傳弘決 7.54

7.54

Regarding the ninth, "Settled Endurance": the initial section first [presents] the principle, next the metaphor, and afterwards the synthesis. In the first [part on] the principle, "brilliant" (shuang) means clear. Next, in the metaphor, where it says "sharp edge" and so forth, flying frost is also used as an analogy for a sharp blade. "Acute" (cong) means good at listening and keenly sensitive to affairs. As for "perspicacious" (rui), the Shuowen says: "Deeply luminous; wisdom. As a metaphor, surpassing; transcending." "Clear-sighted" (shu) means recording. "Penetrating" (dong) means swift-flowing; that is, completely piercing through, and also profound. "Cherish" (huai) means bring peace to. The Classic of Poetry says: "Cherish my good repute." "Techniques" (shu) are methods and arts. As for "the meditation masters of Ye and Luoyang": Ye was in Xiangzhou, the capital of Qi and Wei, where the Buddha-Dharma flourished greatly; one of the ancestral founders of Chan converted that region. Out of consideration for people of that era, his name is not mentioned. Luo is Luoyang. "Crowd" (qun) means companions; peers. As for "Wujin sighed and said": the Great Master of Nanyue was a native of Wujin in Xiangcheng, Chenzhou. Wujin is the name of his residence. His biography does not state that he led assemblies too early, but only says that Master Zhiduan consulted him about doubts concerning the essentials of Chan, and [Huisi] consequently expounded for him the Dharma-gates of the ten stages, stunning his mind and eyes. Zhiduan said: "I suspect your stage, Master, has reached the ten stages." The Master replied: "I am merely at the iron-wheel stage of the ten faiths." This must be a variant report known to the biographer. As for "composing a vow text": that text is currently in circulation. However, where the text cites the four choices, someone correlated these with the three techniques; not only do the numbers fail to match, but the text's intended meanings are entirely different. The three techniques are Tiantai's esoteric meaning, while the four choices are Nanyue's vow text; citing the latter to match the former is, I fear, largely inappropriate. Now, regarding what the Great Master intended by citing it: it was used to admonish later students that they must properly make their choices, repeating it diligently without cease on four occasions. Therefore, the Great Master of Tiantai pointed to Nanyue as an exalted and superior person who handed down profound admonitions to serve as a guideline for posterity, so that scholars of later generations could use them as a mirror—a mirror can reflect an unkempt form. Next, citing the Da zhidu lun: "Bodhisattvas in deep mountains..." In fascicle nineteen of the Da zhidu lun, explaining the perfection of dhyāna: "A question asks: 'Great bodhisattvas take transforming sentient beings as their business; why dwell in deep mountains in self-quiescence, abandoning sentient beings and going against the practice of compassion and benefiting others?' The answer says: 'Though their bodies are distant, their minds are not distant. Just as a sick person takes medicine to nurse their body, and only after their body recovers can they resume their occupation—recovery (kang) means being at ease and harmonious. The bodhisattva is also like this: taking the medicine of prajñā, the illness of afflictions diminishes, and once the Dharma-body has recovered, it is not too late to undertake conversion.'" As for "if one reaches the six sense-faculties...", this speaks of the ultimate stage of the first refuge; spanning all the way from the previous five stages, these all belong to the first refuge. Therefore the Great Sūtra says: "Endowed with the nature of afflictions, one is able to know the Tathāgata's secret treasury." Having ignorance completely intact is called "endowed with afflictions." As for "the great elephant meets with obstacles...": one of longstanding practice is called a great elephant. This is unlike the previous text on antidotes, where only three asaṃkhyeya kalpas were called a great elephant. Not shrinking from birth and death is called "meeting with obstacles." "Obstructing" (han) means defending. "Barrier" (ge) should take the earth radical (hu-bai fan). The Book of Rites says: "Restraining after the fact meets with obstinate resistance that cannot be overcome." The commentary says: "obstinate resistance" (hange) means so firm that it cannot be penetrated. Using the wood radical or the hand radical does not fit the present meaning. Since previously the five stages were treated as a small elephant, here the six sense-faculties are provisionally treated as a great elephant. Having departed from the bonds of the realms, one possesses sovereignty and capability. Afflictions do not defile them, like "swords and arrows finding no place to strike." Universal knowledge transforms beings, like "sunlight illuminating the world." The beginningless suffering of beings is like "endless water." When faculties mature and they attain benefit, it is called "self-governance." The elephant symbolizes manifesting a body to respond to the world and benefit beings. As for "if beset by fame and reputation...": one is disturbed and ruined by these three things. The first two are like boring insects, causing the contemplative methods to scatter and perish, which is called "internal invasion." If retinues gather, causing all practices to be ruined, it is called "branches and leaves completely exhausted from without." Just as with a great tree, where outside flock many birds and inside nest worms and scorpions, the tree will certainly die and decay. "Boring insect" (zhu) is an insect that harms things; it is also said to be an insect that eats cinnamon. As for the "three techniques", as listed in the text above: first, neither accept nor cling; second, contract virtue and expose flaws; third, a single leap of ten thousand li. The three internal techniques are emptiness, provisionality, and the middle. External obstacles are soft thieves, referring to fame and so forth. Internal obstacles are harsh thieves, referring to afflictions and so forth. Therefore, the techniques used for internal and external differ. "Submerged" (lun) means sinking. "Vairambhaka" is a fierce wind. This wind is outside the Great Iron Ring Mountains; if not for the Iron Ring Mountains, it would blow Mount Sumeru like rotten grass, so it is cited as an analogy. The text mentions a bit of meditation and a slight evil as the beginnings of defiance and compliance; thus we know that if one cannot endure defiance and compliance, one should not lead an assembly. As in the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, when Devadatta led an assembly, the Buddha cited an event, saying: "In ancient times, an immortal was in the mountains reciting a kṣatriya text. A wild fox heard and recited it, and thought to himself: 'I understand this text, which suffices to make me king of the beasts.' Thereupon he went out traveling. He met a weary fox and wanted to kill it. The weary fox said: 'Why kill me?' He replied: 'I am the king of the beasts. You do not submit to me, so I must kill you.' That weary fox said: 'Do not kill me, and I will follow you.' In this manner, progressing step by step, he subdued a pack of lions. After the lions were subdued, he had this thought: 'I will no longer take a beast as my wife.' Thereupon he led all the beasts to encircle the kingdom of Kāvī hundreds of thousands of times. The king dispatched a messenger to inquire; when the messenger returned and stated the demand, the ministers all agreed. Only one minister said: 'From antiquity to the present, a human king has never been seen giving his daughter in marriage to a beast. I must kill it and make this fox flee.' The king asked how. This minister replied: 'Send a messenger to make an agreement granting a single wish: make the lions fight first and then roar. They will assume we fear the lion's roar and will certainly make the lions roar first and then fight. If the lions roar, all the beasts will surely scatter.' The king followed his plan. When the day came and the army was dispatched, things turned out precisely as planned. No sooner had the fox and others heard the sound of the lion's roar than their hearts broke into seven pieces, and the fox fell from the elephant and died, while the pack of beasts all fled. The Buddha spoke a verse: