釋禪波羅蜜次第法門 9.30

9.30

Such six lusts deceive and bewitch sentient beings life after life, drowning them in birth and death and plunging them into the three bad destinations without attaining liberation. If one can skillfully cultivate the counteractions of the nine notions to eliminate them, the bandits of the six lusts will be broken and scattered, and one will swiftly realize nirvāṇa. Why is this? The initial notion of death breaks the two lusts of deportment and speech; next, the notions of swelling, decay, and being devoured break the lust for bodily form; next, the notions of blood-smearing, bluish discoloration, and pus-rotting mostly break the lust for colour; next, the notions of the skeleton and being burned mostly eliminate the lust for fine smoothness; all nine notions eliminate mixed lust and the lust for human appearances to which one clings; the notions of being devoured, scattered, and the skeleton especially eliminate the lust for human appearances. In partially devoured, scattered white bones, one does not see a person to whom one can attach; therefore, by this contemplation of the nine notions, one can break the fetters of lust, and anger and delusion also become attenuated. Because the three poisons are attenuated, the mountain of the ninety-eight defilements is shaken, and gradually advancing on the path, with the vajra-samādhi one smashes the mountain of defilements and attains the path of the three vehicles. Although the nine notions are an impure contemplation, on their basis one can accomplish the great matter—just as with a corpse in the great sea, a drowning person relying on it immediately crosses over.