觀心論疏 3.7

3.7

論曰：「問觀自生心，云何巧成就？二十五方便，調心入正道。」此是第五一偈，明妙理不可頓階，若欲進趣正道，須善方便。今明方便者，方便名善巧也。行者觀一念自生心善修行，以微少善根能令無量行成解發入菩薩位也。又方便者，眾緣和合也。以能和合成因，亦能和合取果故也。經云「如來身者，不從一因一緣，從無量功德生如來身」，顯此巧能，故論方便也。若依漸次，即有四種方便，方便各有遠近，如《阿毘曇》明五停心為遠，四善根為近。通別二種方便，例可意知。圓教以假名五品觀行等位去真猶遙，名遠方便；六根清淨相似隣真，名近方便。今就五品之前假名位中，復論遠近，二十五法為遠方便，十種境界為近方便。橫竪該羅十觀具足，成觀行位，能發真似為方便也。今釋遠方便，略為五：一具五緣，二訶五欲，三棄五蓋，四調五事，五行五法。夫道不孤運，弘之在人，人弘勝法，假緣進道，所以須具五緣。緣力既具，當割諸嗜欲；嗜欲外屏，當內淨其心；其心若寂，當調試五事；五事調已，行於五法，必至所在。譬如陶師若欲得器，先擇良處，無砂無滷草水豐便可作之所。次息餘際務，際務不淨，安得就功？雖息外緣，身內有疾，云何執作？身雖康壯，泥輪不調，不成器物。上緣雖整，不專於業，廢不相續，永無辦理。修行五緣亦復如是，——有待之身必假資籍，如彼好處。訶厭塵欲，如斷外緣。棄絕五蓋，如治內疾。調適五事，如學輪繩。行於五法，如作不廢。世間淺事非緣不合，何況出世之道！若無弄引，何易可階？故歷二十五法，約事為觀，調麁入細，捨散令靜，故為初心遠方便也。此五法，三科出《大論》，一種出《禪經》，一是諸禪師立（云云）。

The treatise says: "Question: How is the contemplation of the spontaneously arising mind skillfully perfected? / [Answer:] Through the twenty-five preparatory practices, one tunes the mind and enters the correct path." This is the fifth verse, which clarifies that the wondrous principle cannot be ascended to all at once; if one wishes to advance toward the correct path, one must rely on skillful means. Here, explaining "preparatory practices" (upāya), "upāya" means skillful ingenuity. The practitioner contemplates the mind in a single thought-moment and practices skillfully; through minimal good roots, they are able to cause immeasurable practices to be perfected, understanding to arise, and enter the bodhisattva stages. Furthermore, "upāya" means the harmonious combination of various conditions. Because they can harmoniously combine to form causes, they can also harmoniously combine to obtain the fruit. A sūtra says: "The Tathāgata's body does not arise from a single cause or a single condition; from immeasurable merits the Tathāgata's body is born." To reveal this skillful capacity, the treatise discusses preparatory practices. If considered according to the gradual sequence, there are four kinds of preparatory practices, each having remote and proximate [levels]. For example, the Abhidharma explains the fivefold stilling of the mind as remote and the four good roots as proximate. The preparatory practices of the shared and distinct [teachings] can be understood by analogy. In the perfect teaching, because stages such as the five grades of disciples' contemplative practice are still far from truth under conventional designations, they are called remote preparatory practices; the stage of the purity of the six sense faculties, which is a semblance [realization] bordering on truth, is called proximate preparatory practices. Now, regarding the conventional-designation stages prior to the five grades, remote and proximate are further discussed: the twenty-five dharmas are the remote preparatory practices, and the ten kinds of objective realms are the proximate preparatory practices. Comprehensively encompassing both horizontal and vertical dimensions, fulfilling the ten contemplations, they constitute the stage of contemplative practice, being able to give rise to true and semblance [realizations] as preparatory practices. Now, to explain the remote preparatory practices, they are briefly five: first, fulfilling the five conditions; second, rebuking the five desires; third, abandoning the five hindrances; fourth, regulating the five matters; fifth, practicing the five dharmas. Indeed, the Path does not operate in isolation; its broadening depends on the person. When a person broadens the supreme Dharma, they rely on conditions to advance on the Path; hence they must fulfill the five conditions. Once the power of conditions is fulfilled, one should cut off all cravings and desires. When cravings and desires are screened off externally, one should internally purify one's mind. When one's mind is tranquil, one should regulate and adjust the five matters. Once the five matters are regulated, if one practices the five dharmas, one will certainly arrive at the goal. For example, if a potter wishes to make vessels, he first selects a good place—a site where there is no sand or brine, and grass and water are abundant, suitable for work. Next, he suspends other secondary tasks; if secondary tasks are not set aside, how can the work be accomplished? Although external conditions are suspended, if there is illness within the body, how can he engage in work? Even if the body is healthy and strong, if the potter's wheel is not properly adjusted, it will not produce vessels. Even if the above conditions are in order, if he is not dedicated to the craft and neglects it without continuity, it will never be accomplished. The cultivation of the five conditions is also like this: an embodied being must rely on resources and provisions, just like that good location; reviling and wearying of worldly desires is like severing external conditions; abandoning and cutting off the five hindrances is like curing internal illness; regulating the five matters is like mastering the wheel and cord; practicing the five dharmas is like working without interruption. In mundane matters of shallow import, nothing comes together without conditions; how much more so for the supramundane Path! If there is no prelude, how could it be easily climbed? Therefore, traversing the twenty-five dharmas, taking factual matters as contemplation, tuning the coarse to enter the subtle, and relinquishing distraction to bring about tranquility, these serve as the remote preparatory practices for beginners. Regarding these five dharmas: three headings come from the Dazhidulun, one kind comes from the Chan jing, and one was established by the various dhyāna masters (and so forth).