觀心論疏 1.26

1.26

The verse states: “Those who come seeking the Dharma / originally wish to benefit others, / but not knowing to inquire into contemplation of mind, / they regress and cause others to slander [the Dharma]. / Those who come seeking the Dharma / wish to raise up and illuminate the Buddha-dharma, / but not knowing to inquire into contemplation of mind, / they regress and fall back into great defilement and ruin.” These two verses explain that when engaging in teaching to raise up and illuminate [the Dharma] out of a wish to benefit others, if one lacks inner contemplative wisdom, it conversely results in great ruin. Why is that? A sūtra states that this is called “the bondage of expedient means without wisdom,” referring to a bodhisattva abiding in covetous desire and wrath who tries to bring sentient beings to maturity and purify buddha-lands; this is named the bondage of expedient means without wisdom. Why is it so? This explains that if one lacks inner wisdom to eradicate one's own afflictions, how could one teach outwardly? In that case, not only are sentient beings not brought to maturity, but one further increases one's own afflictions; hence it is bondage. Why? If one lacks inner contemplation and illumination, outwardly one will inevitably be blinded by the six sense objects and will covet wealth and cling to sensual form. Now, outward teaching inevitably involves auditory objects, gain, and sustenance. When gain and sustenance linger in the mind, one cannot help but give rise to greed and love to benefit oneself. Benefiting oneself then destroys others' mind of joyful giving. Therefore, if one lacks inner contemplation, exhorting and converting others turns out to be a great harm, just as the verse says. Such faults are not just one; thus the concluding one and a half verses state: “Such manifold gains and losses / cannot be fully related in verses; / although there are these various gains and losses, / there is no one who awakens to them. / It is for this reason / that one must compose the Treatise on Contemplating the Mind.”