四教義 2.4

2.4

Second, explaining the four truths of non-arising: as the Viśeṣacintābrahma-paripṛcchā-sūtra says: 'Knowing that suffering is unarisen is called the noble truth of suffering; knowing that accumulation has no mark of combining is called the noble truth of accumulation; contemplating with the mark of non-duality is called the noble truth of the path; dharmas are fundamentally unarisen and now have no cessation—this is called the noble truth of cessation.' That is, for the four dharmas of suffering, accumulation, cessation, and the path, the names and phenomenal marks are identical, yet the meaning of the truth is different. Previously, the principle of arising and ceasing was taken as the truth; now, the principle of the true emptiness of non-arising and non-ceasing is explained as the truth, also named the four true truths. Therefore the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Bodhisattvas understand that suffering is without suffering, therefore there is no suffering yet there is the true truth. They understand that accumulation is without accumulation, therefore there is no accumulation yet there is the true truth.' There is cessation and there is truth; there is the path and there is truth; hence they are called the four true truths. Contemplated in common by the three vehicles, they attain the paramārtha and realize the two kinds of nirvāṇa; this is also what the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra explains as the 'measurable four truths.' Question: If it is studied in common by the three vehicles, why does the Nirvāṇa Sūtra explain the truth of cessation as permanence, bliss, self, and purity? Answer: The true truth of non-arising explained in the Vaipulya and Prajñā is seen in common by the three vehicles, yet the two vehicles and the bodhisattvas of the shared teaching do not see the Buddha-nature, and do not explain the truth of cessation as permanent abiding. Arriving at the Mahāparinirvāṇa, the Buddha-nature is spoken of equally for the people of the three vehicles; hence the four true truths of non-arising connect with the distinctive and connect with the perfect, and therefore explain the four virtues of the truth of cessation. That this differs from the Vaipulya and the Dàpǐn is precisely because of this intention.