四明尊者教行錄 3.168

3.168

First, the four truths of arising and ceasing of the Tripiṭaka teaching: suffering, origination, cessation, and the path are all phenomena of arising and ceasing. To clarify their purport, one must first show their four characteristics: what is called a heavy burden, pressing distress, bondage, and so forth are the characteristics of suffering; the afflictions of views and craving, which are able to invite future retributions, are the characteristics of origination; the discipline, concentration, and wisdom that are impermanent, suffering, and empty, able to eliminate the root of suffering, are the characteristics of the path; and the complete severance of both the seeds and fruits of the twenty-five states of existence is the characteristic of cessation. As the Zhiguan says: 'Suffering is the shifting of the three characteristics; origination is the flowing stream of the four minds; the path is the counteracting and displacing; cessation is the extinguishment of existence returning to nothingness.' Next, investigating their purport: this is the meaning of arising and ceasing. The three vehicles transformed by this teaching are of dull faculties within the realms; since their contemplative wisdom is clumsy, they cannot comprehend that the realm of the six ordinary destinies is itself intrinsically empty, but must analyze everything away step by step before seeing emptiness. Therefore, when the six ordinary destinies are distinguished according to phenomena within the sphere of arising and ceasing, all phenomena shift from thought to thought, like flickering lamp flames, like trickling water; hence they are called the 'four truths of arising and ceasing'. If one speaks of the ultimate truth, the dharmatā is naturally so, and is neither arising nor ceasing. Question: Since it is said that through cessation one unites with the ultimate, cessation is not itself the ultimate truth. Why is it said that the path and cessation are the ultimate, while suffering and origination are the conventional? Answer: What the Vibhāṣā says is that the conventional refers to suffering and origination, and the primary meaning refers to the path and cessation. Jingxi explained this as combining the four into two. Furthermore, suffering and origination obscure the ultimate, while the path and cessation accord with the ultimate; this is dividing delusion and awakening in contrast. Furthermore, when there are suffering and origination, there are no path and cessation; when there are the path and cessation, there are no suffering and origination; this is merely the meaning of medicine and illness counteracting each other. Furthermore, when there is the ultimate truth, there are no four truths; when there are the four truths, there is no ultimate truth; this is what the Fuxing calls 'mutually overturning each other'. If one considers the practice and advancement of the three vehicles, their entryways also differ: śrāvakas take the truth of suffering as their entryway, pratyekabuddhas take the truth of origination as their entryway, and bodhisattvas take the truth of the path as their entryway. Moreover, the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Ordinary beings have suffering but no truth; the two vehicles have suffering and have truth.' One should know that because persons of the [single] vehicle know suffering, sever origination, aspire to the fruit, and cultivate the cause, it is said that they have suffering and have truth. Ordinary beings are not like this. All the above meanings do not go beyond the sphere and contemplation of arising and ceasing. Examining their reason, it is simply because persons of the Tripiṭaka teaching are heavily deluded about the ultimate, so these names are established from the phenomena within the realms.