宗鏡錄 73.23

73.23

答。成二利故。更須資生。論云。自證菩提。利樂他故。謂不定性獨覺聲聞。及得自在大願菩薩。已永斷伏煩惱障故。無容復受當分段身。恐廢長時修菩薩行。遂以無漏勝定願力。如延壽法。資現身因。令彼長時與果不絕。數數如是定願資助。乃至證得無上菩提。彼復何須所知障助。既未圓證無相大悲。不執菩提有情實有。無由發起猛利悲願。又所知障。障大菩提。為永斷除。留身久住。又所知障。為有漏依。此障若無。彼定非有。故於身住。有大助力。若所留身。有漏定願所資助者。分段身攝。二乘異生所知境故。無漏定願所資助者。變易身攝。非彼境故。由此應知。變易生死。性是有漏異熟果攝。於無漏業。是增上果。釋云。得自在大願菩薩。已永斷伏煩惱障者。謂八地已去菩薩。雖藉煩惱生死受生。不同凡夫及二乘。說現及種潤。由起煩惱利益有情業勢。方能感生死果。煩惱若伏。業勢便盡。故須法執。助願受生。故已永斷伏。無容復受當分段果。既有二利之益。觀知分段報終。恐廢長時修菩薩行。遂入無漏勝定。勝願之力。如阿羅漢延壽之法。資現身之因。即資過去感令身業。令業長時與果不絕。既未圓證無相大悲。不執菩提有情實有。無由發起猛利悲願者。既未成佛。圓證無相大悲。一味平等之解。若不執菩提可求有情可度。為實有者。無有因由。可能起猛利大悲。及猛利願。以所知障可求可度執為先。方能發起無漏業故。說業為因。以是勝故。無明為緣。以疎遠故。非如煩惱資有漏業。但緣義同。少分相似。又所知障。障大菩提。正障智故。為永斷除此所知障。留身久住。說之為緣。為所斷緣故。又此所知障。能為一切有漏之依。由有此障。俱諸行法。不成無漏故。此所依之障。若無。彼能依有漏。決定非有。今既留身久住。由有所知障為緣。故說此障。為於身住有大助力。說為緣也。此變易生死。乃是菩薩成就非願。圓滿菩提。若分段生死。即是凡夫妄心所造。念念耽著。入大苦輪。無有休息。如大涅槃經云。佛告迦葉。世間眾生。顛倒覆心。貪著生相。厭患老死。迦葉。菩薩不爾。觀其初生。已見過患。迦葉。如有女人。入於他舍。是女端正。顏貌繢麗。以好瓔珞。莊嚴其身。主人見已。便問言。汝字何等。繫屬於誰。女人答言。我身即是功德大天。主人問言。汝所至處。為何所作。女人答言。我所至處。能與種種金銀琉璃。玻𰢎真珠。珊瑚琥珀。硨磲瑪瑙。象馬車乘。奴婢僕使。主人聞已。心生歡喜踊躍無量。我今福德故。令汝來。至我舍宅。即便燒香散華供養。恭敬禮拜。復於門外。更見一女。其形醜陋。衣裳弊壞。多諸垢膩。皮膚皴裂。其色艾白。見已問言。汝字何等。繫屬誰家。女人答言。我字黑闇。復問何故名為黑闇。女人答言。我所行處。能令其家所有財寶。一切衰耗。主人聞已。即持利刀。作如是言。汝若不去。當斷汝命。女人答言。汝甚愚癡。無有智慧。主人問言。云何名為癡無智慧。女人答言。汝舍中者。即是我姊。我常與姊。進止共俱。汝若驅我。亦當驅彼。主人還入。問功德天。外有一女。云是汝妹。實為是不。功德天言。實是我妹。我與此妹。行住共俱。未曾相離。隨所住處。我常作好。彼常作惡。我常利益。彼作衰耗。若愛我者。亦應愛彼。若見恭敬。亦應敬彼。主人即言。若有如是好惡事者。我俱不用。各隨意去。是時二女俱共相將。還其所止。爾時主人。見其還去。心生歡喜踊躍無量。釋曰。功德天者。即喻於生。黑闇女者。即喻於死。只是世間生死二法。諸惡之本。眾苦之原。賢聖共訶。愚癡所蔽。主人見已者。心矚於境。名為見也。即便問言者。以解觀生求生之實。名為問。女人答言者。境對於心。義稱答也。功德大天者。喻生是出相也。功德報主。具六識光明。照六塵境界。名功德天也。繫屬於誰者。應言屬惑業。我今福德者。宿修善因。今受天報。名至我宅也。復於門外者。死捨身家。義云門外。繫屬誰家者。緣應即死。無所屬也。我字黑闇者。死是沒相。雖有五根。無所覺知。名黑闇也。我常與姊。進止共俱者。即生即死。為進止俱。主人即言。若有如是好惡事者。我俱不用者。夫於生不喜者。見死則不憂也。爾時主人。見其還去。心生歡喜踊躍無量者。證初地時。離分段死。入歡喜地。故云歡喜無量。

Answer: It is in order to accomplish the two benefits that [the body] must further be sustained to produce [life]. The treatise says: 'To personally realise bodhi and to benefit and gladden others.' This means that pratyekabuddhas and śrāvakas of indeterminate nature, as well as bodhisattvas who have attained mastery and have great vows, have already permanently severed or subdued the obstacle of the kleśas; therefore, it is impossible for them to again receive a future demarcated body. Fearing that their long-term cultivation of the bodhisattva conduct might be abandoned, they thereupon, through the power of uncontaminated superior samādhi and vows—like the method for prolonging life—sustain the cause of their present body, causing it to yield fruit continuously for a long time. In this way, by repeatedly using the assistance of samādhi and vows, [they proceed] up to realising unexcelled bodhi. Why, furthermore, do they require the assistance of the obstacle to the knowable? Since they have not yet completely realised signless great compassion, if they did not cling to bodhi and sentient beings as truly existent, they would have no basis for giving rise to fierce and sharp compassionate vows. Furthermore, the obstacle to the knowable obstructs great bodhi; in order to permanently sever it, they retain the body to dwell long. Furthermore, the obstacle to the knowable is the support for the contaminated; if this obstacle did not exist, the latter certainly could not exist. Therefore, it provides great assistance to the abiding of the body. If the retained body is sustained by contaminated samādhi and vows, it is subsumed under the demarcated body, because it is an object known to the two vehicles and ordinary beings. If it is sustained by uncontaminated samādhi and vows, it is subsumed under the transformational body, because it is not their object. From this one should know that transformational saṃsāra is by nature subsumed under contaminated vipākaphala; with respect to uncontaminated karma, it is an adhipatiphala. The commentary explains: 'Bodhisattvas who have attained mastery and have great vows have already permanently severed or subdued the obstacle of the kleśas' means that for bodhisattvas from the eighth bhūmi onward, although they rely on kleśas and saṃsāra to take birth, unlike ordinary beings and the two vehicles—where manifest [kleśas] and seeds are said to moisten [rebirth]—it is only by generating the karmic force of the kleśas that benefits sentient beings that they can induce the fruit of saṃsāra. If the kleśas are subdued, the karmic force is exhausted; therefore they must rely on attachment to dharmas to aid their vows in taking birth. Thus, having already permanently severed or subdued [the obstacle of the kleśas], it is impossible for them to again receive the future demarcated fruit. Since there is the benefit of the two benefits, upon discerning that the retribution of the demarcated [body] is ending, and fearing that their long-term cultivation of the bodhisattva conduct might be abandoned, they thereupon enter superior uncontaminated samādhi. Through the power of their superior vows, like the arhat's method for prolonging life, they sustain the cause of their present body—namely, they sustain the past karma that brought about their present body—causing that karma to yield fruit continuously for a long time. As for 'since they have not yet completely realised signless great compassion, if they did not cling to bodhi and sentient beings as truly existent, they would have no basis for giving rise to fierce and sharp compassionate vows': since they have not yet become buddhas, completely realising signless great compassion and the understanding of one-taste equality, if they did not cling to bodhi as something to be sought and sentient beings as those to be saved as truly existent, they would have no cause or basis to be able to generate fierce great compassion and fierce vows. Because taking what is to be sought and what is to be saved as the clingings of the obstacle to the knowable comes first, they are only then able to give rise to uncontaminated karma. Karma is spoken of as the cause because it is predominant; avidyā is spoken of as the condition because it is distant. It is not like kleśas sustaining contaminated karma, but the sense of being a condition is the same, being partially similar. Furthermore, the obstacle to the knowable obstructs great bodhi because it directly obstructs wisdom; in order to permanently sever this obstacle to the knowable, they retain the body to dwell long, which is spoken of as a condition—because it is a condition [for what is] to be severed. Furthermore, this obstacle to the knowable can serve as the support for all that is contaminated; because this obstacle exists, the conditioned phenomena associated with it do not become uncontaminated. If this obstacle that serves as the support did not exist, that which relies on it—the contaminated—would definitely not exist. Now, since they retain the body to dwell long, having the obstacle to the knowable as a condition, this obstacle is therefore said to provide great assistance to the abiding of the body, and is spoken of as a condition. This transformational saṃsāra is precisely the bodhisattva's fulfilling of non-vows and perfecting of bodhi. Demarcated saṃsāra, on the other hand, is created by the deluded mind of ordinary beings, who indulge in clinging thought after thought, entering the great wheel of suffering without cessation. As the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says: The Buddha addressed Kāśyapa: 'Worldly sentient beings have their minds covered by inversion; they crave and cling to the characteristic of birth and loathe old age and death. Kāśyapa, the bodhisattva is not like this: seeing its initial arising, he has already seen its faults. Kāśyapa, it is as if a woman enters another's house. This woman is shapely and upright, her face and features beautiful and refined, and she adorns her body with fine necklaces. Having seen her, the householder immediately asks: "What is your name? To whom do you belong?" The woman answers: "I am the Great Goddess of Meritorious Virtue." The householder asks: "Wherever you go, what do you do?" The woman answers: "Wherever I go, I can bestow all kinds of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, real pearls, coral, amber, mother-of-pearl, agate, elephants, horses, carriages, male and female slaves, and servants." Having heard this, the householder is endlessly delighted and overjoyed in mind: "Because of my present merit, you have been caused to come to my residence!" He immediately burns incense, scatters flowers to make offerings, and pays homage with reverent prostrations. He then sees another woman outside the gate. Her appearance is ugly and deformed, her clothing tattered and ruined, covered in much grime and grease, her skin chapped and cracked, and her complexion wan and pale. Having seen her, he asks: "What is your name? To whose house do you belong?" The woman answers: "My name is Darkness." He again asks: "Why are you named Darkness?" The woman answers: "Wherever I go, I cause all the wealth and jewels of that house to decay and be exhausted." Having heard this, the householder immediately takes a sharp knife and speaks thus: "If you do not leave, I will cut off your life!" The woman answers: "You are extremely foolish and have no wisdom." The householder asks: "Why am I called foolish and lacking wisdom?" The woman answers: "The one inside your house is my elder sister. I always accompany my elder sister in coming and going, staying together. If you drive me away, you must also drive her away." The householder goes back inside and asks the Goddess of Meritorious Virtue: "There is a woman outside who says she is your younger sister. Is this truly so or not?" The Goddess of Meritorious Virtue says: "She is truly my younger sister. I and this younger sister stay together in moving and dwelling, never having been separated from each other. Wherever we dwell, I always do good and she always does evil; I always bring benefit and she brings decay and exhaustion. If you love me, you should also love her; if you show reverence to me, you should also revere her." The householder immediately says: "If there are such good and bad matters, I want neither of you; go each as you please!" At that time, the two women together take each other along and return to where they dwell. At that time, seeing them return and leave, the householder is endlessly delighted and overjoyed in mind.' The commentary says: The Goddess of Meritorious Virtue is an analogy for birth; the Dark Woman is an analogy for death. They are simply the two worldly phenomena of birth and death, the root of all evils and the source of all suffering, together condemned by the worthy and the noble, yet obscured by ignorance. 'Having seen her' refers to the mind gazing upon an object; this is called 'seeing'. 'Immediately asks' refers to discerning birth with understanding to seek the truth of birth; this is called 'asking'. 'The woman answers' refers to the object facing the mind; in meaning it is termed 'answering'. 'The Great Goddess of Meritorious Virtue' illustrates that birth is the characteristic of emerging. The lord of retribution of meritorious virtue possesses the brilliance of the six consciousnesses, illuminating the realms of the six dusts; hence she is named the Goddess of Meritorious Virtue. 'To whom do you belong?' should mean belonging to kleśa and karma. 'My present merit' means that having cultivated good causes in the past, one now receives heavenly retribution; this is called 'coming to my residence'. 'Outside the gate' means death casting off the house of the body; in meaning it is called 'outside the gate'. 'To whose house do you belong?' means that when conditions correspond, death immediately occurs, belonging to nowhere. 'My name is Darkness' means that death is the characteristic of perishing; although having the five sense faculties, there is no awareness or perception, hence it is called 'Darkness'. 'I always accompany my elder sister in coming and going, staying together' means that birth is immediately death, which constitutes coming and going together. 'The householder immediately says: If there are such good and bad matters, I want neither of you' means that one who takes no pleasure in birth does not sorrow when seeing death. 'At that time, seeing them return and leave, the householder is endlessly delighted and overjoyed in mind' means that when realising the first bhūmi, one is freed from demarcated death and enters the Pramuditābhūmi (Stage of Joy); hence it is said: 'joy is endless'.