宗鏡錄 48.43

48.43

Answer: Setting it aside by means of the fourth criterion, the treatise says: 'Fourth, operating in harmony with that which is perfumed. If it is simultaneous and in the same place with that which is perfumed, being neither identical nor separate, it is an active perfumer.' This excludes other persons' bodies and earlier or later moments, as they lack the condition of harmony; hence they are not active perfumers. Only the seven evolving consciousnesses and their caittas, having superior forceful function and undergoing increase and decrease, possess these four criteria and can be active perfumers. Thus, when the active perfumer and the perfumed consciousness arise together and cease together, the meaning of perfuming is established. The growth of seeds within that which is perfumed now is like the scenting of sesame; hence it is called perfuming. The commentary explains: The Mahāyānasaṃgraha says that sesame was originally charcoal; buried in the earth for a long time, it transformed into sesame. When sesame and flowers arise together and cease together, inner perfuming takes place, and thus a fragrance is generated. Furthermore, 'seed' is an alternative name for habit (vāsanā). Habits necessarily arise due to perfuming. As an analogy, the fragrance of sesame arises because it is perfumed by flowers; that is, whatever fragrance exists in sesame must depend on the perfuming of flowers before it becomes fragrant. In the Western regions, if one wishes to make perfumed ointment to smear on the body, one first takes sesame seeds with flower fragrance, gathers them in one place, and steeps them until thoroughly macerated; later, one presses the oil from the sesame, and the oil then has a rich fragrance. Formerly, there was no fragrance in the sesame; it arose due to the perfuming of flowers. As for the meaning of perfuming, it requires arising and ceasing together for the meaning of perfuming to be established. It is not like a seed giving rise to a sprout, which is at a different time; because it does not arise and cease together, it cannot serve as an analogy.