宗鏡錄 73.23

73.23

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'.