北山錄 7.1.2

7.1.2

[The sūtra] praises dwelling in the conjured city, yet to dwell there is not the reality, for one must ultimately reach the jewel cache (The Buddha's teaching of the intermediate and lesser is called an expedient provision. It is like a person wishing to reach a jewel cache whose resolve falters midway. The guide then conjures up a city along the way and expediently calls it the jewel cache; once they have rested, he reveals it to be expedient and leads them onward to the jewel cache. This refers to the nine divisions of the Hinayāna teachings). In words they appear the same, yet their intention is ever different. There are cases where the words conflict while the purport harmonises: as in the Jiaojie jing (Sūtra of Admonition), where a monk does not bare his shoulder, the Great Sage rebukes him; whereas in the Chengyu jing (Sūtra of the Parable of the City), when he bared his shoulder but did not cover both shoulders, [the Buddha] again rebuked him (To bare means to expose the shoulder; covering both shoulders envelops both, which is not baring). Śāriputra, regarding correct speech, seemed [perplexed as to] the seeming contradiction of adoption and rejection, not yet having understood (not yet knowing what to uphold). The Buddha said: when making offerings one bares the shoulder; when acting as a field of merit one ought not to bare it. What is valued is fitness for the time, not the separation of hardness and whiteness (Adopting and rejecting befit the time, advancing and retreating follow expedience; is it not like 'ground down, yet not made thin, may indeed be called hard; steeped in black, yet not turned dark, may indeed be called white'?). He once told King Bimbisāra: 'Do not indulge wicked monks, causing the field of the Saṅgha to be overgrown with weeds; such guilt exceeds that of gouging out the eyes of the great trichiliocosm' (the ruler of Rājagṛha). At other times, he likened a monk who broke the precepts to a withered campaka flower: 'Kings, officials, and white-robed [layfolk] must not inflict punishment [upon him]' (The Yijiao jing says: 'Though the campaka flower is withered, it still surpasses other flowers; monks who break the precepts still surpass the heterodox.' It also says: 'If my monks violate royal law, whether executed or beaten, or if their kāṣāyas are stripped and they are forced to return to lay life, or expelled from the state—that is like flaying three hundred living oxen alive, yet its sin is still lighter'). This was because a benevolent king was excessively benevolent, allowing the foolish to indulge in wickedness (te means evil); whereas a cruel king was excessively cruel, doing violence and injustice to people. Fearing a departure from the middle, [the Buddha] established two sūtras to guard against loss. In the Prātimokṣa Sūtra, he initially commanded mutual admonition among them, yet ultimately commanded each only to observe their own body (In the Prātimokṣa Sūtra, the saṃghāvaśeṣa contains the provision for three admonitions. The Precepts of the Seven Buddhas also say: 'Only observe one's own bodily conduct, do not observe what others do or do not do'). For those who rectify themselves but cannot rectify others, he instituted that they admonish one another; for those who boast of their goodness and relish litigating the faults of others, he instituted that they withdraw and examine themselves. There are cases where the matter is concealed yet the statement is literal: as when Gavāmpati dropped a few grains of millet and was reborn as an ox for five hundred lifetimes. He surely had other karmic actions leading to rebirth as an ox, yet [the Buddha] only made manifest this single incident (This is the monk 'Ruminating Ox.' In a past life he plucked a single stalk of grain and dropped a few grains of millet, resulting in five hundred lifetimes with bovine hooves and a bovine mouth. The Buddha, fearing that worldly people would ridicule him, ordered him to dwell permanently in the Thirty-Three Heavens). Aniruddha gave a single meal of food, and for ninety-one kalpas enjoyed the bliss of humans and devas (translated as 'Unfailing'; foremost in divine vision). Because his good conditions assisted one another, they came to fruition across many kalpas; yet because it originated from a single meal, [the Buddha] concealed the branches and praised the root. It is like the world praising a wealthy man as having eaten a single gold coin; he began with a single gold coin, and later became wealthy. Now, as all equally attain the Ten Epithets, why are there strong and weak among them, and why do those who praise and bow to them receive benefits that are abundant or meager? (All equally become Buddhas with the Ten Epithets, yet those who praise and pay homage differ in the benefits they obtain according to what is perceived). This is simply citing a single time and a single action to indicate non-uniform conditions (such as the Western [Paradise] specialising in welcoming and guiding, Bhaiṣajyaguru specialising in rescuing from adversity, and so forth). There are cases where the principle is not so, yet the words are severe: as when drinking alcohol or holding jewels definitively renders one no śramaṇa (prohibitions of the Vinaya); predicting that Devadatta would enter hell for a kalpa (Devadatta committed the five heinous sins and entered hell for one kalpa); or that harming an ant with a grave mind incurs a sin graver than killing a human (as when specifically generating wrath of the highest grade to kill an ant, which is heavier than killing a person by mistake). Though in terms of the act it is slight, in terms of the underlying emotional state it is extreme: these are all the Sage's expressions of ultimate censure. Therefore the sūtra says: 'When I say that a srotaāpanna can attain Buddhahood, you do not understand my intention (referring to those who have turned their minds to cultivate practice); when I say they cannot attain Buddhahood, neither do you understand my intention' (referring to those of fixed nature who reduce the body to ashes and have not turned their minds). The August Sage illumines the spiritual capacities; his contraction and expansion have no fixed rule (bi means exclusive insistence). In some cases, the teaching arises following people: hence he first taught of humans and devas, and later diminished this with the truths and conditions (humans and devas refer to the five precepts, ten virtues, and so forth; the truths refer to the Four Truths; conditions refer to the twelvefold conditioned arising). Having first taught truths and conditions, he later diminished them with the One Vehicle (causing them to abandon the sheep and deer carts to advance toward the great white ox cart). Diminishing until there is nothing left to diminish, one returns to what is called the Great Way. In some cases, the teaching does not follow people: as in the earlier assemblies of the Avataṃsaka, where lesser sages were present in the assembly, yet their seeing and hearing were obscured and blocked (During the first eight assemblies, though lesser sages were present, they neither saw nor heard, for it was not their realm; only upon reaching the ninth assembly did they see and hear). In some cases, people do not follow the teaching: as when the wheel of the Dharma was first turned, twelve hundred million in the multitude resolved their minds upon the unsurpassed Path (When the Buddha first attained enlightenment, he preached the Dharma for Elder Trapuṣa, and twelve hundred million attained the forbearance of the non-arising of phenomena). Gathering the branches to return to the root, immeasurable humans and devas attained the purity of the Dharma eye. If it were not thus, one could not hook the depths or reach the distant. In ancient times, Confucius compiled the Spring and Autumn Annals, setting forth praise and blame, and disciples such as Zi-you and Zi-xia dared not alter a single word. Was this not because their wisdom could not reach it? As for asking about benevolence, asking about government, or 'acting upon what one has heard'—the questions asked were identical, yet what he told them differed (as in the Analects). Though the ten thousand streams are all moistened, they do not contaminate their source. Therefore it is said: 'When trust is close to righteousness, one's word can be fulfilled' (where there is righteousness one need not cling to blind trust; it may be carefully examined and repeated). In antiquity, the Great Bean Gatherer (Maudgalyāyana. In high antiquity there was an immortal living in mountain seclusion who regularly gathered mung beans to eat, whence came his family name, called 'Gatherer of Beans.' The Venerable One's mother belonged to this clan) predicted that it would rain after seven days (predicting that it would rain in seven days, yet it did not rain; this was Maudgalyāyana's observation lacking subtlety); and that a cow with a white calf would in the end prove mistaken (he also predicted that a Brahmin's cow would give birth to a calf with a white forehead and a white tail; these were all Maudgalyāyana's coarse mind). Five hundred aśaikṣas collectively used the divine eye to debate heaven and earth, and their accounts differed into two and three; when dividing principle and phenomena, discrepancies may also occur. The twelve divisions of the teaching are like day and night having their seasons, cold and heat having their months, and medicine having its proportions of flavors: if something is missing, its efficacy is meager; if there is too much, it lacks essential focus (none of the above can be lacking, and the Dharma is also like this). The Vibhāṣā speaks of it being like traversing the count of the Four Noble Truths through three circumambulations; if one does not discuss it exhaustively (the three circumambulations counting the Four Truths refers to the contemplation of reducing conditions and reducing practices)... Now, the Mahāyāna self does not obstruct lesser fruits.