法苑珠林 98.42

98.42

又新婆沙論問。齊何當言正法住。答。若時行法者住。齊何當言正法滅。答。若時行法者滅。問。何故復作此論。答。為欲分別契經義故。如契經說。迦葉波當知。如來所覺所說法毘柰耶。非地界水界火界風界所能滅沒。然有一類補特伽羅。當出於世。惡欲惡行成就惡法。非法說法。法說非法。非毘柰耶說毘柰耶。於毘柰耶說非毘柰耶。彼能滅我三無數劫所集正法令無有餘。契經雖作是說而不分別。齊何當言正法住。齊何當言正法滅。彼經是此論所依根本。彼所不分別者。今應分別。故作斯論。此中有二種正法。一世俗正法。二勝義正法。世俗正法。謂名句文身。即素怛纜毘柰耶阿毘達磨。勝義正法。謂聖道即無漏根力覺支道支。行法者亦有二種。一持教法。二持證法。持教法者。謂讀誦解說素怛纜等。持證法者。謂能修證無漏聖道。若持教者相續不滅。能令世俗正法久住。若持證者相續不滅。能令勝義正法久住。彼若滅時正法則滅。故契經說。我之正法不依墻壁柱等而住。但依行法有情相續而住。問何故世尊不決定說法住時分耶。答欲顯正法隨行法者住久近故。謂行法者。若行正法常如佛在世時及如來滅度未久時者。則佛正法常住於世無有滅沒。若無如是行正法者。則彼正法速疾滅沒。若度女人出家不令行八尊重法者。則佛正法應減五百歲住。由佛令彼行八尊重法故。正法住世還滿千年。

Furthermore, the New Mahāvibhāṣā-śāstra asks: 'To what extent can the saddharma be said to remain?' It answers: 'When those who practice the Dharma remain.' 'To what extent can the saddharma be said to have disappeared?' It answers: 'When those who practice the Dharma have disappeared.' Question: 'Why is this treatise composed again?' Answer: 'In order to distinguish the meaning of the sūtra. As the sūtra says: "Kāśyapa, you should know that the Dharma and Vinaya realized and taught by the Tathāgata cannot be destroyed or submerged by the earth element, water element, fire element, or wind element. Yet there is a class of pudgalas who will appear in the world, having evil desires and evil conduct, fully endowed with evil dharmas. What is not the Dharma they will declare to be the Dharma; what is the Dharma they will declare not to be the Dharma; what is not the Vinaya they will declare to be the Vinaya; and what is the Vinaya they will declare not to be the Vinaya. They will be able to extinguish without remainder my saddharma, which was gathered over three incalculable kalpas." Although the sūtra speaks thus, it does not distinguish to what extent the saddharma can be said to remain, or to what extent the saddharma can be said to have disappeared. That sūtra is the fundamental basis on which this treatise relies; what was not distinguished there must now be distinguished, and hence this treatise is composed. Herein there are two kinds of saddharma: first, conventional saddharma; second, ultimate saddharma. Conventional saddharma refers to collections of names, phrases, and syllables—that is, the sūtra, vinaya, and abhidharma. Ultimate saddharma refers to the noble path—that is, the undefiled faculties, powers, limbs of awakening, and limbs of the path. Those who practice the Dharma are also of two kinds: first, those who uphold the Dharma of the teaching; second, those who uphold the Dharma of realization. Those who uphold the Dharma of the teaching are those who recite and explain the sūtras and so forth. Those who uphold the Dharma of realization are those who can cultivate and realize the undefiled noble path. If those who uphold the teaching continue in unbroken succession, they can cause the conventional saddharma to remain long. If those who uphold realization continue in unbroken succession, they can cause the ultimate saddharma to remain long. When they disappear, the saddharma will disappear. Therefore the sūtra says: "My saddharma does not abide relying upon walls, pillars, or the like; it abides solely relying upon the continuity of sentient beings who practice the Dharma." Question: 'Why did the World-Honoured One not decisively state the duration of the Dharma's persistence?' Answer: 'Because he wished to show that the saddharma's long or short duration depends on those who practice the Dharma. That is, if those who practice the Dharma always practice the saddharma as during the Buddha's lifetime and not long after the Tathāgata's extinction, then the Buddha's saddharma will abide perpetually in the world without disappearing. If there are no such practitioners of the saddharma, then that saddharma will quickly disappear. If women had been permitted to go forth without being made to practice the eight strict rules (garudharma), then the persistence of the Buddha's saddharma would have been reduced by five hundred years. Because the Buddha caused them to practice the eight strict rules, the saddharma's remaining in the world will still complete a full thousand years.'