一切經音義 20.63

20.63

泡炎 ("bubbles and mirages"; the former character, fanqie: 普 + 包. The Guangya says: "Pao (泡) means flowing." The Shuowen says it is the name of a river. Examining the sūtra's phrase 'illusions, bubbles, and mirages,' it refers to foam upon water and the like, which also arises along with raindrops and vanishes upon meeting wind; popularly they are called floating froth. This speaks of the transient and unstable nature of things, like illusions, bubbles, and mirages: man's lodging in the world has birth and likewise destruction, unable to endure firmly, just like these. The Shuowen says: "It takes 水 as semantic and 包 as phonetic." The latter character yan (炎) is read the same as 艷).