金剛般若經旨贊 2.38

2.38

Sūtra: "Subhūti," up to "the pāramitā of forbearance." Commentary: Next, the ninth point below is leaving behind the obstacle of the inability to endure suffering, which is the thirteenth abiding place, "enduring suffering." It resolves the eighth [doubt], the doubt that the sūtra produces a fruit of suffering, among three kinds of doubtful minds, cultivating the practice of forbearance in reliance on the sūtra. The preceding locus of making offerings caused one to practice offerings in reliance on this sūtra to cultivate the merit provision; the locus of leaving behind indolence caused one to arouse vigor by adducing the superior benefits of the sūtra to exhort and encourage. Although [vigor] is attained, one must be able to endure suffering. If when cultivating one cannot endure suffering, there will be regression, which turns into an obstacle. There are three kinds of forbearance that can eliminate three kinds of suffering. First is the forbearance of examining phenomena, because one closely observes the principle of the twofold emptiness, does not see the suffering marks of saṃsāric transmigration, and is able to arouse the great mind to seek the supreme fruit. Second is the forbearance of accepting suffering, because being able to accept cold, heat, and so forth, one does not see sufferings such as fatigue, aging, and sickness, and is able to arouse vigor to realize the superior fruit. Third is the forbearance of enduring hostility and harm, because being able to patiently endure hostility and harm from others, one does not abandon compassion, has no mark of distress, and can broadly gather and transform [beings] to quickly accomplish the great fruit. It is precisely through the first forbearance that the latter two can be aroused, because through examining the principle of emptiness, there is no hostility and so forth. If the mind gives rise to marks of self, phenomena, and so forth, and perceives thoughts of suffering, without giving rise to this [forbearance] one would delight in transmigration, or delight in abiding in quiescence and not arouse the great mind, or fail to endure fatigue and not arouse vigor, or see the suffering of hostility and harm and give rise to a regressive mind, which then becomes an obstacle to the Buddha-fruit. But because bodhisattvas are unable to rely on the sūtra to leave behind the marks of self and person and arouse the three forbearances, they instead suspect that this sūtra can bring about a fruit of suffering. [They might think:] If one says that sacrificing the body torments body and mind, so both cause and fruit are painful, and thus the merit is inferior, then if one performs practices in reliance on the sūtra and encounters cold, heat, and so forth, this also torments body and mind; how could the merit be superior? Due to attachment, they cannot arouse forbearance in reliance on the sūtra; due to doubt, they take no joy in the sūtra that arouses forbearance. Now, wishing to sever that doubtful and grasping mind so that they accomplish the practice of forbearance in reliance on the sūtra, it speaks of dismemberment without self, person, and so forth. Asaṅga, in terms of removing the obstacle of attachment, names it "leaving behind the obstacle of the inability to endure suffering"; Vasubandhu, with respect to severing the first doubt, names it "severing [the doubt that] the sūtra produces a fruit of suffering." According to Asaṅga's section on leaving behind non-forbearance, the text is divided into four: first, forbearance as it is capable of being endured, which is the essence of forbearance; second, clarifying the marks of forbearance and the loci where forbearance arises; third, the distinctions of forbearance, which is forbearance of kind; fourth, clarifying the antidotes to the causes and conditions of non-forbearance. This is the first. In the text there are two clauses. The first clause causes one to practice capable forbearance in accord with the true sphere realized. That is, in accord with the principle of the selflessness of phenomena realized, one arouses the three kinds of the perfection of forbearance explained before, because they can all arise dependent on the true sphere. The essence of forbearance is non-anger, diligence, and wisdom, because in accord with the sphere realized, there is no anger and so forth. Hence it was designated before as "forbearance as it is capable of being endured": practicing true forbearance by relying on the true sphere is the essence of the pure wholesome roots of the pāramitā. Therefore the sūtra says "the pāramitā of forbearance." The latter clause causes one, in accord with the true sphere realized, to be free from its marks of forbearance. Because one is free from marks, it is the other shore, its virtue is immeasurable, and it is the supreme truth: it is able to be free from the mark of self and the mark of hatred, without the mark of distress. Not only is there no suffering, but there is also compassion united with shared joy. Because of these reasons, the sūtra says "is precisely not forbearance," and so forth. Since one practices markless forbearance in accord with what is realized, the treatise says "forbearance as it is capable of being endured." Since this markless forbearance exists, ascetic practice in reliance on the sūtra is wholesome; therefore Vasubandhu's treatise verses this meaning, saying: