維摩經疏卷第三．第六 3.26

3.26

第二教呵相中先呵後教。時我世尊已下迦葉聞法發心呵中。有悲心而不普者。捨富從貧。欲使貧者得富。不覺富者還貧。故非普也。就正教中大文有兩。一者正教翻失顯得。二如是食者已下以其德故施受二人俱獲勝益。前中初先翻彼四失即成四得。然後食下一句總結。前中言四失者。一取食相。二畏境界。三見邪正。四心不普。初取食相中自有四失。一不平等。二不為不食。三不為壞和合相。四不為不受。住平等法應行乞食者。翻其初失欲食。令學者為證清淨平等法身而行乞故。然後可食下諸句中類同此釋。或平等有四。一人平等。眾生普視。二法平等。真如佛性。三心平等。須發普心貴賤等觀。四行平等。須發普行貧富同乞。今此文中約行平等也。不食故應行乞食者。談云。翻第二失。真體離緣涅槃平等不假於食。應以此心而行乞食。若然即終日食終日涅槃。其道無二也。莊云。舊諸師解不食即涅槃。為涅槃故行乞食。釋還成他義。小乘人乞食並為求涅槃急如火。若作此呵。未成呵責。今此文意皆以實相平等折彼執心。今明即食為不食。汝若能無所食乃可取食。為壞和合相應取揣食者。談云。翻第三失。陰界入等名和合相。雖取揣食為壞生死五陰身故。唯求離相清淨菩薩故行乞也。莊云。三塵假合成其段食名為和合。汝能了食無所食。即是壞和合也。故無垢稱云。為欲壞彼於食執故應行乞食也。為不受故應受彼食者。談云。翻第四失。法身常住不受生死身也。應以此心而受彼食。若然即終日受食而不曾受也。莊云。如受食時了食性空。受無所受也。故無垢稱云。為欲受他所施食故應從乞食。

Second, within the teaching and reprimand, he first reprimands and then teaches. From "Then, my Bhagavat" onward, Kāśyapa heard the Dharma and gave rise to the mind [to seek it]. In the reprimand, having a compassionate mind that is not universal: by abandoning the rich to follow the poor, he wishes to cause the poor to obtain wealth, not realizing that the rich would return to poverty; therefore it is not universal. Within the direct teaching, there are two major divisions in the text: first, directly teaching by overturning the faults to reveal the gains; second, from "Eating in this manner" onward, because of their virtues, both donor and recipient obtain supreme benefit. In the former, first overturn those four faults, which then become the four gains; then the single phrase "one may eat" concludes the whole. In the former, as for the "four faults": first, grasping the characteristic of food; second, dreading sensory fields; third, seeing the deviant and the correct; fourth, the mind being non-universal. Within the first, grasping the characteristic of food, there are intrinsically four faults: first, non-equality; second, not acting for the sake of non-eating; third, not acting for the sake of destroying the compounded characteristics; fourth, not acting for the sake of non-receiving. "Dwelling in the equal Dharma, one should go on begging rounds": this overturns his first fault. Desiring to eat, it causes practitioners to go begging for the sake of realizing the pure and equal dharmakāya. The phrases following "Then one may eat" are explained analogously to this. Alternatively, equality has four aspects: first, equality of persons, viewing sentient beings universally; second, equality of phenomena, the tathatā and Buddha-nature; third, equality of mind, necessarily generating a universal mind and regarding the noble and base equally; fourth, equality of practice, necessarily generating a universal practice and begging equally from both poor and rich. Here in this text, it is defined in terms of equality of practice. "For the sake of non-eating, one should go on begging rounds": Tan says this overturns the second fault. The true essence is free from conditions; nirvāṇa is equal and does not depend on food. One should go on begging rounds with this mind. If so, then eating all day is nirvāṇa all day; their Way is not two. Zhuang says: The former masters explained that non-eating is nirvāṇa, and one goes begging for the sake of nirvāṇa; this explanation ends up adopting an external doctrine. When Hīnayāna practitioners go begging, it is all for seeking nirvāṇa with an urgency like fire. If one makes this reprimand, it does not succeed as a reprimand. Now the meaning of this text is entirely to break down that clinging mind through the equality of dharmatā. Now it clarifies that eating itself is non-eating. Only if you can have nothing that is eaten may you take food. "For the sake of destroying the compounded characteristics, one should take morsel food": Tan says this overturns the third fault. The aggregates, sensory bases, and realms are called compounded characteristics. Although taking morsel food, it is for the sake of destroying the samsāric body of five aggregates; begging is undertaken solely for seeking the pure bodhisattva free from characteristics. Zhuang says: The provisional combination of three dusts forms morsel food, called compounded. If you can realize that food has nothing that is eaten, that is destroying compounding. Therefore the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra says: "For the sake of wishing to destroy their clinging to food, one should go begging." "For the sake of non-receiving, one should receive that food": Tan says this overturns the fourth fault. The dharmakāya is eternally abiding and does not receive a samsāric body. One should receive that food with this mind. If so, then receiving food all day long, one has never received it. Zhuang says: As when receiving food, one understands the nature of food to be empty, so in receiving there is nothing received. Therefore the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra says: "Wishing to receive food given by others, one should go begging from them."