維摩經疏卷第三．第六 3.56

3.56

The four textual sections are the same as before. In the third section of explanation, first there is a general inquiry, next a particular explanation, and finally a concluding explanation. In the middle text, five sub-sections are opened: 1. citing the past event of being rebuked; 2. from "Then Vimalakīrti..." downward, clarifying the characteristics of the teaching and rebuke; 3. from "Thereupon the two monks said: 'O person of superior wisdom!'..." downward, demonstrating the two monks' praise of Vimalakīrti; 4. from "I replied..." downward, clarifying his own description and sigh of lament; 5. from "Then the two monks' doubts and regrets were immediately eliminated..." downward, clarifying the monks hearing the Dharma and obtaining benefit. Within the first of these, "I recall in the past there were two monks who violated the rules of the vinaya, felt ashamed of it, dared not ask the Buddha, and came to ask me": this is the first matter of rebuke. It has two parts: first the question, then the answer. Here in the first part, the question clarifies that the shame and remorse felt by the monks over what they had violated was profound, so they dared not ask the Buddha; since Upāli was foremost in upholding the vinaya, they came to ask him for a determination, not knowing whether it was light or heavy, in order to resolve their original doubts. The vinaya says: There was a monk sleeping in an araṇya. A wood-gathering woman saw him, and lustful desire arose intensely in her; she secretly committed the illicit act. After the monk awoke, he suspected he had violated the first major offence (*pārājika*). Later, another monk saw this woman and, with an angry mind, wished to strike her; terrified, the woman ran, fell into a pit, and died. The monk feared he had violated the grave precept against killing humans; for this reason, he constantly harbored shame and remorse and dared not ask the Buddha, going to Upāli's place to request a determination of his doubts so that he might avoid this guilt. "I thereupon explained it for them according to the Dharma": the second part, the answer. Upāli determined the light and heavy according to the scriptural marks of the vinaya; hence it says "explained it for them according to the Dharma."