維摩經疏卷第三．第六 3.7

3.7

From 'Not manifesting body and mind in the three realms' onward is the second part, which turns shortcomings into attainments and properly clarifies the instruction. The aspects of instruction are six: first, equalizing body and mind to break through the grasping of characteristics of body and mind; second, congealing quietude and disturbance to break through the grasping of characteristics of quietude and disturbance; third, fusing the real and the conventional to break through the grasping of characteristics of ordinary and holy; fourth, obliterating internal and external to break through the grasping of characteristics of internal and external; fifth, extinguishing heterodoxy and orthodoxy to break through the grasping of characteristics of heterodoxy and orthodoxy; sixth, equalizing bondage and liberation to break through the grasping of characteristics of bondage and liberation. In the first of these, 'Not manifesting body and mind in the three realms' is the first: equalizing body and mind. [Hui]yuan said: The desire, form, and formless realms are the three realms. Ordinary beings receiving physical forms and bodies in the two realms of desire and form is called 'manifesting the body'; in the formless realm, receiving the karmic fruit of mental dharmas is called 'manifesting the mind'. Bodhisattvas comprehend that the three realms are false and illusory, merely produced by the mind; realizing the real and abandoning [delusions], there is no place to abide. Therefore they do not manifest body and mind in the grounds of the three realms: this is sitting in quiet contemplation. [Seng]man said: Śrāvakas grasp the characteristics of body and mind; therefore they conceal the body among trees and hide the mind in samādhi. Although they wish to conceal them, on the contrary this makes them manifest. The Mahāsattva awakens to the fact that the nature of body and mind in the three realms is fundamentally empty; neither taking nor discarding, neither manifesting body nor mind, this is called sitting in quiet contemplation. He also said: Because the five faculties are empty, the mind does not manifest. The nature of body and mind being empty is true sitting in meditation. [Seng]zhao said: In the quiet sitting of the dharmakāya, form and spirit are both extinguished; the Way transcends ordinary realms, beyond the reach of seeing and hearing. How could one again manifest the body in the three realms or cultivate the mind to practice samādhi? Śāriputra, because he still possessed a physical body born of worldly retribution, grasped its bodily characteristics; taking the human world to be turbulent and troublesome, he concealed his body in the forest and hid his mind in samādhi. Although he wished to conceal them, he thereby made himself manifest; he was unable to make form and spirit traceless, with taking and discarding both obliterated. How is this different from running down a long boulevard to flee one's shadow, or boiling flowing water to seek ice? The reason for his being rebuked was truly due to this. 'Not rising from the nirodha-samāpatti yet manifesting the deportments' is the second: congealing quietude and disturbance. Persons of the two vehicles suffer from mental labor and worry; temporarily halting mental thoughts is called nirodha-samāpatti. Because the fundamental consciousness sustains the physical body so it does not decay, and the six consciousnesses are extinguished, they are unable to move or act. Why is this so? A śrāvaka's deportments are initiated by the mental consciousness. When entering nirodha-samāpatti, the mental consciousness is extinguished; hence among the four deportments, he casts them aside and enters samādhi. Bodhisattvas are not like this: serene yet constantly functioning, quietude and disturbance are not different. Why? Because being without mind, they do not rise from nirodha-samāpatti; yet with this mindless mind they manifest deportments. Just as the wish-fulfilling jewel has no mind of discrimination yet naturally rains down all treasures, this can only be spiritually apprehended, but is difficult to seek through concrete affairs. Coming out and entering are non-dual: this is sitting in quiet contemplation. The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: Samantapuṣpa said: 'Do you believe and accept that all dharmas are constantly characterized by quiet extinction?' Śāriputra said: 'I believe this.' Samantapuṣpa said: 'All dharmas are constantly quiet, having no substance.' Or it may be that when a bodhisattva enters nirodha-samāpatti, although he lacks the six consciousnesses, he has the equality-wisdom, which moves the physical body and can manifest deportments; the nirodha-samāpatti of the two vehicles lacks the equality-wisdom and cannot manifest deportments. Zhao said: When the Hīnayāna enters samādhi, the form is identical to dry wood, lacking the capacity for functional activity. When the Mahāsattva enters the samādhi of dharmatā, mind and wisdom are perpetually serene, yet his form fills the eight extremities; adapting to capacities he transforms, according with conditions without fixed limits; in movement, coming, and staying, he does not abandon the deportments: this is true sitting in quiet contemplation. 'Not abandoning the dharmas of the Way yet managing ordinary affairs' is the third: fusing the real and the conventional. Yuan said: Morality, samādhi, wisdom, and so forth are the dharmas of the noble Way; greed, anger, ignorance, and so forth are ordinary affairs. The Hīnayāna has not yet realized dharma-nairātmya; seeing that there are defilements and karma, taking them to be existent and frightful, having severed them and entered the noble state, they cannot actively function to guide sentient beings. Bodhisattvas comprehend emptiness and understand existence; abiding in what is like an illusion, they are fearless; they engage in active practice to instruct and transform; defilement and purity are non-dual: this is sitting in quiet contemplation. Furthermore, because the Mahāsattva possesses the mūla-jñāna and constantly contemplates tathatā, it is called 'not abandoning the dharmas of the Way'. Within the pṛṣṭhalabdha-jñāna, harmonizing his light with all beings, he instructs and transforms sentient beings, manifesting as an ordinary being. It is also said: Within the pṛṣṭhalabdha-jñāna, the mind is constantly in samādhi, not abandoning the dharmas of the Way; within the mind of great compassion, he manifests the arising of afflictions to instruct and transform sentient beings; hence it says 'managing ordinary affairs'. Man said: Śrāvakas cannot access the impure while remaining pure; obstructed by saṃsāra, they cannot dwell in the middle to transform beings. The Mahāsattva puts an end equally to good and evil and contemplates the real and the conventional alike; therefore he can abide in the middle way and manifest ordinary affairs. Hence a later passage of the sūtra says: 'Manifesting enjoyment of the five desires' clarifies manifesting ordinary affairs; 'and also manifesting the practice of dhyāna' is called not abandoning the dharmas of the Way. This is spoken with respect to functional transformation. In actual principle, the Mahāsattva sees no dharmas of the Way distinct from ordinary affairs; they are of a single characteristic, devoid of characteristics, equal and without differentiation. 'The mind neither abiding internally nor being externally' is the fourth: [concerning] internal and external. The six sense faculties are internal; the six dusts are external. When a śrāvaka enters samādhi, the mind is inside; when he emerges, it is outside. Internal and external are not yet balanced; its essence is not [true] samādhi. Bodhisattvas awaken to internal and external being fundamentally empty; their arising of mutual characteristics is non-existent, and internal and external are equal: this is sitting in quiet contemplation. Hence a later passage of the sūtra says: 'Not thinking of internal or external, practicing in equality.' Or it may be that the ultimate truth is internal and the conventional truth is external. The two vehicles grasp ultimate and conventional as existent, and their minds wander internally and externally. Bodhisattvas comprehend that both ultimate and conventional are empty, and therefore abide neither internally nor externally. It is also said: The dependent nature is internal, and the imagined nature is external. The Hīnayāna fails to comprehend that the grasper and the grasped are empty, and their minds wander internally and externally. The Mahāsattva knows that the internal and external are empty of inherent nature; therefore he abides neither internally nor externally. 'Without being moved by the various views, cultivating the thirty-seven limbs of awakening' is the fifth: extinguishing heterodoxy and orthodoxy. Yuan said: Because the five views are not one, they are called 'various views': views of personal identity, extreme views, wrong views, attachment to views, and attachment to rules and rituals. Ordinary beings constantly give rise to them and cannot enter orthodoxy; the two vehicles cultivate orthodoxy and cannot enter heterodoxy. Bodhisattvas actively function to instruct and transform sentient beings, and thus have nothing by which they are moved; although manifesting as identical with heterodoxy, their internal mind is constantly orthodox and equal: this is sitting in quiet contemplation. Hence a later passage of the sūtra says: 'The eighty-four thousand doors of defilement by which sentient beings are worn down—the Buddhas use these very dharmas to perform Buddha-work.' Zhao said: The Hīnayāna cannot turn heterodoxy into orthodoxy; they must sever views to cultivate the Way. The Mahāsattva penetrates the various views as being no different from the limbs of the Way; thus without abandoning views, he practices the limbs of the Way. Hence a later passage of the sūtra says: 'One who abides in the right path does not discriminate between heterodoxy and orthodoxy.' It is also said: Ordinary beings are stalled in existence; the two vehicles delight in emptiness. The various views are fetters; only by casting them off do they escape. Bodhisattvas awaken to views as having no origin; like flowers in the sky or the moon in water, the substance of views is constantly empty: this is itself the limbs of the Way. 'Without severing afflictions, entering nirvāṇa' is the sixth: equalizing bondage and liberation. Zhuang said: The two vehicles must sever afflictions before entering nirvāṇa. Bodhisattvas comprehend that the nature of afflictions is empty and fundamentally unproduced: what need is there to sever them now? Since there are no afflictions to be severed, there is also no nirvāṇa to be entered. Contrasting with their severing and entering, it says 'entering without severing': this is true sitting in quiet contemplation. Yuan said: In accordance with transformation, manifesting the arising of greed, anger, ignorance, and so forth is called 'not severing'; the internal mind being constantly serene is called 'entering nirvāṇa'. Zhi[yi] said: This has four propositions: first, neither severing nor entering is the ordinary person; second, severing and entering is the person of the two vehicles; third, severing and not entering is the bodhisattva of the shared teaching; fourth, not severing and entering is the bodhisattva of the perfect teaching. Here it refers to the fourth approach. Question: Among the four kinds of nirvāṇa, which nirvāṇa is 'entering nirvāṇa without severing afflictions'? Answer: Entering apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa. How is this known? Vimalakīrti considered that when persons of the two vehicles sever afflictions and enter nirvāṇa, they realize the two fruits of sopadhiśeṣa and nirupadhiśeṣa. Here it is clarified that the bodhisattva is not like this: he actively manifests afflictions to benefit sentient beings, internally realizes nirvāṇa without clinging to anything. Hence the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra says: 'Not abandoning saṃsāra yet free from afflictions; although realizing nirvāṇa, not abiding anywhere: this is sitting in quiet contemplation.' As for prakṛti-nirvāṇa, ordinary beings also possess it; fearing confusion with that, it is not mentioned. Sopadhiśeṣa and nirupadhiśeṣa are also attained by śrāvakas; fearing confusion with the two vehicles, their realization is not mentioned either. Another explanation: The superior benefit above has three meanings. First, prakṛti-nirvāṇa is fundamentally pure, not obtained through severing delusions and the like; therefore, without severing, one enters nirvāṇa. Second, apratiṣṭhita[-nirvāṇa]: a bodhisattva of sudden awakening retains dormant defilements, hence it says 'not severing'; realizing apratiṣṭhita, hence it says 'entering nirvāṇa'. Third, entering sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa: when the two vehicles enter sopadhiśeṣa, they must sever afflictions; a bodhisattva of gradual awakening comprehends that the nature of afflictions is empty, so although he severs afflictions, there is nothing severed; unlike the two vehicles who take severing as severing, because he realizes sopadhiśeṣa, it is called entering nirvāṇa. 'If one can sit in this manner, the Buddhas seal it with approval': up to here, the instruction and rebuke are concluded.