維摩經抄 1.5

1.5

The sūtra says: "Who, hearing of the treasure among humans, would not revere him?" The commentary says: The Buddha is the treasure among humans, rare and difficult to encounter; hence he is likened to a treasure. Shu means "who." Who, hearing the name of the treasure among humans, would not revere and uphold him? The sūtra says: "Each sees the World-Honoured One before them." The commentary says: This praises the merits of the Buddha's body as not shared with ordinary people or the small vehicle. The Dharmakāya's perfect response is like a single moon rising in the sky; hence it says each sees the Buddha's body equanimously. Because he does not turn his back on sentient beings, it says "before them." The principle that "with a single voice he preaches the Dharma, and sentient beings each understand it" is also identical to this. The sūtra says: "Unattached to the world, like a lotus flower, [...] always skillfully entering the practice of emptiness and quiescence." The commentary says: This praises the Tathāgata turning defilement into purity. Here the lower line explains the upper line: constantly contemplating all dharmas as empty and quiescent, roaming through the world without defilement, dwelling in the mud yet eternally pure. The sūtra says: "Thoroughly understanding that the marks of all dharmas are unhindered, I bow to him who, like space, has nothing on which he relies." The commentary says: Because both the ultimate and conventional are empty, it says "non-apprehension." The ten thousand things rely on empty space, but empty space has nothing on which it relies. All dharmas rely on the true mark, but the true nature has nothing on which it relies. The sūtra says: "The categories of sentient beings are the bodhisattva's buddha-field." The commentary says: Sentient beings are the condition for a buddha-field. Preaching the field within the conditions, sentient beings are taken as the buddha-field. What is the principle behind this? The field originally arises from compassion. Compassion arises from sentient beings. There must be sentient beings for the compassionate mind to first arise; depending on the compassionate mind, a pure land is obtained. Tracing the branch back to the root, is it not appropriate that sentient beings are the field? Furthermore, because of sentient beings, compassion arises and the pure land is attained. If one contemplates emptiness exclusively, in the end no field will be attained. Therefore, the metaphor below says: one must build palaces and chambers on empty ground, freely without obstruction; if one tries to do so in empty space, in the end one can never succeed. "Person" is an analogy for the bodhisattva; "empty space" is an analogy for the two emptinesses; "ground" is an analogy for existence; "building palaces and chambers" is an analogy for cultivating the pure land. Thus, only by relying on emptiness and relying on the ground are the palaces and chambers completed; only by combining existence and combining emptiness does one cultivate the pure land. Because of compassion, one enters into existence and broadly delivers sentient beings; because of wisdom, one contemplates emptiness and does not cling to it. Unhindered in emptiness and existence, compassion and wisdom practiced in tandem—tallying with this universal path, the pure land is attained. Even with "the straight mind is the pure land," the principle is entirely the same. Departing from emptiness and departing from existence is precisely the straight mind; clinging to existence or clinging to emptiness both turn into crookedness. Down to where the text below states: "In accordance with the purity of their minds, the buddha-field is purified," all share this same meaning. Thus we know: in a single thought of the straight mind, the ten directions are instantaneously purified; in a kṣaṇa of crookedness, defilement and foulness arise. The general outline of the chapter on the Pure Land is like this. The sūtra says: "Thereupon, the Buddha pressed the earth with his toe, and immediately the trichiliocosm was adorned with several hundreds of thousands of rare jewels, just like the Jewel-Adorned Buddha's realm of immeasurable merit and jewel-adornments." The commentary says: This clarifies that the pure and defiled lands are neither one nor two, neither identical nor separate. Because the mind is pure, right within the defiled one sees the pure; because the mind is defiled, right within the pure one sees the defiled. Speaking definitively: viewed with the Buddha's eye, the buddha-field is constantly pure; seen with the ordinary person's eye, the buddha-field is constantly defiled. Now wishing to transform defilement into purity, pressing the earth was used as the condition. This also shows that delusion arises from the real, and defilement arises from the pure. Therefore the sūtra below states: "From the non-abiding root, all dharmas are established." Question: Are the two lands, pure and defiled, of the same substance with different perceptions, of different substances with different perceptions, or of no substance, being deluded perceptions? Master An, an ancient worthy, explained: "The two lands, pure and defiled, cannot be formed as a single substance, cannot be formed as different substances, and cannot be formed as having no substance. Therefore purity and defilement wax and wane. Because they cannot be formed as different substances, when tracing the source they merge. Because they cannot be formed as having no substance, dependent origination does not take shape." The sūtra says: "Just as when the devas eat together from a jeweled vessel, according to their merit, the color of the food differs." The commentary says: The substance of the food is one, but the devas' merit varies in depth, so the quality of the color of the food they see is unequal. The buddha-field is also like this: purity and defilement are one, but in accordance with the defilement or purity of sentient beings, what they see differs. The World-Honoured One always taught: The substance of water is one. Devas, by their merit, see it as lapis lazuli and jewels; humans, having lesser merit, see it as clear water that is tranquil and usable; fish, dragons, and the like, being further inferior, see it as their abodes and dwellings; hungry ghosts, due to evil karma, see only pus, blood, and raging fire.