淨名經關中釋抄 1.11

1.11

大段第二明經體者。略開三意。一辯體所以。二正明經體。三簡偽顯真。初所以須明體者。若尋經失旨。事同調達雖讀八萬法藏不免墮大地獄。若得意亡言。即槃特一偈成阿羅漢果。若不識經真性之體。雖復讀誦修行終不能得無生法忍。故須辯也。第二正明經體。然此一門經論異說。今古申釋復多紊亂。統論其要不出二種。一能詮之教。二所詮之理。故瑜伽論云。契經體者略有二種。一文。二義。是即諸明假實音聲名句文等並能詮教攝。如前釋名門具以辯訖。若諸明真如性相等並所詮理攝。今此具明舊釋。此經多用權實為體體即是宗。此釋不然。何則天無二日。國無二主。豈可權實具明。又體據理明。宗據行說。偈得宗體同辯也。今但以不思議真性解脫為體者。此經云。婬怒癡性即是解脫。又云。諸佛菩薩有解脫名不可思議。又云。一切法亦如也。然此真姓實相離四句絕百非。能軌生行人正智萬行故獨名體也。故大論明小乘經三法印。無常無我寂滅涅槃。大乘經一實相印。又下文云。以陀羅尼印印之即經之正體也。若得三法印能入苦忍真明至無學果。若得實相印能入無生法忍得大菩提也。第三簡偽顯真即為二意。初簡非實相。二顯真實相。初中復三。一簡世俗經書。二簡外人經書。三簡聲聞經。初世俗經書。但明安國治家償善罰惡仁義禮智信攝生養性。乃至梵天說出俗論五通神仙之論並屬愛論破壞惠眼不見真實。非實相體。二外人經書。多起身邊二見。或計神及世間常。是事實餘妄語。乃至非常非無常。墮十四難。生六十二見。各謂是實。以有所得起諸行業。流轉生死並屬見論破壞惠眼。故非實相體也。三聲聞經。明無常等三法印。厭患三界盡苦涅槃。不能求諸法實相。亦非實相體也。二顯真相者。摩訶衍教所明為利根菩薩諸法實相。不滯二邊體用圓備。自利利他即真性解脫之體也。此中復有共二乘說不共乘說。共二乘者。如大品經三乘共行十地。聲聞斷正使緣覺侵習氣菩薩能窮諸性習氣都盡。譬如三獸渡河淺深有異。二不共二乘者。有漸有圓。漸者。雙斷二障得實相菩提。圓者。婬怒癡性即是解脫。一切法即佛性涅槃如來藏也。或名一實諦。或名自性清淨。或言如如實際。法性法身中道畢竟空等。故大論云。般若是一法佛說種種名。大經云。如天帝釋有千種名。解脫亦爾。多諸名字。此亦得通為諸大乘經之正體也。

The second major section, explaining the substance of the sūtra, briefly presents three points: first, explaining the reason for identifying the substance; second, directly explaining the substance of the sūtra; third, discarding the false to reveal the true. First, regarding why the substance must be explained: If one examines a sūtra and loses its essential purport, one’s case is like Devadatta's—though he read the eighty thousand treasuries of the Dharma, he could not escape falling into the great hells. If one grasps the meaning and forgets the words, then Panthaka, with a single verse, achieved the fruit of an arhat. If one does not recognize the substance of the true nature of the sūtras, then even though one recites and practices, in the end one will never attain the forbearance of non-arising dharmas. Therefore it must be explained. Second, directly explaining the substance of the sūtra: Within this single topic there are different explanations in the sūtras and treatises, and ancient and modern commentaries have further tangled them. Bringing together their essentials, they do not go beyond two kinds: first, the teaching that expresses; second, the principle that is expressed. Thus the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra states: "The substance of a sūtra has briefly two kinds: first, the letter; second, the meaning." This means that all explanations of conventional and real sounds, names, sentences, letters, and so forth are subsumed under the teaching that expresses, as was already fully explained above in the section explaining the title. If they explain true suchness, nature, characteristics, and so forth, these are all subsumed under the principle that is expressed. Here, in fully explaining the old commentaries: For this sūtra they mostly took the provisional and ultimate as the substance, identifying the substance with the central theme. This explanation is incorrect. Why is that? Heaven has no two suns, and a country has no two rulers; how could both the provisional and the ultimate be posited [as the substance]? Furthermore, the substance is established on the basis of principle, while the central theme is spoken of on the basis of practice; how could the central theme and substance be treated as the same? Now, if we take only inconceivable true-nature liberation as the substance, this sūtra says: "The nature of lust, anger, and delusion is itself liberation." It also says: "The buddhas and bodhisattvas have a liberation named 'inconceivable.'" It also says: "All dharmas are also thus." Indeed, this true nature and true mark is free from the four propositions and cuts off the hundred negations; because it can guide and produce the practitioner's correct wisdom and ten thousand practices, it alone is called the substance. Therefore the Da zhidu lun explains that the Hīnayāna sūtras have three Dharma seals: impermanence, non-self, and quiescent nirvāṇa; the Mahāyāna sūtras have the single true-mark seal. Moreover, the text below says: "Sealing it with the dhāraṇī seal" refers precisely to the correct substance of the sūtra. If one grasps the three Dharma seals, one can enter the forbearance of suffering and the true clarity, reaching the fruit of non-learning. If one grasps the true-mark seal, one can enter the forbearance of non-arising dharmas and attain great bodhi. Third, discarding the false to reveal the true comprises two points: first, discarding what is not the true mark; second, revealing the real true mark. Within the first, there are again three: first, discarding secular scriptures; second, discarding outsider scriptures; third, discarding śrāvaka sūtras. First, secular scriptures only explain keeping the country peaceful and managing the household, rewarding good and punishing evil, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness, regulating one’s life, and nurturing one’s nature, up to Brahmā's discourses on world-transcending doctrines and the discourses of rṣis with five superknowledges—all of these belong to discourses of craving, which destroy the wisdom-eye so that one does not see the real truth; they are not the substance of the true mark. Second, outsider scriptures mostly give rise to the two views of self and extremes, or they conceptualize the soul and the world as permanent, holding "this is true, anything else is false," up to "neither permanent nor impermanent," falling into the fourteen unanswerable questions and generating the sixty-two views, each claiming to be true; on the basis of apprehension they generate various karmic actions and wander through saṃsāra, all belonging to discourses of views, which destroy the wisdom-eye; hence they are not the substance of the true mark. Third, śrāvaka sūtras explain the three Dharma seals of impermanence and so on, loathing the three realms and exhausting suffering in nirvāṇa; unable to seek the true mark of all dharmas, they too are not the substance of the true mark. Second, revealing the real mark: What the Mahāyāna teaching explains for bodhisattvas of sharp faculties is the true mark of all dharmas; not dwelling in the two extremes, its substance and function are fully complete; benefiting oneself and benefiting others, it is the substance of true-nature liberation. Here, there are again teachings shared with the two vehicles and teachings unshared with the two vehicles. Shared with the two vehicles: as the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra explains, the three vehicles share the practice of the ten stages; śrāvakas sever the primary afflictions, pratyekabuddhas encroach upon the latent habits, and bodhisattvas are able to exhaust all natures and completely end latent habits, just as three animals cross a river with differences in depth. Second, those unshared with the two vehicles have the gradual and the perfect. The gradual: by doubly severing the two obstacles, one attains true-mark bodhi. The perfect: the nature of lust, anger, and delusion is itself liberation; all dharmas are themselves Buddha-nature, nirvāṇa, and the tathāgatagarbha. It is also called the one real truth, or the self-nature pure, or suchness, the limit of reality, the Dharma-nature, the dharmakāya, the middle way, ultimate emptiness, and so forth. Therefore the Da zhidu lun says: "Prajñā is one dharma; the Buddha speaks of it under various names." The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: "Just as heavenly Śakra has a thousand kinds of names, liberation is also like this, having many names." This can also serve universally as the correct substance of all Mahāyāna sūtras.