淨名經關中釋抄 2.11

2.11

我為法來非為床坐者。身子若意云。我從菴園本為法來。非為床坐。而相此中忽然念床。非本心也　非有色受相行識之者。此一段文淨名不以法性無生故無法可求也。復次文殊奉命五百八千為法隨從。然忻法之情既慇。保著之心亦固。既情慇執固所已。前品雖略明三觀。但得天子發心而未能深悟無生法忍。今將因念座欲顯不思議品之大用。故先遣滯法之心忘彼求取之意。諸來隨從自然息機會。□遺喪滯。近即得法眼淨。遠能不二法門也。陰界處等名數廣如林苑明也　無見苦求者。四諦有二種。小乘以見苦斷集證滅修道為四。此苦實苦為深諦。乃至滅道亦然。大乘了苦無生名苦。真諦乃至集滅亦然。此之四諦即一真諦。此乃名四而體。一不同前小乘名四而體四也。思答云。知苦無生名苦諦。知集無和合名集聖諦。以不二相觀名道聖諦。法本不生今則無滅名滅聖諦。此大乘無生四諦也。若遺教經云。佛說苦諦。真實是苦。不可令異。集真是因等。此即是小乘四諦也。又大涅槃經云。凡夫有苦無諦（生樂想故）二乘有苦有諦（覺陰苦故）菩薩解苦無苦而有真諦（覺陰無生故）故迦旃延章云。五陰凋達空無所起。是苦義（此亦覺苦無生名苦義也）下文又云。依於諸法實相之義明宣無常苦空非我（此亦了苦無主名實相）上來所引若苦等無生者。即無見苦求乃至無斷集求等。若言我當見苦斷集證滅修道者。此既不了生。是乖實相。非真言論。名戲論也　由旬者。或云踰闍那。或云由延俞旬踰繕那。此云計合應爾。謂計度量合爾。同此方驛也。古聖王一日行俱舍十六里。餘經論或三十六十八十。無定數也。見應法師經音　此座高廣吾不能昇者。如來昔日鹿苑說小乘生滅四諦十二緣斷三界九地惑。至非相想九解脫床證盡無生智。名坐解脫床。如來撫接二乘乃云。我與汝等三人同坐解脫床。此諸聲聞等不了如來隨宜所說實理如來同坐此解脫床。故法花云。佛說一解脫義等不得此法。二乘既謂佛同坐。豈能進求。今將欲奪小乘解脫使知非真床。今證不思議解脫之真座。然理不可頓悟必有漸。故假燈王之床座因遣權即實也。故法花云。汝等但離虛妄名為解脫。其實未得一切解脫。何故喻床。答。解脫止息故如來床也　有神通非不思議者。二乘神通增小減大。既未證大小之本一。謂物有大小之定相故。作通運用增減於大小耳。既有作增減。故見大小之異形。故名思議也。菩薩知窮中道權觀實圓妙理大小之形智冥妙體之用。如明鏡無心而愛惡自辨。真通不運而修短自移。此法身本有之神通。豈二乘初定運力有心之神通哉。問。二乘有心之通與菩薩本有之通何。答。懸殊。二乘於有為報得自心上假定力以現通。心運即有。心亡即無。菩薩悟達法性體用剋圓。法性體常用焉生滅。法性本有用豈修成。復以寂滅而常用。用而常寂理。無異體之用。亦無離用之體。既其即體即用。豈有心於運用哉。此菩薩法性之通。豈二乘定力之通也　我等何為永絕其根者。昔聞隨宜所謂實與佛同座解脫床。今聞別有解脫名不思議。量已外用之不如。亦審內證之非實。又增大士之行數越三祇。我今斷結。生涯甚近既無進修之分。故致永絕之哀。又審已證不與佛同。即名轉酪成生蘇教（花嚴初二果乘未益名乳。阿含轉凡成聖如轉乳為酪。昔謂三乘同證第九解脫。今乃知佛不同。悔其取小。名生蘇。若至般若。佛令聲聞為菩薩。轉教既教許。傳人未蒙記。會教不教人為熟蘇。若至法花涅槃教。昔己傳人今授記。即醍醐教）又聞。聲聞執佛同解脫果理不進求。故此經偏折解脫不同。遂懷絕分之歎言。若至法花涅槃聞一毫之善理至佛果。一地所生一雨所閏。一切眾生皆有佛性。凡有心者滅皆作佛。即自悔昔折其同　佛子所應得者。我亦得之何念歎之有。理妙根麁教不同可□。故令一音之教有不同之解。而法師未能深取經旨。而聞絕分之言。便之定性二乘永無佛性。此蓋未深喻至人權實之說　凡夫下劣不能如是逼迫菩薩者。凡夫者凡夫人也。下劣者二乘及地前菩薩名下劣位人也。故無垢稱經云。凡夫劣位非其所堪也。

"I have come for the sake of the Dharma, not for couch or seat": Śāriputra's intention was, as it were, to say, "I originally came from the mango orchard for the sake of the Dharma, not for couch or seat; and yet here, suddenly thinking of a seat, was not my original intention." / "Not by having color, feeling, conception, formations, or consciousness... seeking the Dharma": in this passage, Vimalakīrti shows that because the Dharma-nature is unarisen, there is no dharma that can be sought. Furthermore, Mañjuśrī followed the [Buddha's] command, accompanied by five hundred [śrāvakas] and eight thousand [bodhisattvas] for the sake of the Dharma; yet their longing for the Dharma was earnest, and their clinging attachment was also firm. Since their feelings were earnest and their clinging firm, although the previous chapter briefly explained the three contemplations, only the devaputra aroused the aspiration [for awakening], while they were not yet able to deeply awaken to the forbearance of non-arising dharmas. Now, taking occasion of the thought of the seats, [Vimalakīrti] wishes to manifest the great functioning of the Inconceivable Chapter; therefore, he first dispels their mind that stagnates in dharmas and causes them to forget that intention of seeking and grasping. The various followers who came naturally quieted their mental activities and met with [the truth]... abandoning and losing their stagnation; in the near term, they attained the purity of the Dharma-eye, and in the long term, they were able to enter the Dharma-gate of non-duality. The names and enumerations of aggregates, realms, sense-bases, and so forth are explained at length as in the Lin yuan. / "Without seeking by seeing suffering": there are two kinds of Four Truths. The Hinayāna takes seeing suffering, severing the origination, realizing cessation, and cultivating the path as the four; here, suffering is truly suffering as the profound truth, and it is likewise up to cessation and the path. The Mahāyāna realizes suffering as unarisen, which is called the truth of suffering; and it is likewise up to origination and cessation. These Four Truths are just the one True Truth. These are four in name but one in essence, unlike the former Hinayāna where they are four in name and four in essence. [Master] Si's reply says: "Knowing suffering as unarisen is called the noble truth of suffering; knowing origination as without combination is called the noble truth of the origination of suffering; contemplating with the mark of non-duality is called the noble truth of the path; dharmas originally do not arise and now do not cease—this is called the noble truth of the cessation of suffering." These are the Mahāyāna Four Truths of non-arising. If it is as the Bequeathed Teaching Sūtra says: "The Buddha taught the truth of suffering: it is truly suffering, and cannot be made otherwise; origination is truly the cause..." and so forth—this is the Hinayāna Four Truths. Moreover, the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: "Ordinary persons have suffering but no truth (because they give rise to the notion of pleasure); the two vehicles have suffering and have truth (because they are aware that the aggregates are suffering); bodhisattvas understand suffering, having no suffering and yet having the true truth (because they are aware that the aggregates are unarisen)." Therefore, the chapter on Kātyāyana says: "The five aggregates wither and are exhausted, empty with nothing arising—this is the meaning of suffering" (this also means being aware of suffering as unarisen is the meaning of suffering). A subsequent passage also says: "Relying on the meaning of the true mark of all dharmas, clearly declare impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self" (this also means understanding suffering as having no master is the true mark). As cited above, if suffering and so forth are unarisen, then there is no seeking by seeing suffering, up to no seeking by severing origination, and so forth. If one says, "I shall see suffering, sever origination, realize cessation, and cultivate the path," then since one does not understand non-arising, this contradicts the true mark; it is not true discourse, and is called conceptual proliferation. / "Yojana": some say yojana, and some say youyan, yuxun, or yushan'na. Here it is translated as "calculation that should correspond thus," meaning that upon calculation and measurement, it should correspond thus; it is equivalent to the relay stations in this land. A day's journey for an ancient sage king is sixteen li according to the Abhidharmakośa; other sūtras and treatises say thirty, sixty, or eighty, with no fixed number; see Master Ying's Scriptural Sounds. / "These seats are so high and broad that we cannot ascend them": the Tathāgata in former days in the Deer Park preached the Hinayāna Four Truths of arising and ceasing and the twelve links of dependent origination to sever defilements of the three realms and nine stages, reaching the couch of the nine liberations up to neither-conception-nor-non-conception, realizing the knowledge of exhaustion and non-arising, which is called sitting on the couch of liberation. The Tathāgata comforted and received the two vehicles, saying: "I and you three persons sit together on the couch of liberation." These various śrāvakas and others did not understand that the Tathāgata spoke according to appropriateness, [thinking] that the Tathāgata in actual reality sat together with them on this couch of liberation. Therefore, the Lotus Sūtra says: "The Buddha taught the single meaning of liberation; they could not attain this Dharma." Since the two vehicles considered the Buddha to sit together with them, how could they advance and seek further? Now, wishing to strip away the Hinayāna liberation and make them know it is not the true couch, and to cause them to realize the true seat of inconceivable liberation—yet principle cannot be awakened to suddenly and must have a gradual progression—he therefore makes use of King of Lamps' seats to discard the provisional and access the ultimate. Therefore the Lotus Sūtra says: "You have merely separated from delusion and call it liberation; in truth, you have not yet attained the liberation of all." Why use the couch as a metaphor? Answer: Because liberation is coming to rest; hence, it is compared to a couch. / "Having spiritual penetrations, yet not inconceivable": the spiritual penetrations of the two vehicles increase the small and decrease the great. Since they have not yet realized that the great and the small are originally one, and hold that things have fixed marks of great and small, they employ supernormal faculties to increase and decrease the great and the small. Since they act with increase and decrease, they see different forms of great and small; therefore, it is called conceivable. The bodhisattva's knowledge exhausts the middle way, provisionally contemplating and ultimately fulfilling the wondrous principle; the forms of great and small and the knowledge merge into the wondrous essence's functioning. Just as a bright mirror has no mind yet the lovely and ugly are naturally discerned, true spiritual penetrations are not operated yet the long and short naturally shift. This is the spiritual penetration inherently possessed by the dharmakāya; how could it be the spiritual penetration of the two vehicles, which relies on effort in preliminary absorption and operates with a deliberate mind? Question: How do the deliberate penetrations of the two vehicles compare with the inherently possessed penetrations of a bodhisattva? Answer: They are vastly different. The two vehicles, upon their conditioned, retributive self-minds, rely on the power of absorption to manifest penetrations: when the mind operates, they exist; when the mind ceases, they are absent. The bodhisattva awakens to and penetrates the Dharma-nature so that essence and functioning are completely fulfilled. The essence of the Dharma-nature is constantly functioning, so how could it arise or cease? The Dharma-nature is inherently possessed, so how could its functioning be accomplished through cultivation? Furthermore, while tranquil and extinguished, it is constantly functioning; functioning, it is constantly tranquil in principle. There is no functioning apart from the essence, nor is there an essence separated from functioning. Since essence is functioning and functioning is essence, how could there be a deliberate mind in operating them? These are the bodhisattva's penetrations of Dharma-nature; how could they be the absorption-power penetrations of the two vehicles? / "Why have we forever severed its roots?": Formerly, hearing the teaching given according to appropriateness, they believed that in reality they sat together with the Buddha on the couch of liberation. Now, hearing that there is a distinct liberation called "inconceivable," they measure that their own external functioning is inferior, and also verify that their inner realization is not real. Furthermore, adding that the practices of the Mahāsattva exceed three asaṃkhyeya kalpas, while my own severing of fetters has a very short span of life, and having no share in advancing cultivation, they thus give rise to the sorrow of being forever severed. Moreover, verifying that one's own realization is not the same as the Buddha's is called the teaching of turning curd into raw curd (in the Avataṃsaka, the vehicles of the initial two fruits have not yet been benefited, called milk; the Āgamas turn the ordinary into the noble, like turning milk into curd; formerly they thought the three vehicles equally realized the ninth liberation, but now they know the Buddha is not the same, and regret their grasping of the small, which is called raw curd; when it comes to the Prajñāpāramitā, the Buddha has the śrāvakas turn the teaching for bodhisattvas, and since they are permitted to transmit the teaching but have not yet received prediction—gathering the teaching without teaching the person—it is clarified butter; when it comes to the Lotus and Nirvāṇa teachings, those who formerly transmitted to others are now bestowed predictions, which is the ghee teaching). Furthermore, hearing that the śrāvakas clung to the fruit of liberation being the same as the Buddha's and on principle did not advance to seek further, this sūtra specifically breaks down liberation being the same, whereupon they harbored the lament of having severed their share; but when it comes to the Lotus and Nirvāṇa, hearing that even the slightest good leads on principle to the fruit of Buddhahood, that what is grown on one earth and moistened by one rain ensures that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature, and all who have minds shall without exception become Buddhas, they then naturally regret having formerly broken down their sameness. / "What the Buddha's sons should attain": if I also attain it, what cause is there for longing and lamentation? The principle is subtle, faculties are coarse, and the teachings differ... thus causing a teaching of one voice to have different understandings. Yet Dharma Masters have failed to grasp the deep intent of the sūtra, and upon hearing the words "severed share," immediately take the two vehicles of fixed nature as forever lacking Buddha-nature. This surely means they have not deeply understood the provisional and ultimate teachings of the Supreme Person. / "Ordinary persons are base and inferior, unable to press upon a bodhisattva like this": "ordinary persons" are common mortals; "base and inferior" refers to those of the two vehicles and pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas, who are persons of base and inferior stages. Hence the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra says: "The inferior stages of ordinary persons are not what they can endure."