淨名經關中釋抄 1.30

1.30

"Vast, void, and formless" means that the dharmakāya is vast, void, and without material form. / "Its form has no permanent substance" means that it may manifest as sixteen feet tall, or manifest as a thousand cubits; long-lived or short-lived, it responds to beings without constancy or permanence. Since the response body has no permanent substance in greatness or smallness to respond to beings, the realm [it saves] is likewise pure or defiled without a constant location. / "Excellence and evil stem from them": sentient beings abide in diverse views, so the lands are excellent or evil; the Tathāgata abides in right wisdom, so pure and defiled are ever equal. / "For me, there is nothing fixed": when it should be pure, it is pure; when it should be defiled, it is defiled; therefore it is said to be unfixed. The unfixedness of purity and defilement means that purity and defilement have no self-nature. Purity and defilement having no self-nature is precisely the equal, true land. / "Taking spacelessness as its substance": purity and defilement are empty of nature and have no spatial location. / "Or taking sands of the Ganges as a land": in the Lotus Sūtra, when Pūrṇa attains buddhahood, [three thousand worlds as numerous as] the sands of the Ganges make up one land. / "Bodhisattvas' faculties": some rejoice in a pure land and generate the faculty of faith, while others detest a defiled land and generate the faculty of faith. Following conditions in myriad variations, their generating faith is one and the same. How could verbal explanation exhaust it? / "The direct mind is the bodhisattva's pure land": there are multiple kinds of direct mind. There is the straightforward direct mind of ordinary people; there is the direct mind of right view regarding the four truths of the two vehicles; there is the direct mind of correct contemplation of the middle way of bodhisattvas; and there is the direct mind of the one suchness of the realm of phenomena of the buddhas. The various practices below are analogous. / "Pointing to gold as food": transforming gold to buy and obtain food; this metaphor points to cause as fruit. / "Different names before and after": the direct mind, absence of flattery, and so forth are brief before and broad after; the ten wholesome paths and aids to awakening are causes before and fruits after; patience, marks, and so forth are analogous. / "Sentient beings of right determination": there are three assemblies of sentient beings. First, the assembly of wrong determination; second, the assembly of [right] determination; third, the assembly of undetermined determination. The Kośa says that sentient beings of the five deeds of immediate retribution are called the assembly of wrong determination; those who attain the noble path are called the assembly of right determination; the remaining sentient beings are called the assembly of undetermined determination. The Renwang jing says that bodhisattvas of the ten faiths belong to the undetermined assembly; from the ten abodes onward, the assembly of right determination; before the ten faiths, the assembly of wrong determination. This wisdom illuminates the wrong and the right, determinately taking and leaving; thus it is called "right determination." / "Dedication": whatever good ordinary people cultivate, they dedicate it all to unsurpassed bodhi. The Yingluo jing has three kinds: first, dedicating phenomena toward principle; second, dedicating one's own merit to bestow widely on sentient beings; third, dedicating cause toward fruit. / "In the eight difficulties, perhaps hearing a buddha's name": like the Empty Space Virtue and so forth. The Fo ming jing says that upon hearing this buddha's name and making a single bow, all sinful obstructions are utterly eradicated, and so forth. The Guanfo sanmei hai jing says that hearing the name of the white ūrṇā mark eradicates the sins of saṃsāra for three kalpas; the remaining marks are as in the text. / "Dhāraṇīs like the Precious Pavilion and so forth": the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says that hearing the two characters "eternally abiding," one does not fall into evil destinies; in the "Devadatta" chapter, being constantly born before the Buddha, transforming birth from a lotus flower, and so forth, can be known. / "The ten wholesome [actions] have two [types]": first, cessation, which means stopping the ten evils as the ten wholesome [actions]; second, practicing the ten wholesome [actions], which means giving life, practicing charity, saluting and revering, truthful speech, gentle speech, harmonious speech, beneficial speech, cultivating the contemplation of impurity, practicing kindness and compassion, and abiding in right view. / "In accordance with their direct mind": this explains vertically the practices of the pure land, arranging them into thirteen stations. / The direct mind corresponds to the ten abodes. Launching practice corresponds to the ten practices. The profound mind corresponds to the meaning of the ten dedications. Subjugation corresponds to the first ground. Teaching practice corresponds to the second ground. Dedication corresponds to the third ground. Expediency corresponds to the fourth ground. Maturing sentient beings corresponds to the fifth ground. Purifying the buddha-land corresponds to the sixth ground. Purifying the preaching of the Dharma corresponds to the seventh ground. Purifying wisdom corresponds to the eighth ground. Purifying the mind corresponds to the ninth ground. Purifying all virtues corresponds to the tenth ground. The preceding seventeen practices are all like this in depth and shallowness. That is, delusions gradually end, wisdom gradually rounds, the mind gradually increases, and the land gradually purifies. Like this Renwang [jing], beginning from the iron wheel of the ten faiths, and ending at the fourth dhyāna of the ten grounds. That is, delusions gradually end and blessings gradually excel, compassion gradually increases and transformation gradually broadens. As below in the tenth ground and buddha-fruit where all virtues are pure, why would the buddha-land alone not be pure? / "Śāriputra thought": earlier, the Buddha had already answered Ratnakūṭa's two questions on cause and fruit; the principle was complete and practice fulfilled. By principle, the listeners should have realized awakening, yet those who did not awaken held doubts in their minds. Therefore, Śāriputra relied on the doubts of the assembly to express his thought. / "Purity of phenomena": the purity of the seven-jeweled ponds and terraces. Since one grasps purity as pure, how could one comprehend that defilement is not [inherent]? Hence it is called "deluded." / "Śikhin seeing purity": Śāriputra doubted that the Buddha's answer was already finished and that one should also attain awakening, yet those who did not awaken held doubting thoughts. The World-Honoured One himself said: "My land here is pure; who sees this?" Thus the Brahmā king testified to seeing it. / "A pure land like the four devas and so forth": this is also reasonable by principle. According to the Renwang jing, the thirty minds prior to the grounds correspond to the four kinds of wheel-turning kings; they transform beings with physical bodies born of karmic bonds, not yet having a pure land to transform beings. From the first ground onward to the tenth ground, they correspond to the kings of the six desire heavens and the kings of the four dhyānas. Since prior to the seventh ground they are born by vow, and from the eighth ground onward they are born in response, this is sporting in spiritual penetrations, purifying buddha-lands, and teaching and transforming sentient beings; therefore there is a pure land. Since the stations of the kings of the various grounds differ in rank, the pure land should also differ in ascending and descending according to the station; this can be understood by following this correspondence. / "The mind has higher and lower": yet the buddha-land is pure when it should be pure, and defiled when it should be defiled; thus one knows that the true land is fundamentally neither pure nor defiled; this is called the Buddha's wisdom. But Śāriputra saw purity as determinately pure and exquisitely superior, hence "higher"; and saw defilement as determinately lowly and inferior, hence "lower." This is called grasping views, not the Buddha's wisdom. / "Attaining the forbearance of non-arising dharmas": awakening to the fact that defilement and purity have no self-nature. If defilement determinately had a self-nature, it should not disappear when transformed. If purity were determinate, it should not await the pressing [of the toe] before manifesting purity. Awaiting the pressing before manifesting purity clarifies that purity fundamentally has no self-nature. Disappearing when transformed clarifies that defilement likewise has no determinate nature. Therefore, non-arising is empty, so there is no cessation. It can be said that seeing the reality of defilement eliminates the marks of purity, attaining the forbearance of non-arising dharmas and entering the Dharma gate of non-duality. Although the sūtra does not state "neither pure nor defiled," the principle is self-evident. As in the "Life Span" chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, it merely takes the short life span at Gayā to clarify the long; this means that long and short are unfixed. When long and short are unfixed, "short" vanishes. Although the sūtra does not clarify "neither long nor short," the principle is likewise self-evident. Therefore, in the "Distinction of Merits" chapter, the bodhisattvas also realize the forbearance of non-arising dharmas. The Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā, identifying form as empty, also reveals that form and emptiness are not different; the principle can be seen. In accordance with this, although the various Mahāyāna sūtras have different phenomenal traces in matching conditions, in converging on principle and realizing reality they are one. Therefore, in the "Dharma Gate of Non-Duality" chapter, sometimes both arising and cessation vanish; sometimes sin and blessing share a single nature; sometimes the mind has nothing to attain; sometimes the mouth is silent and does not speak. These are all differences in phenomenal traces, not differences in converging realization. / "Knowing that conditioned dharmas are all impermanent": if one awakens according to the Mahāyāna, pure and defiled are all responsive manifestations responding to beings, lacking self-nature. Now, the Hīnayāna grasps them as real; hence, seeing phenomenal change, it regards them as impermanent. Just as Ānanda did not understand that the Buddha's body was a response, and grasped illness as real. / "Eighty-eight latent defilements": these are the afflictions severed on the path of seeing. That is, through delusion regarding the four truths, these various confusions arise. Delusion regarding suffering gives rise to ten latent defilements: greed, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, view of individuality, extreme view, [wrong view, attachment to views,] and attachment to precepts. Delusion regarding the truth of accumulation gives rise to seven latent defilements, excluding the two views of individuality and extremes, and attachment to precepts. Delusion regarding the truth of cessation gives rise to seven latent defilements, likewise. Delusion regarding the truth of the path gives rise to eight latent defilements, that is, excluding the two views of individuality and extremes. These make thirty-two in the desire realm. The upper two realms lack anger; when anger is excluded from each of the four truths, there are twenty-eight in each. Stated fully for the three realms, there are eighty-eight. As for "ninety-eight": adding to the previous eighty-eight of the path of seeing the ten afflictions severed on the path of cultivation, it thus makes ninety-eight. The "ten" refers to greed, anger, ignorance, and pride; the desire realm possesses all four of these; the form realm has three, anger being excluded; the formless realm has three, likewise. Therefore, discussed together for the three realms, there are ten.