淨名經關中釋抄 2.3

2.3

Vinaya Master Xuan states: "Study comes after the precepts; therefore it is called non-understanding [...]. The bodhisattvas transform [beings] outwardly and are not constantly at the Buddha's side; [those of] the five precepts come temporarily and do not constantly attend upon him. Therefore [...] lies with the śrāvakas and not the other two [vehicles]." Tiantai states: "The arrival of this chapter has five purposes: First, to manifest the [virtue] of Vimalakīrti [...]; when the great disciples relate that they are inadequate, this fully manifests the virtue of Vimalakīrti. Faith arises in the mind. Mañjuśrī enters [...] Dharma. Second, to cause the śrāvakas who have not yet entered the right determination to turn their minds toward the Mahāyāna; if they hear the words of inadequacy, they will abandon the small and return to the great. Third, to accomplish the practices of the pure land; if they hear that the provisional and ultimate of the bodhisattva are difficult to conceive, they will gradually recognize the true and response pure lands of all buddhas. Fourth, to produce raw curd for the śrāvakas who have already entered the right determination. When the Avataṃsaka was taught to the śrāvakas in the past, they were like the deaf, while ordinary beings did not change countenance. Thus, in the gradual sequence, for the two vehicles it was like milk. Next, hearing the Āgamas, they attained the four fruits; this was like curd. Now, hearing Vimalakīrti [...], their fruits of wisdom are seen not to be real; this is like raw curd. Next, hearing the Prajñā[pāramitā], they were permitted to transmit the Mahāyāna but had not yet received prediction; thus it was like clarified butter. Later, when the Lotus and Nirvāṇa sūtras were preached, all converged into the Buddha vehicle as ghee. These teachings of the five flavors in gradual sequence are spoken with respect to the two vehicles, not the bodhisattvas. Fifth, to seal and determine it as a sūtra. What was spoken in the past was not before the Buddha; now it is recounted before the Buddha, and the Tathāgata's endorsement makes it all a sūtra." The Commentary says: "'Silently connecting with the suspended mind' means the holy mind shines from afar upon the preceding mind and sees it through silently; what need is there for words? 'Subtly responding to the hidden capacity' means dimly seeing the capacity and subtly corresponding and meeting with it; thus they approach each other." "'Not in the triple world': Śāriputra's entering the Hinayāna's eight absorptions and cessation absorption are all attained through the body and mind of the triple world. When a bodhisattva abides in the concentration of the true mark, it is the true wisdom of the dharmakāya realizing that it is not a phenomenon of the triple world. As the Da zhidu lun states: 'A monk separates from desires and bad, unwholesome dharmas, relies on the preparatory absorption, and attains the first dhyāna, which has vitarka and vicāra, joy, bliss, and one-pointedness of mind. Because it is free from the fire of desire, it is called vitarka and vicāra. He further considers: "Vitarka and vicāra perturb the dhyāna mind, like waves in water, like a call during sleep." Admonishing vitarka and vicāra in such various ways, vitarka and vicāra are extinguished and inner purity arises; binding the mind to one place without vitarka or vicāra, born of concentration there is joy and bliss, and he enters the second dhyāna. Furthermore, contemplating that joy has many faults, he attains joy [...], grief, leaves joyful practice, abandons mindfulness and awareness, experiences bodily bliss, and enters the third dhyāna. Furthermore, the practitioner contemplates the faults of bliss as like joy, seeks an unmoved mind that is neither suffering nor bliss, and with purified equanimity and mindfulness enters the fourth dhyāna. Furthermore, contemplating that form has many faults, he contemplates space in the body, and external form likewise, attaining the station of boundless space. Furthermore, the practitioner contemplates space as boundless; thus, when consciousness takes conditions, there are many conditions, and many conditions cause distraction. Therefore, he abandons the condition of space and takes only consciousness as a condition; this is called the station of consciousness. Furthermore, this consciousness is boundless; when consciousness is excessive, there is distraction. Therefore, he rebukes consciousness and praises the station of nothingness [...]. Contemplating the faults and afflictions of the four aggregates in this station, non-perception is like a carbuncle, and perception is like an illness; he enters the station of neither perception nor non-perception.' (The concentration of non-perception, the cessation absorption, and the heaven of non-perception are characterized by signs; the rest have signs.) Because these formless states are all formed of the four aggregates, when minds such as sensation and perception are extinguished, one enters cessation absorption. Therefore, they are all the body and mind of the triple world. Now, when the bodhisattva uses the right contemplation of the middle way to illuminate the five aggregates of the triple world as neither arising nor ceasing, this is the true cessation absorption." "'Both [body and] spirit extinguished' means bodhi cannot be attained through the body, nor can it be attained through the mind. The body is without form and distinction; the mind is without basis and abiding. Because there is neither arising nor ceasing, it is called real cessation. Such is the great being's absorption of cessation." "'Dharma of the Way' means the aggregates are intrinsically empty." "'Manifesting worldly affairs' is using skillful means to enter into the provisional." "'Mind abides neither within nor without': the three places are intrinsically empty; that is, the mind is truly extinguished, and therefore does not abide." "'Unmoved by views': grasping is called 'view'; the two extremes are called 'moving'. In the two vehicles' four applications of mindfulness, contemplating the body as impure destroys the distortion of purity; contemplating sensations as suffering destroys the distortion of pleasure; contemplating the mind as impermanent destroys the distortion of permanence; contemplating dharmas as non-self destroys the distortion of self. The remaining chapters are similar. This is called the two vehicles cultivating the thirty-seven aids to awakening while moving in accordance with views. In the Mahāyāna's four applications of mindfulness: contemplating the nature of the body as empty, neither pure nor impure; contemplating sensations as neither within, without, nor in between, neither suffering nor pleasure; contemplating the mind as only having provisional designations, neither permanent nor impermanent; contemplating dharmas as like illusions and transformations, neither self nor non-self. The remaining chapters are similar. This is called the Mahāyāna cultivating the thirty-seven aids to awakening while unmoved by views. This is explained extensively in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and the Sarvadharmāpravṛtti-nirdeśa."