本業瓔珞經疏 1.13

1.13

"I will now briefly explain the entry of names for one worthy, that is, the abode of initial aspiration": the first person of the practice-lineage. Before ascending to the abode, there are ten bodhisattvas who conform in name: before explaining the person in the abode of aspiration, it first clarifies the characteristics of the bodhisattva of name before the abode. One who cultivates the ten minds but has not yet completed them is a bodhisattva of faithful characteristics. Through the text's cultivation of true contemplation, the fundamental understanding opens, forming the practice of seeds and establishing the equipment of merit and wisdom to adorn oneself; one thereby attains entry into the practice-lineage. In the position of the first abode, one extensively cultivates practice and vows; only then can one succeed in accomplishing the practices of the forty-two worthy and noble stages. Because one's resolve is definitive, it is called the faithful mind. Because one contemplates the object without wavering, it is called [mindfulness]. Because one urges oneself diligently without faltering, it is called the mind of vigor. Because one contemplates and penetrates the characteristics of phenomena, it is called the mind of wisdom. Because one clears the mind upon a single object, it is called the mind of concentration. Because one's cultivation is solid, it is called the mind of non-retrogression. Because one redirects causes toward the fruit, it is called the mind of dedication. Because one protects and upholds the Buddha-Dharma, it is called the mind of protection. Because one guards against fault and halts evil, it is called the mind of precepts. As for "vow": the Daśabhūmika-śāstra says that because one aspires and anticipates great bodhi, there are the great vows of with-practice and without-practice. "With-practice" is the practice of converting beings within existence; "without-practice" is the practice of realizing quiescent emptiness. As for "attaining entry into the practice-lineage and extensively practicing all vows": because one has not yet fulfilled this stage, one extensively generates practice and vows. Just as in the Daśabhūmika, after attaining residence in the first ground, one again extensively gives rise to vows and cultivates them. In the second section, on speaking verses to raise vows, the text has three parts. First, there are two verses, presenting the intention of the sutra compiler in introducing the worthy of the abode of aspiration speaking verses. Second, from "I now practice giving" down to "transforming all [beings]," there are eleven verses, clarifying the vows within the cause. Third, from "I have now awakened" onwards, there are fifteen verses, clarifying the vows within the fruit. "All vows enter into my vow": because the generation of vows below extends through both cause and fruit. This is just like Śrīmālā generating three vows: first, the vow for one's own practice; second, the vow for external conversion; third, the vow to protect the Dharma. The bodhisattva's vows, like the sands of the Ganges, all enter into these three great vows. The second clarifies the vows within the cause. First, there are ten verses clarifying the ten pāramitās. Below there is one verse clarifying entry into the stainless ground. As for the ten pāramitās: the first is dāna; the second is śīla; the third clarifies kṣānti; the fourth clarifies vīrya; the fifth clarifies dhyāna; the sixth is prajñā; the seventh is signlessness; the eighth is upāya; the ninth clarifies bala; the tenth is the fulfillment of boundary wisdom. "I now practice giving and vow that sentient beings abandon the thought of greed and desire": to give away wealth is easy; ordinary beings can also do it. To abandon greed and desire is difficult; it requires a noble person. According to the text below, giving has three conditions: first, wealth; second, Dharma; third, giving fearlessness to sentient beings. Giving wealth is clothing, food, grain, silk, and so forth. Giving Dharma is the phenomena of the two truths, the teachings of the Great and Small Vehicles. As for fearlessness: the Ratnamegha-sūtra explains abandoning weapons oneself and teaching others to abandon weapons, because they are instruments of killing. "Always practicing the Dharma precepts": the precept pāramitā. One vows oneself to always practice the true Dharma precepts. "Attaining correct liberation": the fruit and retribution of upholding precepts. According to the text below, precepts have three conditions: first, precepts of self-nature; second, precepts of adopting good dharmas; third, precepts of benefiting sentient beings. Precepts of self-nature are the precepts of restraint: there is no evil that is not stopped. One is naturally able to uphold them; hence the Daśabhūmika-śāstra says that it is just like a fine horse being subdued by its very nature. Precepts of adopting good dharmas are the precepts that gather all good dharmas: there is no good that is not cultivated. Precepts of benefiting sentient beings are the precepts that gather sentient beings: there is no sentient being that is not transformed. "Always upholding the six forbearances": vowing oneself to the subsequent forbearance of the six sense faculties. "Up to resting in the forbearance of quiescent phenomena": only when the understanding of emptiness is accomplished is it true forbearance. According to the text below, forbearance has three conditions: first, enduring ascetic practices; second, enduring external evils; third, forbearance of the supreme truth. Ascetic practices are the dhūtas, dwelling in forests and wilderness, and other things difficult to do that one can do. Enduring external evils is beatings, abuse, and destruction. Forbearance of the supreme truth is the understanding of emptiness. "Power of great vigor": the fourth pāramitā, vigor. "Constantly practicing without abiding, entering the fruit of self-awakening": diligently cultivating, blazing continuously, hence "without abiding." Unsurpassed bodhi is verified only by the mind itself and is not attained through external conditions; thus it is called "self-awakening." According to the text below, vigor has three conditions: first, raising a mind-practice of great endurance; second, progressing toward the goal through skillful means; third, diligently transforming sentient beings. "Great vow": vowing to sever all evil and vowing to cultivate all good; among vows nothing surpasses this, hence it is called "great." Progressing through skillful means: cultivating to advance toward the fruit. Diligently transforming sentient beings: reaching to the limits of the future without resting. "Resting in the mind of dhyāna": the fifth, dhyāna pāramitā. "Up to resting naturally in unconditioned ease": the six supernatural powers are the fruit of meditative quiescence; citing the powers clarifies the concentration. "Resting naturally in unconditioned ease": this is the concentration of the quietude of true emptiness. According to the text below, dhyāna has three conditions: first, the concentration wherein turbulent thoughts do not arise; second, the concentration that generates all merits; third, the concentration that benefits sentient beings. "Turbulent thoughts do not arise": settling the mind upon one object, free from external turmoil. "Generating all merits": dhyāna is called a constituent rest, capable of producing meritorious practices. "Benefiting sentient beings": raising activity right within quiescence. "Cultivating the wisdom of the true Dharma": the sixth, prajñā pāramitā. "Up to entering the flow of the ocean of wisdom and succeeding to the bodhisattva position": "the flow of the ocean of wisdom" is the flowing ocean of the wisdom of true emptiness. "Succeeding to the bodhisattva position" is succeeding to the position of a true bodhisattva. According to the text below, wisdom has three conditions: first, illuminating the truth of existence; second, illuminating the truth of non-existence; third, illuminating the middle way supreme truth. Illuminating the truth of existence: phenomena obstructing existence. Truth of non-existence: illuminating emptiness and non-existence. The supreme truth of the middle way: being neither existent nor non-existent is called the middle way; being the finest and most supreme within the principle, it is called the first and supreme. "Practicing the vow of signlessness": the seventh, vow pāramitā. "Up to fulfilling all vows and flowing into the ocean of buddhas": the wisdom of the buddhas is deep and supremely vast, hence called an "ocean." According to the Ratnamegha-sūtra, it first explains skillful means and later vows; here, it first explains vows and later skillful means. According to the text below, vows have three conditions: first, vows for one's own practice; second, vows for supernatural powers; third, vows for external conversion. Vows for one's own practice: vowing oneself to practice all good deeds. Supernatural powers: unobstructed action and function. External conversion: because one's own practice is unobstructed, one can then transform others. "Skillful means of great wisdom": the eighth, upāya pāramitā. "The Dharma river is unobstructed, reaching the boundary of the two truths": unobstructed within the water of buddha-nature and the river of nirvāṇa, exhausting the boundary of the two truths. According to the Ratnamegha-sūtra: if there are empty mountains and wide marshes that are not one's property, flower trees or fruit trees, cotton cloths or cotton trees, one offers them all with a reverent mind to all the Three Jewels, three times by day and three times by night; making such offerings and dedicating them to bodhi clarifies skillful means. According to the text below, skillful means has three conditions: first, progressing toward the fruit; second, skillfully harmonizing existence and non-existence; third, neither abandoning nor grasping any dharmas. Progressing toward the fruit: advancing toward bodhi. Skillfully harmonizing existence and non-existence: residing in existence to transform beings without clinging to existence; realizing emptiness with constant function without stagnating in non-existence. Neither abandoning nor grasping: not seeing deluded dharmas that can be eradicated, hence "not abandoning"; not seeing a nirvāṇa that can be realized, hence "not grasping." Therefore the Vimalakīrti-sūtra says: seeing suffering, cutting off its accumulation, realizing cessation, and cultivating the path—this is conceptual proliferation, for the Dharma is not cultivation of the path. "Great power of supernatural faculties": the ninth, power pāramitā. "Up to transformations resting in me, attaining fearlessness": "I" originally has the meaning of mastery; attaining fearlessness is an understanding aligned with the strength of the meaning of power. According to the text below, power has three conditions: first, retribution powers; second, cultivated powers; third, transformative powers. Retribution powers: like gods and others who obtain powers as a life-retribution without waiting to cultivate them. Second, cultivated powers: like a person cultivating concentration who emits powers from concentration. Transformative powers: the unobstructed manifestations of buddhas and bodhisattvas. "Fulfillment of boundary wisdom": the tenth, wisdom pāramitā, exhausting the boundaries of the two truths. "Adamantine wisdom accomplished, ascending to the fruit of the bodhimaṇḍa": true adamantine wisdom is accomplished, also called cessation; this is the adamantine discernment of conditions. According to the text below, wisdom has three [aspects]: […] illuminating wisdom; second, knowledge of all aspects; third, transformative wisdom. Ignorance-illuminating wisdom: the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says that the light of ignorance refers to ultimate emptiness; it is also called signless wisdom. Knowledge of all aspects: knowing things distinctively according to their kinds. Transformative wisdom: the unobstructed wisdom of buddhas and bodhisattvas. From "I have now awakened" onwards, it clarifies the vows within the fruit. In this there are three parts. First, there are eleven verses, clarifying that within the fruit, practices are fulfilled and vows are made to extinguish the seven views and six attachments of sentient beings. Next, there is one verse, clarifying the attainment of the function of the response body. Next, there are three verses, concluding with the fulfillment of causal and fruitional vows, cultivating and advancing the remaining practices, and entering the ocean of sarvajñatā. The seven views […] views are: heterodox view, view of self, eternalist view, annihilationist view, view of grasping attachments to precepts, view of grasping attachments to fruits, and skeptical view. The six attachments are: greed, love, anger, delusion, desire, and pride. In the name "six attachments," it is brief and incomplete. "I have now awakened": vowing that in the future I will have awakened to the complete principle of all phenomena. "Up to understanding nominal continuity and extinguishing the mind that calculates annihilation": sentient beings see the present body perish and believe there is no future retribution coming to continue it, giving rise to the annihilationist view, unwilling to cultivate good causes, and thereby performing evil deeds. Now one vows to understand nominal existence, the continuity of coming retribution, and extinguish the fault of calculating annihilation. "Awakening and illuminating the transformation of phenomena": vowing that in the future I will awaken and penetrate all phenomena as being identical to magical illusions. "Up to realizing the conditioned production of dharmas and extinguishing the mind that calculates permanence […]": sentient beings are formed from a multitude of conditions; therefore, knowing that the impermanent five aggregates form sentient beings is nominal causation; because the cause of the five aggregates is distant with respect to sentient beings, it is called nominal conditionality. Both nominal causation and nominal conditionality display both cause and fruit simultaneously. It is also said: the five aggregates forming sentient beings is itself nominal causation, and also called nominal conditionality. "I attain the full body […] up to realizing relative dharmas and extinguishing the mind that calculates a self": "self" originally has the meaning of mastery; my sentient beings depend on evil to have good, depend on having good faults to have wisdom, and are controlled and displaced by others; therefore, one knows there is no self. "Unconditioned great compassion": even without the conditions of kinship, one can give rise to compassion; there is no condition under which one is not compassionate. "Up to understanding production from nominal causes and extinguishing the mind that grasps views": because one does not penetrate past causes, seeing the heterodox views of others as correct is called grasping views. Now one understands that the nominal entity is produced from past causes and no longer takes various views to be correct; therefore, one extinguishes the grasping of views. "The foremost cessation": vowing oneself to realize the true quiescence of nirvāṇa. "Realizing true dharmic conditions and extinguishing the mind of grasping precepts": because sentient beings are deluded, they take others' bovine precepts, avian precepts, and so forth as the correct path. Now it clarifies that because of the realization of the causes and conditions of the true Dharma-nature, true understanding is accomplished; one does not take heterodox precepts as correct, and therefore extinguishes the grasping of precepts. "Attaining the fruit of the ten powers": like the fruit-retribution of the ten powers of the Buddha. "Realizing the illumination of the two truths and extinguishing the mind of heterodox views": because of heterodox views, sentient beings seek to deny the causes and fruits of the two truths; now, realizing the two truths, one extinguishes heterodox views. "With the adamantine knife": with the Buddha's knife of adamantine wisdom. "Realizing the twelve causes and extinguishing skeptical views": if one does not penetrate the twelve links of dependent origination, then one cannot fully know the causes and effects across the three times, and this is called skepticism. Now, understanding that dependent origination, cause, and effect embrace the three times, one can extinguish skeptical views. "Solitarily illuminating without boundary": there is no direction that it does not illuminate. "Recognizing that dharmas are impermanent and extinguishing the mind of greed and stinginess": if one does not penetrate that the body is impermanent, one hoards wealth to protect this body. Now, understanding impermanence, one has no attachment to wealth; therefore, one extinguishes greed and stinginess. Thus the Daśabhūmika-sūtra says: because this bodhisattva is free from the notion of self, he does not even begrudge his body, much less the things he uses; therefore, he has no fear regarding livelihood. "Five eyes and three clarities": from the physical eye to the buddha eye. Penetrating the three times is called the three clarities. "Cultivating the awakening of the three clarities and extinguishing the mind of ignorant darkness": knowledge of past lives in the past, knowledge of the divine eye in the future, knowledge of the destruction of outflows in the present. Possessing this clear understanding, one can extinguish ignorant darkness. "Succeeding to the understanding of the Three Jewels and extinguishing anger and contention": the understood essence of the Three Jewels is free from opposition and contention. "Entering into all emptiness and extinguishing the storehouse of ignorance": because one understands that the essence of all phenomena is empty, ignorance is naturally eliminated without waiting to be dispelled. "Mounting the great Dharma ship and entering the Buddha-Dharma vehicle": mounting the great Dharma ship of nirvāṇa and entering the vehicle of the fruit of buddhahood. The three verses from "My causal and fruitional vows" onwards clarify that when causal and fruitional vows are fulfilled, one cultivates and advances the remaining practices. "Now receiving the great vows before the buddhas": speaking to oneself before the buddhas, just as Śrīmālā said before the Buddha: "From this day forth until bodhi, I will not give rise to a transgressive mind regarding the precepts received." "If all bodhisattvas enter into these vows, none will fail to enter the ocean of sarvajñatā": because the meaning of the cause is accomplished, one definitely advances toward the fruit without error. "O sons of the Buddha, abiding in this abode" onwards clarifies the functions of the practices and vows. First, it clarifies the functions of the practices and vows; later, it clarifies encouraging the reception of the ten inexhaustible precepts. "Surpassing all ordinary practices of the ten faiths of outsiders": the bodhisattvas of faithful characteristics prior to the lineage of cultivation. "Now cultivating immeasurable merits again": extensively cultivating all practices in this abode, namely the practices of the ten pāramitās, the three emptinesses, and so forth. As for the three emptinesses: because the fruit is empty, it is signless; because the cause is empty, it is wishless; because there is no mark of the emptiness of emptiness, it is called without-emptiness. Thus the Vimalakīrti-sūtra says: the sickness of emptiness is also empty. "Ridding oneself of self, person, living being," and so forth: these are all names of the sixteen spiritual selves. "Permanence, bliss, self, and purity": arbitrary calculations within the body. "Calculated bonds of the three realms": the precepts of fragmented lifetimes. "All Dharma gates are gathered within the mind": the bodhisattva generates the aspiration and cultivates the ten thousand practices concurrently. "There are ten non-remissible precepts": these are the fundamental precepts of the bodhisattva, which cannot be extinguished simply by repentance. The eighty-four thousand precepts that gather good dharmas do allow for repentance. "Not killing": among living beings, humans and gods are the most noble, and the buddhas and bodhisattvas are good friends and fields of merit. Killing other types of life still brings heavy offense and vexation, how much more so humans, gods, buddhas, and bodhisattvas. According to the Brahmajāla-sūtra, this extends to all that has life. "Not stealing": wealth can sustain oneself and people's attachment to it is deep; if one steals another's property, the injury and distress caused are heavy. Thus the Brahmajāla-sūtra says: down to a single needle or a blade of grass, all constitute a bodhisattva pārājika. "Not engaging in sexual misconduct": sexual desire is impure, the painful root source of birth and death; engaging in sexual misconduct stains the pure mind and further increases birth and death. Thus the Brahmajāla-sūtra says: extending to animal females, deva females, ghost and spirit females, and practicing sex in non-prescribed ways. "Not speaking falsely": the bodhisattva establishes practice in order to cease falsity and return to truth; clamorous speech contravenes principle, ruining both oneself and others. "Not speaking of the offenses of ordained or lay bodhisattvas": the bodhisattva cultivates practice in order to perpetuate and exalt the Three Jewels; in principle one ought to show reverent honor and praise good, whereas speaking of their faults brings heavy offense. "Not selling alcohol": the nature of alcohol is intoxication and confusion, a condition for ruining the path. Drinkers incur thirty-six faults, how much more so selling it widely to others. "Praising oneself and denigrating others": a practitioner should eliminate arrogance; praising oneself increases greed, and denigrating others increases anger. Thus the Brahmajāla-sūtra says: a bodhisattva should bear humiliation on behalf of all sentient beings, taking evil things upon oneself and giving good things to others; if one displays one's own intentions, conceals the good deeds of others, and lets others suffer slander, one commits a bodhisattva pārājika. "Not being stingy": stinginess directly obstructs the practice of giving (dāna). Giving is the beginning of the ten thousand practices; if the beginning practice is not established, the ten thousand practices will not be accomplished either. "Not being angry": the bodhisattva generates the aspiration to convert externally, taking loving-kindness and compassion as the root; anger is the obstacle to loving-kindness. Thus Śrīmālā says: from this day forth until bodhi, I will not give rise to a resentful mind toward sentient beings. "Not slandering the Three Jewels": the Three Jewels are the excellent ford for escaping suffering; if one slanders the Three Jewels, one sinks perpetually into the sea of suffering. "Non-remissible": they cannot be extinguished simply by repentance; one must definitely receive them again before being restored as before. "Eighty-four thousand births and deaths": citing the fruit-retribution to demonstrate. "Losing the abode of initial aspiration down to the ten grounds": because the lost benefit is deep, they must not be broken. "The root of the practices of all buddhas and bodhisattvas": precepts are the root of the great fruit, the source of all practices. "Gradually increasing and expanding": from initial aspiration onwards, all ten thousand practices are cultivated concurrently, but understanding has clarity and obscurity, so they gradually increase and expand.