大乘入道次第開決 1.183

1.183

Regarding "What is expressed, such as collections of names," etc.: "Etc." includes collections of phrases and collections of phonemes. A name expresses intrinsic nature; a phrase expresses distinction; a phoneme is a letter, which is the support for both. If there is only one name, it is called simply a "name," etc.; if two names, etc., are gathered, it is called a "collection of names," etc.; when reaching three or more, it is called multiple. What is called an "aggregate" has the meaning of accumulation: namely, eleven forms, five feelings, six perceptions, seventy-three formations, and eight consciousnesses, each briefly gathered into one collection, called the aggregates of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. The older translations of sūtras and treatises translated it as "shade" (yin), meaning that a concise name covers (yin) many meanings. What is called a "base" (āyatana) has the meaning of arising and the meaning of a gateway: namely, the six internal faculties and six external objects are the places where the six consciousnesses and minds arise and grow; because these six faculties and objects, as appropriate, can open access for the entering and exiting of the conceptually differentiating six consciousnesses. The old translation rendered it as "entering" (ru), losing the meaning of arising and issuing forth. What is called an "element" (dhātu) has the meaning of lineage: namely, the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses are the types and lineages of faculty, object, and consciousness, just as the four castes differ in lineage; hence the meaning of lineage is the meaning of "element." Therefore a verse in the Kośa says: "Accumulation, gateway of arising, and lineage / Are the meanings of aggregate, base, and element." The meanings in the Abhidharmasamuccaya and the Madhyāntavibhāga differ slightly from this; I cannot narrate them at length; those who delight in it may describe them. All these are the meanings of what is expressed.