The Nine Kinds of Afflicted Beings, and the Great Flood
Continuing the pure precept of benefiting sentient beings, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva contemplates, one by one, the specific kinds of affliction that grip seekers of desire, seekers of worldly existence, and seekers of the holy life — each contemplation matched to its own vow of rescue — culminating in the vivid image of beings submerged in the great flood of desire, existence, view, and ignorance, seized by rākṣasas of love and view, and exhausted upon the shore of self-conceit.
The Thicket of Wrong View, and Two Kinds of Wealth Wrongly Held
經曰：菩薩復作此念：是諸眾生墮於邪見，惡意惡心行惡道稠林。我應令彼眾生行真實道，住正見道如實法中。
論曰：邪見者謂四顛倒。此顛倒者，二倒名為惡意，專念行故；二倒名為惡心，非專念行，謂我淨想故，彼非正道稠林行因。非正道者，是諸煩惱。稠林者，煩惱使故。如經「菩薩復作此念：是諸眾生墮於邪見，惡意惡心行惡道稠林」故。彼諸眾生隨順對治妙法，正念正見出世間法，如經「我應令彼眾生行真實道，住正見道如實法中」故。云何受不共財？
經曰：是諸眾生共相破壞，分別彼我常共鬪諍，日夜瞋恨熾然不息。我應令彼眾生住於無上大慈中。
論曰：受不共財者，互相破壞。破壞有二種：一、對怨於心中；二、鬪諍於言中。如是破壞，思念作報增長行熾，如經「是諸眾生共相破壞，乃至日夜瞋恨熾然不息」故。對怨於心中分別彼我，此言示現鬪諍於言中。常共鬪諍，此言示現思念作報增長行熾。日夜瞋恨熾然不息，此言示現彼諸眾生隨順對治與大慈益，如經「我應令彼眾生住於無上大慈中」故。云何受無厭足財？
經曰：是諸眾生心無厭足，常求他財、邪命自活。我應令彼眾生住於清淨身口意業正命法中。
論曰：受無厭足財者，有二種：一、貪於心中；二、於身口中，斗秤妄語等方便奪故。如經「是諸眾生心無厭足，常求他財、邪命自活」故。彼諸眾生隨順對治，清淨身口意業，正命自活。如經「我應令彼眾生住於清淨身口意業正命法中」故。云何受貯積財？
Sūtra: The bodhisattva further gives rise to this thought: these sentient beings have fallen into wrong view, and, with an evil intention and an evil mind, walk within a thicket of evil ways. I must cause these sentient beings to walk the path of true reality, and to abide in the path of right view, within the dharma of things as they really are.
Commentary: "Wrong view" refers to the four inversions. Of these inversions, two are called "evil intention," since they involve deliberate, sustained mental application; and two are called "evil mind," since they do not involve deliberate application, referring instead to the conceptions of self and of purity — and these are the cause that produces the thicket of walking in what is not the true path. "What is not the true path" refers to every affliction. "Thicket" refers to the latent tendencies of affliction. As the sūtra says, "the bodhisattva further gives rise to this thought: these sentient beings have fallen into wrong view, and, with an evil intention and an evil mind, walk within a thicket of evil ways." These sentient beings are matched with the sublime dharma that serves as their antidote — right mindfulness and right view, the supramundane dharma — as the sūtra says, "I must cause these sentient beings to walk the path of true reality, and to abide in the path of right view, within the dharma of things as they really are." What is the wealth wrongly held in common with none?
Sūtra: These sentient beings mutually destroy one another, distinguishing self from other, constantly locked in strife, their resentment and rage blazing without rest, day and night. I must cause these sentient beings to abide within unsurpassed great loving-kindness.
Commentary: "Wealth wrongly held in common with none" refers to mutually destroying one another. This mutual destruction is of two kinds: harboring enmity within the mind, and contending in strife through speech. Such mutual destruction, brooded upon and repaid, only increases and blazes further — as the sūtra says, "these sentient beings mutually destroy one another," all the way to "their resentment and rage blazing without rest, day and night." "Harboring enmity within the mind, distinguishing self from other" — these words make manifest contending in strife through speech. "Constantly locked in strife" — these words make manifest brooding upon repayment, increasing and blazing further in conduct. "Their resentment and rage blazing without rest, day and night" — these words make manifest that these sentient beings are matched with the benefit of great loving-kindness as their antidote, as the sūtra says, "I must cause these sentient beings to abide within unsurpassed great loving-kindness." What is the wealth insatiably grasped without ever being satisfied?
Sūtra: These sentient beings have minds never satisfied, constantly seeking after others' wealth, sustaining their own livelihood through wrong means. I must cause these sentient beings to abide within the dharma of a right livelihood, their deeds of body, speech, and mind all pure.
Commentary: "Wealth insatiably grasped without ever being satisfied" is of two kinds: greed within the mind, and, within body and speech, seizing it away through such expedient means as false measures and false speech. As the sūtra says, "these sentient beings have minds never satisfied, constantly seeking after others' wealth, sustaining their own livelihood through wrong means." These sentient beings are matched with their antidote: pure deeds of body, speech, and mind, sustaining their own livelihood through a right livelihood. As the sūtra says, "I must cause these sentient beings to abide within the dharma of a right livelihood, their deeds of body, speech, and mind all pure." What is the wealth hoarded and stored away?
Huiyuan reads the four inversions of the opening contemplation not as a flat set of four errors but as the surface layer of a chain he traces down through nine successive layers of root and branch (九重), each layer's branch becoming the next layer's root, until the chain reaches all the way back to true thusness itself: 一、真心為本，無明為末，故馬鳴言：依真如故，有其無明，染因熏習 — "first, the true mind is the root and ignorance is the branch, and so Aśvaghoṣa says: 'in dependence on true thusness, there is ignorance — the defiled cause of permeation.'" From there the chain runs onward — ignorance as root to the three inversions of mind, conception, and view as branch; among those three, the inversion of mind as root to the inversions of conception and view as branch; the three inversions as root to the fourth as branch; and, within the four, the inversions of self and of purity as root to the inversions of permanence and of pleasure as branch — before finally reaching the inversions themselves as root to the thicket of evil ways as branch, and the thicket as root to every affliction, and every affliction together with karma as root to the fruit of suffering as branch. The passage at hand, he notes, only concerns itself with the fifth of these nine layers — 今此且據第五門中分本末耳, "the present passage draws its distinction of root and branch only from this fifth layer" — a reminder that a single verse's brief mention of "wrong view" can rest on an analysis Huiyuan traces all the way back to suchness itself.
Huiyuan also supplies the architecture that organizes all nine contemplations before working through any of them individually: the sūtra's own list divides first into a bare three — seekers of desire, seekers of existence, and seekers of the holy life (欲求、有求、梵行求) — and each of those three then subdivides mechanically rather than by any further logic of its own. Seekers of desire splits first into a pair (受用時 — the present enjoyment of desire — and 追求時 — pursuing desire not yet obtained), and that pair of the "using" branch then further divides into three (wealth wrongly held in common, wealth insatiably grasped, wealth hoarded and stored), while the "pursuing" branch divides into two (evil conduct pursued for a present reward, wholesome conduct pursued for a future reward) — five in all; seekers of existence divides into two (the road, and the [three] realms); and seekers of the holy life divides into two as well (the wrong view of outside paths, and the narrow inferiority of the same-dharma Lesser Vehicle) — 略故不論, so that what looks like an unruly ninefold list is, in Huiyuan's accounting, simply 5 + 2 + 2 generated from a single threefold root.
The Fires of the Three Poisons, and the Darkness That Falls Toward Hell
經曰：是諸眾生因隨逐貪欲、瞋恚、愚癡，常為種種煩惱熾火之所燒然，不能志求出要方便。我應令彼眾生滅除一切煩惱大火，安置清涼無畏之處。
論曰：受貯積財者，貪等因體過，彼染著故。於彼散用，起瞋心故。彼寶翫受用中多樂境界，數為煩惱火之所燒然過。不見彼過，無求出意。如經「是諸眾生因隨逐貪欲瞋恚愚癡，常為種種煩惱熾火之所燒然，不能志求出要方便」故。彼諸眾生隨順對治，除一切煩惱置清涼處。如經「我應令彼眾生滅除一切煩惱大火，安置清涼無畏之處」故。云何追求現報習諸惡行？
經曰：是諸眾生常為愚癡闇冥妄見厚曀無明黑闇所覆，入大黑闇稠林，遠離智慧光明，墮大黑闇處，隨其所見到種種險道。我應令彼眾生得無障礙清淨慧眼，以是眼故知一切法如實相，得不隨他一切如實無障礙智。
論曰：追求現報習惡行者，既有愚癡闇冥妄見厚曀黑闇所覆過妄見樂故，不見未來實果報過故，亦不見現在實果報過故。如經「是諸眾生常為愚癡闇冥妄見厚曀無明黑闇所覆」故。又愚癡者，多為闇冥故。妄見者，顛倒樂見故。厚曀者，不見未來實果報過故。黑闇者，不見現在實果報過故。是愚癡因滿足使事是過，及遠離無漏智處故，彼善行障順不善行故。如經「入大黑闇稠林故，遠離智慧光明」故。稠林者，是愚癡因使故。大者，滿足故。受至大，對過患。如經「墮大黑闇處」故。是中對者，黑闇示現。如闇中行處處障礙，如是相似法故。受大對事成至諸惡趣，是故名墮多作罪因。
於臨終時見惡報相，心生悔見過。如經「隨其所見到種種險道」故。見險道者，悔見故。見本罪相，不能集彼對治正見。隨其所見者，於死時故。彼諸眾生隨順對治，以如實法令得無障礙清淨慧眼。如經「我應令彼眾生得無障礙清淨慧眼，以是眼故知一切法如實相，得不隨他一切如實無障礙智」故。云何追求後報習諸善行？
Sūtra: These sentient beings, following after greed, hatred, and delusion, are constantly burned by the blazing fires of every kind of affliction, unable to set their minds upon the expedient means of escape. I must cause these sentient beings to extinguish the great fire of every affliction, and be established in a place of coolness, free of fear.
Commentary: "Wealth hoarded and stored away" refers to the fault at the very root of greed and the rest, namely attachment to it. In its dispersal and use, hatred arises; and, amid the enjoyment of treasured, cherished things, there is much delight in the object-realm, again and again burned by the fire of affliction — this is the fault. Not seeing this fault, there is no intention to seek a way out. As the sūtra says, "these sentient beings, following after greed, hatred, and delusion, are constantly burned by the blazing fires of every kind of affliction, unable to set their minds upon the expedient means of escape." These sentient beings are matched with their antidote: removing every affliction and being established in a place of coolness. As the sūtra says, "I must cause these sentient beings to extinguish the great fire of every affliction, and be established in a place of coolness, free of fear." What is pursuing a present reward through the practice of evil conduct?
Sūtra: These sentient beings are constantly covered by the murk of delusion's darkness, by false views' heavy overcast, by ignorance's black gloom; they enter a great thicket of black gloom, remaining far from the light of wisdom, falling into a place of great black gloom, and, according to whatever they see, arrive upon all manner of perilous roads. I must cause these sentient beings to attain the unobstructed, pure eye of wisdom, so that, through this eye, they may know the true mark of every dharma as it really is, and attain the unobstructed wisdom of what is real, not following after others.
Commentary: "Pursuing a present reward through the practice of evil conduct" — since one is covered by delusion's murk, false views' overcast, and black gloom, one delights falsely, not seeing the fault of the true future consequence, and likewise not seeing the fault of the true present consequence. As the sūtra says, "these sentient beings are constantly covered by the murk of delusion's darkness, by false views' heavy overcast, by ignorance's black gloom." Further, "delusion" refers mostly to murkiness; "false view" refers to delighting in what is inverted; "heavy overcast" refers to not seeing the fault of the true future consequence; and "black gloom" refers to not seeing the fault of the true present consequence. This is the fault of delusion's cause fully bringing its latent tendencies into activity, and of remaining far from the place of undefiled wisdom, whereby the hindrance to wholesome conduct accords instead with unwholesome conduct. As the sūtra says, "they enter a great thicket of black gloom, remaining far from the light of wisdom." "Thicket" refers to the latent tendencies that are the cause of delusion. "Great" means fully brought into activity. Undergoing this to its greatest extent is what confronts one with calamity. As the sūtra says, "falling into a place of great black gloom." Here, "confronts" is what "black gloom" makes manifest — just as walking within darkness meets obstruction at every step, the two being alike in this way. Undergoing this confrontation brings one to arrive among the evil destinies — hence it is called "falling," chiefly the cause of committing wrongdoing.
At the moment of death, one sees the signs of an evil retribution, one's mind giving rise to regret at what is seen — as the sūtra says, "according to whatever they see, they arrive upon all manner of perilous roads." Seeing the perilous road is what gives rise to regret; seeing the sign of one's own past wrongdoing, one is unable to gather the right view that serves as its antidote. "According to whatever they see" refers to the time of death. These sentient beings are matched with their antidote: through the dharma of things as they really are, causing them to attain the unobstructed, pure eye of wisdom. As the sūtra says, "I must cause these sentient beings to attain the unobstructed, pure eye of wisdom, so that, through this eye, they may know the true mark of every dharma as it really is, and attain the unobstructed wisdom of what is real, not following after others." What is pursuing a future reward through the practice of wholesome conduct?
On the fourth contemplation, Huiyuan is careful to separate cause from effect within what could easily read as one undifferentiated description of greed: 貪等因體過，彼染著故。於彼散用，起瞋心故 — "the fault at the very root of greed and the rest is attachment to it; and, in its dispersal and use, hatred arises" — hoarding is itself the ground of greed, while the anger that follows arises specifically when hoarded wealth is spent or dispersed, so that a single stored fortune generates two distinct poisons at two distinct moments rather than one poison merely persisting.
On the fifth contemplation, Huiyuan glosses the sūtra's four near-synonymous terms for darkness — delusion, false view, heavy overcast, black gloom — as four discrete faults rather than four words for the same thing: 妄見者，顛倒樂見故。厚曀者，不見未來實果報過故。黑闇者，不見現在實果報過故 — "'false view' means delighting in what is inverted; 'heavy overcast' means not seeing the fault of the true future consequence; 'black gloom' means not seeing the fault of the true present consequence." He also draws out why the sūtra speaks of these beings arriving at the perilous road specifically "at the moment of death" (於死時): the regret that arises from seeing one's own evil retribution approaching is powerless to help, since by then the strength to gather the right view that would serve as an antidote has already failed — 氣力虗弱，不能集起，以無治故，便到嶮道, "one's strength has already grown weak and cannot be gathered anew; lacking any antidote, one simply arrives upon the perilous road" — regret discovered only at the very end, Huiyuan implies, is regret discovered too late to do any good.
The Perilous Road Toward the Three Evil Destinies, and the Great Flood
經曰：是諸眾生隨順世間生死險道，將墜地獄、畜生、餓鬼深坑，隨順入惡見網中，為種種愚癡稠林所覆，隨逐虛妄道、行顛倒行，常盲冥故遠離有智導師，非出要道處謂出要想，隨逐魔道怨賊所攝，遠離善巧導師，入魔意稠林遠離佛意。我應拔濟彼諸眾生種種諸苦，度於世間險道艱難，安置無畏處，令住薩婆若大城。
論曰：追求後報習善行者，隨順險道過，如經「是諸眾生隨順世間生死險道」故。彼險道有三種：一、自體；二、障礙；三者失。自體者，世間乏少善根本故。障礙者有八種：一者求出而隨順世間墮三惡趣，如經「將墜地獄畜生餓鬼深坑」故。二者入網，於苦果中妄生樂故，如經「隨順入惡見網中」故。三者黑暗稠林所覆，彼彼癡使所覆故，為說苦因而不知覺，如經「為種種愚癡稠林所覆」故。四者行顛倒道，捨真實樂，妄行邪道故，如經「隨逐虛妄道行顛倒行」故。五者盲冥，得果貪著，愛欲所盲故，如經「常盲冥」故。六者遠離導師，生惡道中及放逸等過，雖值佛世而不見不聞故，如經「遠離有智導師」故。七者悕求涅槃而趣彼異處，謂梵天等梵世間等以為出世正見，如經「非出要道處謂出要想」故。八者怨賊行魔境界，貪著諸欲劫功德盡令不集故，如經「隨逐魔道怨賊所攝」故。失者有三種：一者離善導師依不善地，如經「遠離善導師」故。二者依止怨地，如經「入魔意稠林」故。三者遠離作善知識地，如經「遠離佛意」故。彼諸眾生隨順對治，以如實法令出世間，住一切智地。如經「我應拔濟彼諸眾生種種諸苦，度於世間險道艱難，安置無畏處，令住薩婆若大城」故。云何道差別？
經曰：是諸眾生為大瀑水波浪所沒，隨順欲流、有流、見流、無明流，隨順世間漂流，沒大愛河、在大駛流，不能正觀，常有欲覺、瞋覺、惱覺，惡行廣故。愛見水中羅剎所執順入欲林迴復，求欲事中深愛著故。我慢陸地之所燋枯無能救者，於六入聚落不能動發，自離善行無正度者，我應於彼眾生生大悲心，以善根力而拔濟之，令得無畏不染寂靜離諸恐怖，住於一切智慧寶洲。
論曰：有求眾生道差別者，沒在大河過，如經「是諸眾生為大瀑水波浪所沒」故。彼大瀑水波浪有三種：一、自體；二、起難；三者失。自體者有五種相：一者深，無量水故，如經「隨順欲流、有流、見流、無明流」故。二者流，隨順世間常流不斷，如經「隨順世間漂流」故。三者名愛水所沒，如經「沒大愛河」故。四者漂，念念不住不見岸故，如經「在大駛流不能正觀」故。五者廣，隨順欲等念覺廣故，如經「常有欲覺、瞋覺、惱覺，惡行廣故」。起難有四種：一者執著我我所窟宅，不能動離故，如經「愛見水中羅剎所執」故。二者入迴，先捨欲已還復轉入欲念中故，如經「順入欲林迴復」故。三者中著，於受用時求欲等樂著故，如經「求欲事中深愛著」故。四者洲，於用事時中我等最勝。三種我慢自高輕彼，如經「我慢陸地之所燋枯」故。失者有三種：一者無救失，處惡道中無人濟拔，如經「無能救者」故。二者無出意失，處善道中無出離心，如經「於六入聚落不能動發」故。三者異處去失，生諸難處不值佛世，如經「自離善行無正度者」故。彼諸眾生隨順對治，以如實法令住一切智洲，如經「我應於彼眾生生大悲心，以善根力而拔濟之，令得無畏不染寂靜離諸恐怖，住於一切智慧寶洲」故。云何界差別？
Sūtra: These sentient beings follow the perilous road of birth-and-death in the world, about to plunge into the deep pit of hell, of the animal realm, and of hungry ghosts; they follow their way into a net of evil views, covered by every kind of thicket of delusion, chasing after a false path, walking a way that is entirely inverted, constantly blind and benighted, and so remain far from a wise guide; mistaking a place that is not the way of liberation for the very thought of liberation, they chase after the path of demons, seized by hostile bandits, remaining far from a skillful guide, entering a thicket of demonic intention, remaining far from the Buddha's own intention. I must rescue these sentient beings from every kind of suffering, ferry them across the perilous hardship of the world's dangerous road, establish them in a place free of fear, and cause them to abide in the great city of omniscience.
Commentary: "Pursuing a future reward through the practice of wholesome conduct" refers to the fault of following the perilous road, as the sūtra says, "these sentient beings follow the perilous road of birth-and-death in the world." This perilous road is of three kinds: its own essence; its obstructions; and its loss. Its own essence lies in the world's own poverty, its lack of the root of goodness. Its obstructions are of eight kinds. First, seeking to escape yet, in following the world, falling instead into the three evil destinies — as the sūtra says, "about to plunge into the deep pit of hell, of the animal realm, and of hungry ghosts." Second, entering the net, falsely giving rise to delight amid a fruit of suffering — as the sūtra says, "they follow their way into a net of evil views." Third, being covered by a thicket of black darkness, covered over by this and that latent tendency of delusion, so that, though the cause of suffering is being explained, one fails to perceive it — as the sūtra says, "covered by every kind of thicket of delusion." Fourth, walking an inverted way, abandoning true happiness, falsely walking a wrong path — as the sūtra says, "chasing after a false path, walking a way that is entirely inverted." Fifth, blind and benighted, attached through craving to whatever fruit is attained, blinded by desire and craving — as the sūtra says, "constantly blind and benighted." Sixth, remaining far from a guide, born amid the evil destinies and amid the fault of heedlessness and the like, so that, though one may encounter a buddha's own age, one neither sees nor hears him — as the sūtra says, "remaining far from a wise guide." Seventh, longing for nirvāṇa yet heading toward some other, different place, taking the Brahmā heaven and the Brahmā world and the like to be the correct view of what transcends the world — as the sūtra says, "mistaking a place that is not the way of liberation for the very thought of liberation." Eighth, hostile bandits acting within the domain of demons, attached through craving to every desire, plundering one's roots of goodness entirely so that none can be gathered — as the sūtra says, "they chase after the path of demons, seized by hostile bandits." Its loss is of three kinds. First, departing from a good guide, resting instead upon unwholesome ground — as the sūtra says, "remaining far from a skillful guide." Second, resting upon the ground of a hostile enemy — as the sūtra says, "entering a thicket of demonic intention." Third, remaining far from the ground of one who acts as a good spiritual friend — as the sūtra says, "remaining far from the Buddha's own intention." These sentient beings are matched with their antidote: through the dharma of things as they really are, causing them to transcend the world and abide in the ground of omniscience. As the sūtra says, "I must rescue these sentient beings from every kind of suffering, ferry them across the perilous hardship of the world's dangerous road, establish them in a place free of fear, and cause them to abide in the great city of omniscience." What is the road-difference?
Sūtra: These sentient beings are submerged beneath the waves of a great flood-water, carried along by the stream of desire, the stream of existence, the stream of view, and the stream of ignorance, swept along in the world's own current, sunk within the great river of craving, caught within its swift, rushing torrent, unable to see clearly, constantly beset by thoughts of desire, thoughts of hatred, and thoughts of vexation, their evil conduct vast and wide. Seized by the rākṣasas that dwell within the waters of love and view, they are swept back into the thicket of desire and drawn round again, deeply attached amid their craving for the very objects of desire. Scorched dry upon the dry land of self-conceit, with none able to rescue them, unable to bestir themselves at the village of the six sense-fields, cut off of their own accord from wholesome conduct, they have no true crossing. I must give rise to great compassion toward these sentient beings, and, through the power of my roots of goodness, rescue them, causing them to attain fearlessness, an undefiled tranquility free of every terror, and to abide upon the treasure-island of all-encompassing wisdom.
Commentary: "The road-difference of sentient beings among the seekers of existence" refers to the fault of being submerged within the great river, as the sūtra says, "these sentient beings are submerged beneath the waves of a great flood-water." These waves of the great flood-water are of three kinds: its own essence; the dangers it gives rise to; and its loss. Its own essence has five distinguishing marks. First, its depth, its boundless waters — as the sūtra says, "carried along by the stream of desire, the stream of existence, the stream of view, and the stream of ignorance." Second, its current, following the world in a constant, unbroken flow — as the sūtra says, "swept along in the world's own current." Third, being named the waters of craving in which one is submerged — as the sūtra says, "sunk within the great river of craving." Fourth, being swept along, never resting from moment to moment, unable to see the shore — as the sūtra says, "caught within its swift, rushing torrent, unable to see clearly." Fifth, its vastness, the thoughts of desire and the rest following it being vast and wide — as the sūtra says, "constantly beset by thoughts of desire, thoughts of hatred, and thoughts of vexation, their evil conduct vast and wide." The dangers it gives rise to are of four kinds. First, clinging fast to the den of self and what is one's own, unable to bestir oneself free of it — as the sūtra says, "seized by the rākṣasas that dwell within the waters of love and view." Second, being swept back and drawn round again, having first abandoned desire only to turn back once more into thoughts of desire — as the sūtra says, "swept back into the thicket of desire and drawn round again." Third, deep attachment amid one's use and enjoyment, seeking after desire and the like, attached to its pleasure — as the sūtra says, "deeply attached amid their craving for the very objects of desire." Fourth, the island, whereby, amid one's use and enjoyment, one takes oneself as supreme — the three kinds of self-conceit each exalting oneself and belittling others — as the sūtra says, "scorched dry upon the dry land of self-conceit." Its loss is of three kinds. First, the loss of being beyond rescue, dwelling amid the evil destinies with none to save and rescue one — as the sūtra says, "with none able to rescue them." Second, the loss of having no intention to escape, dwelling amid the wholesome destinies yet with no mind set on renunciation — as the sūtra says, "unable to bestir themselves at the village of the six sense-fields." Third, the loss of going off to some other place, born amid places of hardship, not encountering a buddha's own age — as the sūtra says, "cut off of their own accord from wholesome conduct, they have no true crossing." These sentient beings are matched with their antidote: through the dharma of things as they really are, causing them to abide upon the island of omniscience. As the sūtra says, "I must give rise to great compassion toward these sentient beings, and, through the power of my roots of goodness, rescue them, causing them to attain fearlessness, an undefiled tranquility free of every terror, and to abide upon the treasure-island of all-encompassing wisdom." What is the realm-difference?
Huiyuan reads the eightfold obstruction of the sixth contemplation as itself internally ordered around the four noble truths, two obstructions to each: 八中，初二迷於苦諦，次二迷集，次二迷道，後二迷滅 — "of the eight, the first two are confusion regarding the truth of suffering, the next two are confusion regarding its origin, the next two are confusion regarding the path, and the last two are confusion regarding cessation." What at first looks like a loose inventory of eight perils along a dangerous road turns out, on his reading, to be organized so that every pair of obstructions maps onto exactly one of the truths a bodhisattva must eventually help these beings see — including, notably, mistaking the Brahmā heavens for nirvāṇa itself as confusion specifically regarding cessation, and being plundered by demonic bandits as confusion specifically regarding the path.
On the seventh contemplation's flood, Huiyuan draws out why the sūtra reserves the name "waters of craving" for this flood specifically, when affliction as a whole is hardly limited to craving alone: 煩惱非一，何故獨名愛為水乎？以愛能潤，漂溺中強故偏彰矣 — "affliction is not one single thing — so why is craving alone named as the water? Because craving alone has the power to moisten and soak, and is strongest in sweeping one under and drowning one, and so it alone is singled out." He is equally precise about the shift from water-imagery to land-imagery at "scorched dry upon the dry land of self-conceit" (我慢陸地之所燋枯): having used the great river to picture the perils of craving and view — beings genuinely submerged — the text turns to dry land to picture the peril of self-conceit, since conceit is not a drowning but a parching, a different and drier kind of danger entirely: 前愛及見喻之水也，今明慢高況之洲也, "the earlier passage takes love and view as its metaphor of water; the present passage takes the height of conceit as its metaphor of an island." He also notes, in passing, that this whole seventh contemplation belongs to the "seekers of existence," continuing directly from the sixth — the eightfold list of Huiyuan's earlier architecture subdividing seekers of existence into exactly two members, road and realm, of which this flood is the first.
Part 18 Complete
This closes Part 18: seven of the nine contemplations belonging to the pure precept of benefiting sentient beings, each observing a distinct kind of affliction among the seekers of desire and the seekers of worldly existence and matching it with its own vow of rescue — the thicket of wrong view, wealth wrongly held in common, wealth insatiably grasped, wealth hoarded until it feeds the three fires, the darkness that falls toward hell in pursuit of a present reward, the perilous road pursued in hope of a future reward, and, closing this part, the road-difference: beings submerged in the great flood of desire, existence, view, and ignorance, seized by rākṣasas of love and view, scorched upon the shore of self-conceit, and drawn toward the treasure-island of omniscient wisdom. Part 19 continues with the remaining two contemplations — the realm-difference completing the seekers of worldly existence, and the two kinds among the seekers of the holy life — before the pure precept of benefiting sentient beings itself is complete.
Continue to Part 19 — The Realm-Difference, and the Two Kinds of Seekers of the Holy Life →