Wearied of Birth-and-Death, Yet Not Departing
A new sequence of deliberate tensions held together without contradiction: one wearied of birth-and-death who does not realize a śrāvaka's own departure from it; one who knows every dharma as unborn yet raises no view of non-arising; one who contemplates impurity without becoming attached to craving or aversion; one who cultivates great loving-kindness not merely to extinguish anger.
Held Without Contradiction
「……超出一切魔境界者；不染一切世間境界者；究竟一切菩薩法門者；隨順一切佛法門者；厭一切生死，而不證聲聞，離生法者；知一切法無生，而亦不起不生見者；觀不淨法，不證離欲法，不染愛者；修習大慈，不為除滅瞋恚法者；觀於緣起，一切法中，無愚癡者；住於四禪，不隨生者；……」
"… of one who transcends every māra's own domain; of one unstained by every worldly domain; of one who consummates every bodhisattva Dharma-gate; of one who accords with every buddha-dharma-gate; of one who is wearied of birth-and-death, yet does not realize the śrāvaka's own dharma of transcending birth; of one who knows every dharma as unborn, yet does not raise even the view of non-arising; of one who contemplates the dharma of impurity, yet does not realize the dharma of detachment, nor become stained by craving; of one who cultivates great loving-kindness, yet does not use it merely to extinguish anger and hatred; of one who contemplates dependent origination, free of ignorance within every dharma; of one who abides in the four dhyānas, yet does not follow their own rebirth … [the reflection continues]"
This stretch introduces a distinct rhetorical pattern the reflection will sustain for some time: not a single quality named outright, but two things ordinarily bound together — weariness with saṃsāra and śrāvaka departure from it, non-arising and the view of non-arising, loving-kindness and the mere suppression of anger — deliberately held apart. Fazang reads this pattern as the bodhisattva's own signature move throughout this collection: taking the śrāvaka's own correct insight as far as it goes, then refusing the śrāvaka's own further step of exiting the world entirely.
Part 285 In Progress
This new pattern of held tensions continues. Part 286 continues with the four immeasurable states, calming and insight, and the three gates of liberation, each cultivated without the corresponding narrower attainment.
Continue to Part 286 →