The Purified Six Senses (II)
法師功德品第十九・舌身意
The catalog begun in the previous part continues through the last three of the six faculties: a tongue on which every taste, however bitter, becomes the finest flavor, and whose speech gathers gods and dragons alike to listen; a body that becomes a clear mirror, silently reflecting the whole universe within it; and a mind that, on hearing even a single verse of this sūtra, penetrates its immeasurable meaning and speaks of it for months without ever contradicting reality itself.
- This part covers
- The purified tongue, on which every taste, pleasant or bitter, becomes the finest flavor, and whose teaching draws gods, dragons, kings, and monastics alike to come and listen; the purified body, clear as lapis lazuli, in which the birth, death, and karmic destiny of every being in the universe appears as in a mirror, visible to the practitioner alone; and the purified mind, which penetrates the full meaning of even a single verse of this sūtra and speaks of it for months at a time without ever once contradicting reality — closing the sūtra's full catalog of six purified faculties, still described throughout as belonging to a practitioner who has "not yet attained" any formal, outflow-free realization.
- Why it matters
- Zhiyi reads the body section's mirror image as this chapter's clearest statement of what all six sections have been describing throughout: not new supernatural organs bolted onto an ordinary person, but the practitioner's own body, speech, and mind becoming perfectly transparent to what is actually there — and, as the text itself insists at every turn, all of this precedes and does not require any formal attainment of an outflow-free, liberated state. The purification is the sūtra's own effect, arrived at simply by upholding it.
1. The Purified Tongue
「復次，常精進！若善男子、善女人，受持是經，若讀、若誦、若解說、若書寫，得千二百舌功德。若好、若醜，若美、不美，及諸苦澁物，在其舌根，皆變成上味，如天甘露，無不美者。若以舌根於大眾中有所演說，出深妙聲，能入其心，皆令歡喜快樂。又諸天子、天女，釋梵諸天，聞是深妙音聲，有所演說言論次第，皆悉來聽。及諸龍、龍女，夜叉、夜叉女，乾闥婆、乾闥婆女，阿修羅、阿修羅女，迦樓羅、迦樓羅女，緊那羅、緊那羅女，摩睺羅伽、摩睺羅伽女，為聽法故，皆來親近恭敬供養。及比丘、比丘尼，優婆塞、優婆夷，國王、王子、群臣、眷屬，小轉輪王、大轉輪王、七寶千子內外眷屬，乘其宮殿，俱來聽法，以是菩薩善說法故。婆羅門、居士、國內人民、盡其形壽，隨侍供養。又諸聲聞、辟支佛、菩薩、諸佛，常樂見之。是人所在方面，諸佛皆向其處說法，悉能受持一切佛法，又能出於深妙法音。」
"Furthermore, Constantly-Diligent! Should a good son or good daughter uphold this sūtra, whether reading it, reciting it, explaining it, or copying it, they shall attain twelve hundred merits of the tongue. Whether a thing is fine or foul, pleasant or unpleasant, or however bitter and astringent it may be, once it touches their tongue faculty it shall all turn to the finest flavor, like heavenly ambrosia, with nothing that is not delicious. Should they, with this tongue faculty, expound the Dharma before a great assembly, a profound and wondrous voice shall issue forth, able to enter into the hearts of the listeners, causing them all to rejoice and take delight. The sons and daughters of the gods, Śakra, Brahmā, and every other god besides, hearing this profound and wondrous voice, and the orderly sequence of what is being expounded, shall all come to listen. Nāgas and their daughters, yakṣas and their daughters, gandharvas and their daughters, asuras and their daughters, garuḍas and their daughters, kiṃnaras and their daughters, mahoragas and their daughters, too, for the sake of hearing the Dharma, shall all come to draw near, revere, and make offerings. Monks and nuns, laymen and laywomen, kings, princes, ministers and their retinues, lesser and greater wheel-turning kings, together with their thousand sons complete with the seven treasures and their whole retinue within and without, shall ride upon their own palaces to come together and hear the Dharma, on account of this bodhisattva's skill in teaching it. Brahmins, householders, and the people of the whole land, for as long as their lives last, shall attend and make offerings to them. Śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas, too, shall constantly delight in seeing them. Wherever this person dwells, in whatever direction, every buddha shall turn to teach the Dharma toward that very place, and this person shall be able to uphold every buddha's teaching in full, and, further, shall be able to give voice to its profound and wondrous sound."
爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言： 「是人舌根淨， 終不受惡味， 其有所食噉， 悉皆成甘露。 以深淨妙聲， 於大眾說法， 以諸因緣喻， 引導眾生心， 聞者皆歡喜， 設諸上供養。 諸天龍夜叉， 及阿修羅等， 皆以恭敬心， 而共來聽法， 是說法之人， 若欲以妙音， 遍滿三千界， 隨意即能至。 大小轉輪王， 及千子眷屬， 合掌恭敬心， 常來聽受法。 諸天龍夜叉、 羅剎毘舍闍， 亦以歡喜心， 常樂來供養。 梵天王魔王， 自在大自在， 如是諸天眾， 常來至其所。 諸佛及弟子， 聞其說法音， 常念而守護， 或時為現身。」
At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to proclaim this meaning once more, spoke in verse: "This person's tongue faculty is pure, and never receives an unpleasant taste; whatever they eat or drink turns entirely to ambrosia. With a profound, pure, and wondrous voice, they teach the Dharma before a great assembly, guiding beings' hearts with every kind of cause, condition, and parable; all who hear them rejoice, and offer them every excellent gift. Gods, dragons, yakṣas, and asuras, all with a reverent heart, come together to hear the Dharma; should this teacher of the Dharma wish to fill the whole three-thousandfold world with his wondrous voice, he is able to reach it at will. Great and lesser wheel-turning kings, and their thousand sons and retinues, with joined palms and a reverent heart, constantly come to hear and receive the Dharma. Gods, dragons, yakṣas, rākṣasas, and piśācas, too, with a joyful heart, constantly delight in coming to make offerings. Brahmā, kings of the māras, Īśvara and Maheśvara — every such host of gods constantly comes to this person's own place. Every buddha, and every disciple, hearing the sound of their teaching, constantly holds them in mind and protects them, and at times manifests a body for their sake."
Zhiyi asks, of this section specifically, a question worth sitting with: if every bitter or astringent taste turns to ambrosia on this tongue, why does the eye section that precedes it never say that ugly or unpleasant sights turn to beautiful ones? His own answer is that taste is inherently a matter of benefit and harm to the body — a genuinely poisonous or damaging substance would cause real injury if its bitterness were not transformed — while sight involves no comparable risk, so an ugly form can simply be seen clearly, without needing to be changed into something else, and the eye's own purity is not compromised by seeing it as it is. The tongue's transformation, on his reading, is not the sūtra glossing over what is actually unpleasant, but a specific protection suited to what makes taste different from the other five senses.
2. The Purified Body
「復次，常精進！若善男子、善女人，受持是經，若讀、若誦，若解說、若書寫，得八百身功德。得清淨身、如淨琉璃，眾生憙見。其身淨故，三千大千世界眾生，生時、死時，上下、好醜，生善處、惡處，悉於中現。及鐵圍山、大鐵圍山、彌樓山、摩訶彌樓山等諸山，及其中眾生，悉於中現。下至阿鼻地獄，上至有頂，所有及眾生，悉於中現。若聲聞、辟支佛、菩薩、諸佛說法，皆於身中現其色像。」
"Furthermore, Constantly-Diligent! Should a good son or good daughter uphold this sūtra, whether reading it, reciting it, explaining it, or copying it, they shall attain eight hundred merits of the body. They shall attain a pure body, clear as lapis lazuli, a joy for beings to behold. Because their body is so pure, the beings of the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world, in the moment of their birth and the moment of their death, high and low, fine and foul, born into a good place or an evil one, shall all appear within it. The iron ring-mountains, the great iron ring-mountains, Mount Meru, the great Mount Meru, and every other mountain, together with the beings dwelling among them, shall all appear within it. Down to the depths of the Avīci hell, up to the very highest heaven of form, everything that exists, and every being, shall all appear within it. Should śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, or buddhas teach the Dharma, their very forms and images, too, shall appear within this body."
爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言： 「若持法花者， 其身甚清淨， 如彼淨琉璃， 眾生皆憙見。 又如淨明鏡， 悉見諸色像， 菩薩於淨身， 皆見世所有， 唯獨自明了， 餘人所不見。 三千世界中， 一切諸群萌， 天人阿修羅、 地獄鬼畜生， 如是諸色像， 皆於身中現。 諸天等宮殿， 乃至於有頂， 鐵圍及彌樓、 摩訶彌樓山， 諸大海水等， 皆於身中現。 諸佛及聲聞， 佛子菩薩等， 若獨若在眾， 說法悉皆現。 雖未得無漏， 法性之妙身， 以清淨常體， 一切於中現。」
At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to proclaim this meaning once more, spoke in verse: "Whoever upholds this Lotus Sūtra, their body becomes exceedingly pure, clear as lapis lazuli itself, a joy for every being to behold. Like a clear and bright mirror, in which every form and image is entirely seen, the bodhisattva, within their own pure body, sees everything that exists in the world — clear to themselves alone, and unseen by any other person. Every kind of being within the three-thousandfold world, gods, humans, asuras, hell-beings, hungry ghosts, and animals — every one of these forms and images appears within this body. The palaces of the gods, up to the very highest heaven, the iron ring-mountains, Mount Meru, the great Mount Meru, and every great ocean's waters — all of it appears within this body. Every buddha, and every śrāvaka, every child of the Buddha, every bodhisattva, whether alone or amid an assembly, teaching the Dharma — all of it appears there. Though they have not yet attained the outflow-free, subtle body of the Dharma-nature itself, with this pure, ordinary body, everything already appears within it."
Zhiyi returns here to the mapping he uses across all six sections: the ordinary body's function ("肉身用") is simply having a body at all; its extension to reflect beings up to the highest heaven is the heavenly body's function; reflecting the bodies of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas is the wisdom-body's function; reflecting bodhisattvas is the Dharma-body's function; and reflecting buddhas teaching, all at once, without confusion, is the buddha-body's own function — five functions folded into what the text still insists on calling nothing more than "this pure, ordinary body." He treats the closing line of the verse — "though they have not yet attained... everything already appears within it" — as the whole chapter's own refrain, repeated with only slight variation at the end of every one of its six sections: the purification described throughout is prior to, and does not require, any formal attainment of liberation. It is what upholding this sūtra alone already does.
3. The Purified Mind
「復次，常精進！若善男子、善女人，如來滅後、受持是經，若讀、若誦、若解說、若書寫，得千二百意功德。以是清淨意根，乃至聞一偈一句，通達無量無邊之義，解是義已，能演說一句一偈至於一月、四月乃至一歲，諸所說法，隨其義趣，皆與實相不相違背。若說俗間經書、治世語言、資生業等，皆順正法。三千大千世界六趣眾生，心之所行、心所動作、心所戲論，皆悉知之。雖未得無漏智慧，而其意根、清淨如此。是人有所思惟、籌量、言說，皆是佛法，無不真實，亦是先佛經中所說。」
"Furthermore, Constantly-Diligent! Should a good son or good daughter, after the Tathāgata's parinirvāṇa, uphold this sūtra, whether reading it, reciting it, explaining it, or copying it, they shall attain twelve hundred merits of the mind. With this pure mind faculty, on hearing even a single verse or a single phrase, they shall penetrate its immeasurable, boundless meaning, and, having understood this meaning, shall be able to expound that single phrase or verse for as long as a month, four months, or even a full year, and everything they teach, according to its true meaning, shall never once contradict reality itself. Should they speak of ordinary worldly texts, of the language of governing the world, or of the ordinary means of livelihood, all of it shall accord with the true Dharma. They shall know in full the mental activity, the mental motion, and the mental speculation of every being of the six realms throughout the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world. Though they have not yet attained outflow-free wisdom, their mind faculty shall already be pure in exactly this way. Whatever this person reflects upon, deliberates, or speaks, shall be nothing but the Buddha's own Dharma, never anything untrue, and shall be exactly what was already taught in the sūtras of buddhas before."
爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言： 「是人意清淨， 明利無穢濁， 以此妙意根， 知上中下法， 乃至聞一偈， 通達無量義， 次第如法說， 月四月至歲。 是世界內外， 一切諸眾生， 若天龍及人、 夜叉鬼神等， 其在六趣中， 所念若干種， 持法花之報， 一時皆悉知。 十方無數佛， 百福莊嚴相， 為眾生說法， 悉聞能受持。 思惟無量義， 說法亦無量， 終始不忘錯， 以持法華故。 悉知諸法相， 隨義識次第， 達名字語言， 如所知演說。 此人有所說， 皆是先佛法， 以演此法故， 於眾無所畏。 持法花經者， 意根淨若斯， 雖未得無漏， 先有如是相。 是人持此經， 安住希有地， 為一切眾生， 歡喜而愛敬。 能以千萬種， 善巧之語言， 分別而說法， 持法花經故。」
At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to proclaim this meaning once more, spoke in verse: "This person's mind is pure, clear and sharp, free of any defilement; with this subtle mind faculty, they know the highest, middling, and lowest teachings, and on hearing even a single verse, penetrate its immeasurable meaning, teaching it in due order, exactly as the Dharma requires, for a month, for four months, even for a full year. Every being, within and beyond this world — gods, dragons, and humans, yakṣas, spirits, and every other being besides, dwelling anywhere within the six realms, whatever they may be thinking, whatever its kind — the fruit of upholding this Lotus Sūtra is that all of this is known at once. The countless buddhas of the ten directions, adorned with the marks of a hundred merits, teaching the Dharma for the sake of beings — all of it is heard, and able to be upheld. Reflecting on immeasurable meanings, teaching the Dharma just as immeasurably, never once forgetting or erring from beginning to end, all because of upholding this Lotus Sūtra. Knowing in full the mark of every teaching, understanding its order according to its meaning, mastering its very names and words, expounding it exactly as it is known. Whatever this person teaches is nothing but the Dharma of buddhas before — and because they expound this very Dharma, they have no fear before any assembly. Whoever upholds this Lotus Sūtra has a mind faculty pure in exactly this way; though they have not yet attained what is outflow-free, they already possess this very mark. This person, upholding this sūtra, dwells firmly in a rare and excellent ground, and is held dear and revered, with joy, by every being. Able, with a thousand myriad kinds of skillful words, to distinguish and teach the Dharma, all because they uphold this Lotus Sūtra."
Zhiyi reads this closing section's own scale — a single verse expounded for a full year without ever contradicting reality — against a deliberately ordinary detail placed right beside it: this purified mind speaks just as truly of "ordinary worldly texts, the language of governing the world, and the means of livelihood" as it does of the Dharma directly. He glosses the four separate time spans named in the verse — a month, four months, a year — as pointing respectively to the fourfold noble truths, the twelvefold chain of dependent origination, and the single vehicle's own comprehensive teaching, each fully consistent with reality at whatever scale it is unfolded. Taken together with the tongue, body, and the three faculties covered in the previous part, this closes the chapter's own argument: an ordinary human being, upholding this one sūtra, becomes transparent — in speech, in body, and now in mind — to the whole of reality, without that transparency requiring, or waiting for, any formal attainment at all.