The Man and the Four Snakes
Completing the sūtra's account of the seven kinds of outflow, this fascicle unfolds one of Buddhist literature's most famous extended parables: a terrified man fleeing a king's four poisonous snakes, five executioners with drawn swords, a false friend, an abandoned village, and six thieves in the night, before crossing a raging river on a raft of gathered grass — each danger patiently mapped onto the four elements, the five aggregates, craving, the six senses, and the six sense-objects. The fascicle then turns to distinguish an ordinary nirvāṇa from this great nirvāṇa itself, through ten similes and the famous teaching on the eight kinds of mastery that constitute a "great self."
The Three Evil Thoughts
「復次善男子！一切凡夫雖善護身，心猶故生於三種惡覺，以是因緣，雖斷煩惱，得生非想非非想處，猶故還墮三惡道中。……何等善覺？所謂六念處。凡夫之人善心羸劣，不善熾盛，善心羸故慧心薄少，慧心薄故增長諸漏。菩薩摩訶薩慧眼清淨見三覺過，知是三覺有種種患，常與眾生作三乘怨。三覺因緣，乃令無量凡夫眾生不見佛性，無量劫中生顛倒心，謂佛世尊，無常樂我，唯有一淨，如來畢竟入於涅槃。一切眾生無常、無樂、無我、無淨，顛倒心故，言有常樂我淨。實無三乘，顛倒心故言有三乘，一實之道真實不虛，顛倒心故言無一實。是三惡覺常為諸佛及諸菩薩之所呵責，是三惡覺常害於我、或亦害他。有是三覺，一切諸惡常來隨從，是三覺者即是三縛，連綴眾生無邊生死。菩薩摩訶薩常作如是觀察三覺。菩薩或時有因緣故，應生欲覺默然不受，譬如端正淨潔之人，不受一切糞穢不淨；如熱鐵丸，人無受者；如婆羅門性，不受牛肉；如飽滿人，不受惡食；如轉輪王，不與一切旃陀羅等同坐一床。菩薩摩訶薩惡賤三覺，不受不味亦復如是。」
"Furthermore, good son, though every ordinary being guards his body well, his mind still gives rise to three kinds of evil thought — and, on account of this, though he severs affliction and attains rebirth in the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception, he still falls back into the three evil destinies… What is meant by a wholesome thought? Namely, the six recollections. An ordinary being's own wholesome mind is weak and feeble, while his unwholesome mind blazes strong — and, his wholesome mind being weak, his mind of wisdom, too, is thin and slight, and, his mind of wisdom being thin, his every outflow only grows and increases. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva, his eye of wisdom pure and clear, sees the fault in these three thoughts, and knows that they carry every kind of affliction, forever making themselves the enemy of all three vehicles among beings. On account of these three thoughts, immeasurable ordinary beings fail to see buddha-nature, and, throughout immeasurable kalpas, give rise to an inverted mind, saying that the Buddha, the World-Honored One, lacks permanence, bliss, and self, possessing only purity alone, and that the Tathāgata, in the end, enters nirvāṇa; while every being, in reality lacking permanence, bliss, self, and purity, says, through this same inverted mind, that he possesses them. Though there is, in reality, no such thing as three vehicles, this inverted mind says that three vehicles exist; and though the one, true path is genuinely real, not empty at all, this inverted mind says that no single, true path exists. These three evil thoughts are forever condemned by every buddha and every bodhisattva; these three evil thoughts forever harm both oneself and others. Wherever these three thoughts are present, every evil follows after them without exception — these three thoughts are themselves the three fetters, binding beings together through boundless birth-and-death. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva forever contemplates these three thoughts in exactly this way. Should the bodhisattva, on some occasion, on account of some cause or condition, be on the verge of giving rise to a thought of desire, he remains silent and does not accept it — just as a person of upright and pure character accepts no filth or impurity of any kind; just as no one accepts a red-hot iron ball; just as one of brahmin nature accepts no beef; just as one who is already full accepts no foul food; and just as a wheel-turning king never sits upon the same couch as any outcaste. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva loathes and despises these three thoughts, neither accepting nor savoring them, in exactly this way."
「何以故？菩薩思惟：『眾生知我是良福田，我當云何受是惡法？……我常自稱為出家人，夫出家者不應起惡，若起惡者則非出家。出家之人身口相應，若不相應則非出家。我棄父母兄弟妻子眷屬知識，出家修道，正是修習諸善覺時，非是修習不善覺時。……我亦如是，捨離大師、如來世尊甘露法味，而服魔怨種種惡覺。人身難得如優曇花，我今已得；如來難值過優曇花，我今已值；清淨法寶難得見聞，我今已聞。猶如盲龜值浮木孔。人命不停過於山水，今日雖存，明亦難保，云何縱心令住惡法？……我名沙門，沙門之人名覺善覺；我今乃起不善之覺，云何當得名沙門也？……世有六處，難可值遇，我今已得，云何當令惡覺居心？何等為六？一佛世難遇，二正法難聞，三怖心難生，四難生中國，五難得人身，六諸根難具。如是六事，難得已得，是故不應起於惡覺。』菩薩爾時修行如是大涅槃經，常勤觀察是諸惡心，一切凡夫不見如是惡心過患故受三覺，名為受漏。菩薩見已不受、不著、放捨不護，依八聖道，推之令去、斬之令斷，是故菩薩無有受漏，云何當言如來有漏？以是義故，如來世尊非是有漏。」
"Why is this? The bodhisattva reflects: 'Beings know me to be a good field of merit — how, then, could I accept a dharma so evil as this?… I forever call myself a renunciant, and a renunciant should never give rise to evil at all — should he give rise to evil, he is no renunciant at all. A renunciant's own body and speech must correspond to one another — should they fail to correspond, he is no renunciant at all. I have cast off my own parents, brothers, wife, children, kin, and friends, and become a renunciant to cultivate the path — this is precisely the time to cultivate every wholesome thought, not the time to cultivate any unwholesome one… I am exactly the same: were I to cast aside the great teacher, the Tathāgata, the World-Honored One's own ambrosial flavor of the Dharma, and instead swallow down every evil thought that is Māra's own enemy. A human body is as hard to obtain as the udumbara flower, and I have now obtained it; the Tathāgata is harder to encounter even than the udumbara flower, and I have now encountered him; the pure treasure of the Dharma is hard to see or hear, and I have now heard it — just like a blind turtle happening upon a floating log's single hole. A human life does not remain still, passing more swiftly than a mountain stream — though I am alive today, tomorrow, too, is hard to guarantee. How, then, could I let my own mind linger in any evil dharma?… I am named a śramaṇa, and a śramaṇa is one named for being awake to wholesome thought — were I now to give rise to an unwholesome thought, how could I still be named a śramaṇa at all?… There are six circumstances in this world, difficult indeed to encounter, and I have now obtained every one of them — how, then, could I let any evil thought dwell in my own mind? What are these six? First, a buddha's own age in the world is hard to encounter; second, the true Dharma is hard to hear; third, a fearful, reverent mind is hard to give rise to; fourth, birth in a central land is hard to attain; fifth, a human body is hard to obtain; and sixth, every one of the faculties, fully intact, is hard to obtain. These six matters, hard to obtain, I have now obtained — it is for this very reason that I should never give rise to any evil thought at all.' The bodhisattva, at this time, practicing this great Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, forever diligently contemplates these evil states of mind in exactly this way. Every ordinary being, failing to see the fault and affliction inherent in such an evil mind, accepts these three thoughts — this is what is meant by the outflow of feeling. The bodhisattva, having seen this, neither accepts them, nor clings to them, but casts them off entirely, unguarded, relying instead on the eightfold noble path to drive them away and cut them off completely — it is for this reason that the bodhisattva has no outflow of feeling at all. How, then, could it be said that the Tathāgata has any outflow? It is for this very reason that the Tathāgata, the World-Honored One, is not subject to outflow."
Huiyuan identifies this section as treating the fifth of the seven kinds of outflow, the outflow of feeling (受漏), naming the three evil thoughts explicitly: the thought of desire, the thought of ill-will (also called the thought of malice), and the thought of harm — noting that the classical fuller catalogue lists eight such thoughts, but that the sūtra selects these three as the gravest, warranting individual treatment. He reads the bodhisattva's own extended internal monologue — some twenty distinct self-exhortations, by his count, organized around not disappointing those who trust him as "a good field of merit," the preciousness and fragility of his own present circumstances, the five honorific titles he holds (śramaṇa, renunciant, true brahmin, kṣatriya, bhikṣu) each carrying an implicit standard he would violate by giving in to evil thought, and the six rare circumstances he has already attained — as this fascicle's own most extensive first-person model of how a practitioner talks himself out of temptation in real time, rather than merely being told, from outside, that temptation is wrong.
He flags the closing five similes of refusal (filth to a clean person, a red-hot iron ball, beef to a brahmin, food to someone already full, an outcaste's company to a king) as deliberately escalating from physical revulsion, through social prohibition, to sheer indifference born of satiation — covering every register by which a person might naturally decline something, so that the bodhisattva's rejection of evil thought is not one kind of "no" but the sum of every kind at once.
The Man and the Four Snakes
「復次善男子！凡夫若遇身心苦惱起種種惡，若得身病，若得心病，令身、口、意，作種種惡，以作惡故輪迴三趣具受諸苦。何以故？凡夫之人無念慧故，是故生於種種諸漏，是名念漏。菩薩摩訶薩常自思惟：『我從往昔無數劫來，為是身心造種種惡，以是因緣，流轉生死在三惡道，具受眾苦，遂令我遠三乘正路。』菩薩以是惡因緣故，於己身心生大怖畏，捨離眾惡，趣向善道。善男子！譬如有王，以四毒蛇盛之一篋，令人瞻養，餧飼臥起，摩洗其身，若令一蛇生瞋恚者，我當准法戮之都市。爾時其人聞王切令，心生惶怖，捨篋逃走。王時復遣五旃陀羅拔刀隨後，其人迴顧見後五人，遂疾捨去。是時五人以惡方便，藏所持刀，密遣一人詐為親善，而語之言：『汝可還來。』其人不信，投一聚落，欲自隱匿。既入聚中，闚看諸舍都不見人，執捉瓦器悉空無物，既不見人，求物不得，即便坐地，聞空中聲：『咄哉，男子！此聚空曠，無有居民。今夜當有六大賊來，汝設遇者命將不全，汝當云何而得免之？』爾時其人恐怖遂增，復捨而去。路值一河，其河漂急，無有船栰，以怖畏故，即取種種草木為栰。復更思惟：『我設住此，當為毒蛇、五旃陀羅、一詐親者、及六大賊之所危害。若渡此河，栰不可依，當沒水死。寧沒水死，終不為彼蛇賊所害。』即推草栰，置之水中，身猗其上，手抱脚踏，截流而渡。既達彼岸，安隱無患，心意泰然，怖恐消除。」
"Furthermore, good son, when an ordinary being encounters suffering and affliction of body or mind, he gives rise to every kind of evil — should he fall ill in body, or fall ill in mind, he commits every kind of evil act of body, speech, and mind, and, on account of committing this evil, turns endlessly among the three evil destinies, undergoing every kind of suffering there. Why is this? Because an ordinary being lacks mindfulness and wisdom, and it is for this reason that he gives rise to every kind of outflow — this is what is meant by the outflow of thought. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva forever reflects, thus: 'I myself, throughout innumerable kalpas past, have, for the sake of this very body and mind, committed every kind of evil, and, on account of this, have turned through birth-and-death among the three evil destinies, undergoing every kind of suffering there, which has thereby kept me far from the true path of the three vehicles.' The bodhisattva, on account of this very evil cause and condition, gives rise to great fear and dread with regard to his own body and mind, and casts off every evil, turning instead toward the wholesome path. Good son, it is like a king who places four poisonous snakes within a single basket, and orders a man to tend and care for them — feeding them, watching over their rest and rising, and washing their bodies — and says: 'Should you let even one of these snakes grow angry, I shall, in accordance with the law, have you executed in the public marketplace.' The man, hearing this stern command from the king, gives rise to terror in his heart, abandons the basket, and flees. The king then sends five outcastes after him, swords drawn, in pursuit; the man, looking back and seeing these five men behind him, flees all the more swiftly. These five men, then, through an evil stratagem, hide the swords they carry, and secretly send one further man ahead, pretending to be a friend, who says to him: 'You may come back now.' The man does not believe him, and rushes instead into a village, hoping to hide himself there. Entering the village, he peers into every house, but sees not a single person anywhere; he seizes hold of every clay vessel he finds, but they are all entirely empty, containing nothing at all. Finding no one, and finding nothing he seeks, he sits down upon the ground, and hears a voice from the empty air: 'Alas, good man! This village is deserted, with no inhabitants at all. This very night, six great thieves shall come — should you encounter them, your life will surely not be spared. What, then, will you do to escape them?' The man's own terror, hearing this, only grows greater, and he abandons the village and flees once more. Along the road, he comes upon a river, its current swift and raging, with no boat or raft in sight; in his terror, he gathers together every kind of grass and wood to make himself a raft. He reflects further: 'Should I remain here, I shall be endangered by the poisonous snakes, the five outcastes, the one false friend, and the six great thieves alike. Should I cross this river, this raft cannot truly be relied upon, and I may well drown and die in the water. Yet I would rather drown and die than be harmed by those snakes and thieves.' He then pushes his makeshift raft of grass out into the water, lays his own body upon it, arms clasped and feet braced against it, and, cutting straight across the current, crosses to the other side. Having reached the far shore, he is safe and free of danger, his mind and heart at peace, every terror and fear dissolved entirely."
「菩薩摩訶薩得聞受持大涅槃經，觀身如篋，地水火風如四毒蛇——見毒、觸毒、氣毒、齧毒——一切眾生遇是四毒故喪其命。眾生四大亦復如是，或見為惡、或觸為惡、或氣為惡、或齧為惡，以是因緣遠離眾善。復次善男子！菩薩摩訶薩觀四毒蛇有四種姓，所謂剎利、婆羅門、毘舍、首陀。是四大蛇亦復如是，有四種性，堅性、濕性、熱性、動性，是故菩薩觀是四大與四毒蛇同其種性。復次善男子！菩薩摩訶薩觀是四大如四毒蛇。云何為觀？是四毒蛇常伺人便，何時當視？何時當觸？何時當噓？何時當齧？四大毒蛇亦復如是，常伺眾生求其短缺。若為四蛇之所殺者，終不至於三惡道中；若為四大之所殺害，必至三惡道，定無有疑。是四毒蛇雖復瞻養，亦欲殺人；四大亦爾，雖常供給，亦常牽人造作眾惡。是四毒蛇若一瞋者則能殺人；四大之性亦復如是，若一大發亦能害人。是四毒蛇雖同一處，四心各異；四大毒蛇亦復如是，雖同一處，性各別異。是四毒蛇雖復恭敬，難可親近；四大毒蛇亦復如是，雖復恭敬亦難親近。是四毒蛇若害人時，或有沙門、婆羅門等，若以呪藥則可療治；四大殺人，雖有沙門、婆羅門等神呪良藥，則不能治。如自喜人聞四毒蛇氣臭可惡，則便遠離；諸佛菩薩亦復如是，聞四大臭，即便遠離。爾時菩薩復更思惟四大毒蛇，生大怖畏，背之馳走，修八聖道。」
"The bodhisattva-mahāsattva, having come to hear and uphold this great Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, contemplates his own body as that very basket, and earth, water, fire, and wind as the four poisonous snakes — poison by sight, poison by touch, poison by breath, and poison by bite — since every being, encountering these four poisons, loses his own life on that account. A being's own four great elements are exactly the same: harmful when seen, harmful when touched, harmful in their exhalation, and harmful when they bite — and it is on account of this that beings keep themselves far from every wholesome thing. Furthermore, good son, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva contemplates that these four poisonous snakes belong to four distinct castes — kṣatriya, brahmin, vaiśya, and śūdra. These four great elements, likewise, possess four distinct natures — solidity, moisture, heat, and motion — and it is for this reason that the bodhisattva contemplates these four elements as sharing the same kind of nature as the four poisonous snakes. Furthermore, good son, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva contemplates these four elements as though they were four poisonous snakes. How does he contemplate them? These four poisonous snakes forever watch for their opportunity against a person — when will they look? When will they touch? When will they hiss their breath? When will they bite? The four great elements, as poisonous snakes, are exactly the same, forever watching for a being's own weakness or fault. Should one be killed by the four snakes, he does not, in the end, fall into the three evil destinies; but should one be killed by the four great elements, he most certainly falls into the three evil destinies, without any doubt at all. Though these four poisonous snakes are indeed tended and cared for, they still wish to kill the one who cares for them — the four elements are exactly the same: though they are forever supplied and provided for, they still forever drag a being into committing every kind of evil. Should even one of these four poisonous snakes grow angry, it is able to kill a person — the nature of the four elements is exactly the same: should even one of the four grow disturbed, it, too, is able to harm a person. Though these four poisonous snakes dwell together in a single place, each of their four minds is distinct — the four great elements, as poisonous snakes, are exactly the same: though they dwell together in a single place, each of their natures is entirely distinct from the others. Though these four poisonous snakes may be treated with reverence and care, they remain difficult to draw near to — the four great elements, as poisonous snakes, are exactly the same: though treated with reverence and care, they, too, remain difficult to draw near to. Should these four poisonous snakes harm a person, there may be a śramaṇa or a brahmin able to cure it with incantation or medicine — but, should the four elements kill a person, though there be a śramaṇa or a brahmin with sacred incantation and fine medicine, they are unable to cure it. Just as a person who delights in his own purity, hearing of the foul and repugnant stench of these four poisonous snakes, keeps himself far from them at once — every buddha and bodhisattva is exactly the same: hearing of the stench of the four elements, they keep themselves far from them at once. At this time, the bodhisattva, reflecting further on these four elements as poisonous snakes, gives rise to great fear and dread, turns his back on them, and flees, cultivating the eightfold noble path."
Huiyuan reads the parable's opening frame — a king's command, a terrified man, and an escalating sequence of five distinct dangers before he finally reaches safety — as beginning the treatment of the sixth kind of outflow, the outflow of thought (念漏), and structures his own commentary around nine sub-points of correspondence for the snakes alone, three showing the elements resembling snakes directly (able to harm, of distinct natures, forever threatening), one showing the elements exceeding snakes in danger (death by snakebite need not lead to the three evil destinies, while death precipitated by bodily affliction, given the unwholesome states of mind illness commonly provokes, often does), four more showing further resemblances (dragging one into wrongdoing, capable of harm from even a single element alone, discordant natures coexisting in one place, and remaining dangerous however well cared for), and one final point of excess (ordinary antidotes cure snakebite but not the elements' own harm). The basket itself, on his reading, represents the body that houses these four elements, and the king who issues the command represents the Buddha's own teaching, which first names the danger before the fleeing begins at all.
He is careful to note that this parable's genuinely famous, ancient lineage — the four snakes, five executioners, false friend, empty village, six thieves, and the river — should not be treated as this sūtra's own invention, but reads Dharmakṣema's version here as unusually thorough in its interpretive elaboration compared to shorter tellings elsewhere in the canon, working out the correspondence for each element of the story in far greater technical detail than a single core teaching strictly requires — itself, on Huiyuan's reading, a demonstration of the very point Part 22 made about "hearing what was not heard": the same parable heard elsewhere, heard again here with its full meaning finally drawn out, counts as something genuinely new.
Five Executioners, and a False Friend
「五旃陀羅即是五陰。云何菩薩觀於五陰如旃陀羅？旃陀羅者，常能令別人恩愛別離、怨憎集會。五陰亦爾，令人貪近不善之法，遠離一切純善之法。……如人無足刀杖侍從，當知必為旃陀羅人之所殺害；眾生亦爾，無足、無刀、無有侍從，則為五陰之所賊害。足名為戒，刀名為慧，侍從名為善知識也，無此三事故，為五陰之所賊害。是故菩薩觀於五陰如旃陀羅。復次善男子！菩薩摩訶薩觀察五陰過旃陀羅。何以故？眾生若為五旃陀羅之所殺者，不墮地獄，為陰殺者則墮地獄，以是義故，菩薩觀陰過旃陀羅。作是觀已而作願言：『我寧終身近旃陀羅，不能暫時近於五陰。旃陀羅者，唯能害於欲界癡人；是五陰賊，遍害三界凡夫眾生。旃陀羅人唯能殺戮有罪之人；是五陰賊不問眾生有罪無罪，悉能害之。旃陀羅人不害衰老、婦女、稚小；是五陰賊不問眾生老稚、婦女，一切悉害。』……有智之人以善方便得脫五陰。善方便者，即八聖道、六波羅蜜、四無量心，以是方便而得解脫，身心不為五陰所害。何以故？身如金剛，心如虛空，是故身心難可沮壞。以是義故，菩薩觀陰成就種種諸不善法，生大怖畏，修八聖道。亦如彼人畏四毒蛇、五旃陀羅，涉路而去，無所顧留。」
"The five outcastes are precisely the five aggregates. How does the bodhisattva contemplate the five aggregates as outcastes? An outcaste is one who is forever able to separate those who love each other and bring together those who hate each other. The five aggregates are exactly the same: they cause a person to draw near, out of craving, to every unwholesome dharma, and to keep far from every purely wholesome one… It is like a person without feet, without blade or staff, and without any escort, who, one should know, will certainly be killed by any outcaste who finds him; beings are exactly the same: without feet, without a blade, and without any escort, they are robbed and harmed by the five aggregates. 'Feet' here means moral discipline; 'blade' means wisdom; and 'escort' means a good and wise friend — lacking these three things, one is robbed and harmed by the five aggregates. It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva contemplates the five aggregates as outcastes. Furthermore, good son, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva contemplates that the five aggregates exceed even an outcaste in danger. Why is this? Should a being be killed by five actual outcastes, he does not, on that account, fall into hell; but should he be killed by the aggregates, he falls into hell — it is for this very reason that the bodhisattva contemplates the aggregates as exceeding an outcaste in danger. Having made this contemplation, he makes this very vow: 'I would rather draw near to an outcaste for my entire life than draw near to the five aggregates even for a single moment. An outcaste is able to harm only a foolish person of the desire realm; but this thief that is the five aggregates harms every ordinary being throughout all three realms alike. An outcaste is able to kill only a person already guilty of some crime; but this thief that is the five aggregates, without regard for whether a being is guilty or innocent, is able to harm every one of them alike. An outcaste does not harm the aged, women, or small children; but this thief that is the five aggregates, without regard for age, youth, or sex, harms every being alike.'… A person of wisdom, through skillful means, is able to escape the five aggregates. This skillful means is precisely the eightfold noble path, the six perfections, and the four immeasurable minds — through means of this kind, he attains liberation, and his body and mind are no longer harmed by the five aggregates. Why is this? His body becomes like vajra, and his mind like empty space, and it is for this reason that his body and mind become difficult indeed to destroy. It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva, contemplating that the aggregates accomplish every kind of unwholesome dharma, gives rise to great fear and dread, and cultivates the eightfold noble path — just as that man, in fear of the four poisonous snakes and the five outcastes, continued along his road without looking back or lingering at all."
「詐親善者，名為貪愛。菩薩摩訶薩深觀愛結，如怨詐親，若知實者則無能為，若不能知必為所害。……愛之為病，難捨離故。如怨詐親難可遠離，怨詐親者，常伺人便，令愛別離，怨憎合會。愛亦如是，令人遠離一切善法，近於一切不善之法。以是義故，菩薩摩訶薩深觀貪愛，如怨詐親。見不見故，聞不聞故，如凡夫人見生死過，雖有智慧以癡覆故，後還不見。聲聞緣覺亦復如是，雖見不見，雖聞不聞。何以故？以愛心故。……以是義故，菩薩摩訶薩觀此愛結如怨詐親。云何名為怨詐親相？如怨不實詐現實相，不可親近詐現近相，實是不善詐現善相，實是不愛詐為愛相。何以故？常伺人便，欲為害故。愛亦如是，常為眾生非實詐實、非近詐近、非善詐善、非愛詐愛，常誑一切，輪迴生死。以是義故，菩薩觀愛如怨詐親。怨詐親者，但見身口，不覩其心，是故能誑；愛亦如是，唯為虛誑，實不可得，是故能惑一切眾生。怨詐親者，有始有終，易可遠離；愛不如是，無始無終，難可遠離。怨詐親者，遠則難知，近則易知；愛不如是，近尚難知，況復遠耶？以是義故，菩薩觀愛過於詐親。一切眾生以愛結故，遠大涅槃，近於生死，遠常樂我淨，近無常、苦、無我、不淨，是故我於處處經中說為三垢。……是故菩薩深觀此愛，生大怖畏，修八聖道，猶如彼人畏四毒蛇、五旃陀羅及一詐親，涉路不迴。」
"The one who pretends to be a friend is named craving. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva deeply contemplates the fetter of craving as an enemy pretending to be a friend: should one know its true reality, it can accomplish nothing at all; but should one fail to know this, one will most certainly be harmed by it… Craving, as an illness, is difficult indeed to cast off. Just as an enemy pretending friendship is difficult to keep far from, forever watching for an opportunity, separating those who love and bringing together those who hate — craving is exactly the same, causing a person to keep far from every wholesome dharma and draw near to every unwholesome one. It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva-mahāsattva deeply contemplates craving as an enemy pretending friendship. It causes seeing that is not seeing, and hearing that is not hearing — just as an ordinary being, seeing the fault of birth-and-death, though he possesses some wisdom, has it covered over by delusion, and so, in the end, does not truly see it after all. The śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha are exactly the same: though they see, it is as though they do not see; though they hear, it is as though they do not hear. Why is this? On account of a mind of craving… It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva-mahāsattva contemplates this fetter of craving as an enemy pretending to be a friend. What is meant by the mark of an enemy pretending friendship? Like an enemy who, though not genuine, falsely manifests a mark of genuineness; though one who should not be approached, falsely manifests a mark of approachability; though truly unwholesome, falsely manifests a mark of wholesomeness; and though truly without affection, falsely manifests a mark of affection — why is this? Because he forever watches for his opportunity, wishing to do harm. Craving is exactly the same, forever presenting itself to beings as genuine when it is not, as approachable when it is not, as wholesome when it is not, and as affectionate when it is not, forever deceiving everyone, and binding them to the turning wheel of birth-and-death. It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva contemplates craving as an enemy pretending friendship. An enemy pretending friendship can only be seen through his body and speech, never through his actual mind, and it is for this reason that he is able to deceive; craving is exactly the same, being nothing but empty deception, never truly attainable in reality at all, and it is for this reason that it is able to confuse every being. An enemy pretending friendship has a beginning and an end, and is comparatively easy to keep far from; craving is not like this — it has neither beginning nor end, and is difficult indeed to keep far from. An enemy pretending friendship is hard to know from a distance, but easy to know up close; craving is not like this — even up close, it remains hard to know, how much more so from a distance? It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva contemplates craving as exceeding even a false friend in danger. Every being, on account of this very fetter of craving, keeps far from this great nirvāṇa and draws near to birth-and-death, keeps far from permanence, bliss, self, and purity and draws near to impermanence, suffering, non-self, and impurity — it is for this reason that I, throughout every scripture, speak of this as one of the three defilements… It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva, deeply contemplating this craving, gives rise to great fear and dread, and cultivates the eightfold noble path, just as that man, in fear of the four poisonous snakes, the five outcastes, and the one false friend, continued along his road without turning back."
Huiyuan reads the five aggregates' resemblance to outcastes as resting on a single shared function — an outcaste tears apart existing bonds of affection and forces unwanted associations, exactly as the aggregates, arising and perishing moment by moment, tear a being away from what he loves and force him into association with suffering he did not choose — and reads the sūtra's own subsequent claim that the aggregates actually exceed an outcaste in danger as resting on a precise, threefold asymmetry: an outcaste harms only within the desire realm, only the already-guilty, and never the vulnerable (the old, women, children), while the aggregates harm indiscriminately across all three realms, guilty and innocent alike, sparing no one by age or station — a systematically worse threat disguised, precisely because it is universal and constant, as something too ordinary to fear.
On craving as a false friend, he reads the seven points of resemblance (concealing harm behind an appearance of intimacy, watching for opportunity, blinding sight and hearing to what is otherwise plainly visible, false in every one of its apparent qualities, deceiving through outward show alone since it has no genuine inner reality to reveal) alongside two points where craving actually exceeds even a false friend: an enemy's deception has a discoverable beginning and end, while craving's own grip is beginningless and endless; and an enemy grows easier to recognize the more familiar one becomes with him, while craving remains opaque and hard to detect precisely in proportion to how intimately it is held — the closer it sits to one's own heart, the harder it becomes to see for what it is. He glosses "the three defilements" as the three poisons (craving, hatred, delusion), reading this passage as the sūtra's own scriptural citation of itself, since the term recurs, on his count, at multiple points across the whole collection.
An Empty Village, and Six Thieves in the Night
「空聚落者即是六入。菩薩摩訶薩觀內六入空無所有，猶如空聚，如彼怖人既入聚已，乃至不見有一居人，遍捉瓦器，不得一物。菩薩亦爾，諦觀六入空無所有，不見眾生一物之實，是故菩薩觀內六入空無所有，如彼空聚。……凡夫之人亦復如是，於六入聚不生空想，以其不能生空想故，輪迴生死受無量苦。善男子！群賊既至乃生空想，菩薩亦爾，觀此六入常生空想，生空想故，則不輪迴生死受苦。菩薩摩訶薩於此六入常無顛倒，無顛倒故，是故不復輪迴生死。……如彼空聚，乃是師子、虎狼、種種惡獸之所住處，是內六入亦復如是，一切眾惡煩惱走獸之所住處。是故菩薩深觀六入空無所有，純是一切不善住處。……復次善男子！如空聚落，或時有人、或時無人；六入不爾，一向無人。何以故？性常空故，智者所知非是眼見。是故菩薩觀內六入，多諸怨害，修八聖道不休不息，猶如彼人畏四毒蛇、五旃陀羅、一詐親善及六大賊，怖著正路。」
"The empty village is precisely the six sense-bases. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva contemplates that the six internal sense-bases are entirely empty, without anything at all, just like this very empty village — just as that terrified man, having entered the village, found not a single inhabitant anywhere, and, seizing every clay vessel he could find, obtained nothing at all. The bodhisattva is exactly the same: contemplating the six sense-bases closely, he finds not a single real thing belonging to any being at all — it is for this very reason that the bodhisattva contemplates the six internal sense-bases as entirely empty, without anything at all, just like that empty village… An ordinary being is exactly the same, failing to give rise to any notion of emptiness with regard to this very gathering of the six sense-bases, and it is precisely because he fails to give rise to this notion of emptiness that he turns endlessly through birth-and-death, undergoing immeasurable suffering. Good son, it is only once the band of thieves actually arrives that the man gives rise to the notion of emptiness — the bodhisattva is exactly the same: contemplating these six sense-bases, he forever gives rise to this very notion of emptiness, and, giving rise to this notion of emptiness, he no longer turns through birth-and-death, undergoing suffering there. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva, with regard to these six sense-bases, is forever free of any inverted view, and, being free of any inverted view, he no longer turns through birth-and-death at all… Just as that empty village is, in fact, the dwelling place of lions, tigers, wolves, and every kind of fierce beast, these six internal sense-bases are exactly the same, the dwelling place of every evil affliction, running wild like beasts. It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva deeply contemplates the six sense-bases as entirely empty, without anything at all, purely a dwelling place for everything unwholesome… Furthermore, good son, an empty village may, at times, have people in it, and, at other times, have none — the six sense-bases are not like this; they are, without exception, always empty of anyone at all. Why is this? Because their very nature is forever empty — something known by the wise, not something seen with the ordinary eye. It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva, contemplating the six internal sense-bases as harboring so much danger and harm, cultivates the eightfold noble path without ever resting or ceasing, just as that man, in fear of the four poisonous snakes, the five outcastes, the one false friend, and the six great thieves, held fast, in terror, to the true road."
「六大賊者即外六塵。菩薩摩訶薩觀此六塵如六大賊。何以故？能劫一切諸善法故。如六大賊能劫一切人民財寶，是六塵賊亦復如是，能劫一切眾生善財。如六大賊，若入人舍則能劫奪現家所有，不擇好惡，令巨富者忽爾貧窮。是六塵賊亦復如是，若入人根則能劫奪一切善法，善法既盡，貧窮孤露，作一闡提，是故菩薩諦觀六塵如六大賊。……復次善男子！如六大賊能為人民身心苦惱；是六塵賊亦復如是，常為眾生身心苦惱。六大賊者唯能劫人現在財物；是六塵賊常劫眾生三世善財。……是六大賊唯有諸王乃能遮止；六塵惡賊亦復如是，唯佛菩薩乃能遮止。……是六大賊雖有諸王截其手足，猶故不能令其心息；六塵惡賊亦復如是，雖須陀洹、斯陀含、阿那含截其手足，亦不能令不劫善法。如勇健人乃能摧伏是六大賊，諸佛菩薩亦復如是，乃能摧伏六塵惡賊。……六大賊者唯能劫奪欲界人財，不能劫奪色無色界；六塵惡賊則不如是，能劫三界一切善寶。是故菩薩諦觀六塵過彼六賊，作是觀已，修八聖道，直往不迴。如彼怖人，畏四毒蛇、五旃陀羅、一詐親者及六大賊，捨空聚落涉路而去。」
"The six great thieves are precisely the six external sense-objects. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva contemplates these six sense-objects as six great thieves. Why is this? Because they are able to plunder every wholesome dharma entirely. Just as six great thieves are able to plunder every kind of wealth and treasure belonging to the people, these thieves that are the six sense-objects are exactly the same, able to plunder every being's own wholesome wealth. Just as six great thieves, entering a person's house, are able to seize everything the household possesses, making no distinction between what is fine and what is coarse, and turning even the wealthiest person suddenly into a pauper — these thieves that are the six sense-objects are exactly the same: entering a person's own faculties, they are able to plunder every wholesome dharma entirely, and, once these wholesome dharmas are exhausted, he becomes destitute and utterly bereft, an icchantika — it is for this very reason that the bodhisattva contemplates the six sense-objects closely as six great thieves… Furthermore, good son, just as six great thieves are able to cause the people great suffering and affliction of body and mind, these thieves that are the six sense-objects are exactly the same, forever causing beings suffering and affliction of body and mind. Six great thieves are able to plunder only a person's present wealth; but these thieves that are the six sense-objects forever plunder a being's own wholesome wealth across all three time-periods… Only a king is able to hold back six great thieves; these evil thieves that are the six sense-objects are exactly the same — only a buddha or bodhisattva is able to hold them back… Though a king may cut off the hands and feet of six great thieves, this alone still cannot bring their own minds to rest; these evil thieves that are the six sense-objects are exactly the same — though the stream-enterer, the once-returner, or the non-returner may cut off their hands and feet, this, too, cannot stop them from plundering every wholesome dharma. Just as only a truly brave and powerful person is able to subdue six great thieves, every buddha and bodhisattva is exactly the same, alone able to subdue these evil thieves that are the six sense-objects… Six great thieves are able to plunder only the wealth of people within the desire realm, unable to plunder the form and formless realms; these evil thieves that are the six sense-objects are not like this at all, able to plunder every wholesome treasure throughout all three realms alike. It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva contemplates the six sense-objects closely as exceeding even six great thieves in danger, and, having made this contemplation, cultivates the eightfold noble path, going straight forward without ever turning back — just as that terrified man, in fear of the four poisonous snakes, the five outcastes, the one false friend, and the six great thieves, abandoned the empty village and continued along his road."
Huiyuan reads the empty village's own "sometimes inhabited, sometimes not" quality, denied of the six sense-bases (which are said to be always, without exception, empty), as marking a deliberate point of contrast between the simile and what it stands for: an ordinary village really could have people in it, making the fleeing man's discovery of emptiness a contingent, discoverable fact about that particular place and moment — but the six sense-bases' own emptiness of any real, substantial self is not a contingent fact discoverable by looking harder with the ordinary eye; it is their permanent nature, "known by the wise" rather than "seen," which is why an ordinary being can stare directly at his own sense-bases for an entire lifetime without ever perceiving the very emptiness a bodhisattva's contemplation reveals immediately.
On the six thieves as the six sense-objects, he traces the sūtra's own escalating comparison across roughly a dozen points, the sharpest being the claim that ordinary thieves can be executed or physically restrained by a king, while the six sense-objects continue plundering a being's wholesome roots even after that being has attained stream-entry, once-returning, or non-returning — "cutting off their hands and feet" (a metaphor, on Huiyuan's reading, for severing coarse affliction through the noble path) still leaving subtler afflictions capable of further plunder, so that only full buddhahood, not any partial attainment short of it, is genuinely equal to holding them back for good. He reads the whole extended parable's own accumulating weight — four snakes, five outcastes, one false friend, an empty village, six thieves, and finally a raging river — as building toward a single cumulative image of a spiritual life under siege from every direction at once, which the fascicle's next section finally resolves.
The River of Affliction
「路值一河者即是煩惱。云何菩薩觀此煩惱猶如大河？如彼駛河，能漂香象；煩惱駛河亦復如是，能漂緣覺，是故菩薩深觀煩惱猶如駛河。深難得底，故名為河；邊不可得，故名為大，其中多有種種惡魚，煩惱大河亦復如是。唯佛菩薩能得底故，故名極深。唯佛菩薩得其邊故，故名廣大。常害一切癡眾生故，故名惡魚。……如大河水能長一切草木叢林；煩惱大河亦復如是，能長眾生二十五有，是故菩薩觀此煩惱猶如大河。……如彼大河唯能壞身，不能漂沒一切善法；煩惱大河則不如是，能壞一切身心善法。彼大暴河，唯能漂沒欲界中人；煩惱大河乃能漂沒三界人天。世間大河，手抱脚踏，則到彼岸；煩惱大河，唯有菩薩因六波羅蜜乃能得渡。……乃至十住諸大菩薩，猶故未能畢竟得渡，唯有諸佛乃畢竟渡，是故名為難可得渡。……如人墮河為水所漂，餘有力者則能拔濟；墮煩惱河為一闡提，聲聞緣覺乃至諸佛不能拔濟。世間大河劫盡之時，七日並照，能令枯涸；煩惱大河則不如是，聲聞緣覺雖修七覺，猶不能乾，是故菩薩觀諸煩惱猶如暴河。」
"The river he came upon along the road is precisely affliction. How does the bodhisattva contemplate this affliction as a great river? Just as a raging river is able to sweep away even a great, fragrant elephant, this raging river of affliction is exactly the same, able to sweep away even a pratyekabuddha — it is for this very reason that the bodhisattva deeply contemplates affliction as a raging river. Its depth cannot be fathomed, and so it is named a river; its shore cannot be found, and so it is named great; and within it dwell every kind of monstrous fish — this great river of affliction is exactly the same. Only a buddha or bodhisattva is able to fathom its depth, and so it is named 'extremely deep'; only a buddha or bodhisattva is able to find its shore, and so it is named 'vast and great'; and, forever harming every deluded being, it is named 'monstrous fish'… Just as the water of a great river is able to nourish the growth of every grass, tree, and thicket, this great river of affliction is exactly the same, able to nourish the growth of the twenty-five states of existence among beings — it is for this very reason that the bodhisattva contemplates this affliction as a great river… Just as that great river is able only to destroy the body, unable to sweep away every wholesome dharma, this great river of affliction is not like this at all, able to destroy every wholesome dharma of body and mind alike. That great, raging river is able to sweep away only people within the desire realm; but this great river of affliction is able to sweep away gods and humans throughout all three realms. An ordinary, worldly river can be crossed with one's own arms and legs alone; but this great river of affliction can be crossed only by a bodhisattva, through the six perfections… Even the great bodhisattvas of the ten abidings are still unable, in the end, to cross it fully; only every buddha is able to cross it fully — it is for this very reason that it is named difficult indeed to cross… Should a person fall into an ordinary river and be swept away by its water, another person with sufficient strength is able to rescue and save him; but should one fall into the river of affliction as an icchantika, not even the śrāvaka, the pratyekabuddha, nor any buddha is able to rescue him. When an ordinary, worldly river reaches the end of its kalpa, seven suns shine together upon it, and it is thereby made to run dry; but this great river of affliction is not like this at all — though the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha cultivate the seven factors of awakening, they still cannot dry it up entirely. It is for this very reason that the bodhisattva contemplates every affliction as this very raging river."
「譬如彼人，畏四毒蛇、五旃陀羅、一詐親善及六大賊，捨空聚落，隨路而去，既至河上取草為栰者。菩薩亦爾，畏四大蛇、五陰旃陀羅、愛詐親善、六入空聚、六塵惡賊，至煩惱河，修戒、定、慧、解脫、解脫知見、六波羅蜜、三十七品，以為船栰，依乘此栰，渡煩惱河，到於彼岸，常樂涅槃。菩薩修行大涅槃者作是思惟：『我若不能忍受如是身苦心苦，則不能令一切眾生渡煩惱河。』以是思惟，雖有如是身心苦惱，默然忍受，以忍受故則不生漏。如是菩薩尚無諸漏，況佛如來而當有漏？是故諸佛不名有漏。云何如來非無漏也？如來常行有漏中故。有漏即是二十五有，是故聲聞、凡夫之人言佛有漏，諸佛如來真實無漏。善男子！以是因緣，諸佛如來無有定相。善男子！是故犯四重禁、謗方等經及一闡提，悉皆不定。」
"It is just like that man, in fear of the four poisonous snakes, the five outcastes, the one false friend, and the six great thieves, who abandoned the empty village and continued along his road, until he came upon the river and gathered grass to make himself a raft. The bodhisattva is exactly the same: in fear of the four elements as poisonous snakes, the five aggregates as outcastes, craving as a false friend, the six sense-bases as an empty village, and the six sense-objects as evil thieves, he arrives at the river of affliction, and cultivates moral discipline, concentration, wisdom, liberation, the knowledge and vision of liberation, the six perfections, and the thirty-seven factors of awakening as his own ship and raft — and, relying on and boarding this very raft, he crosses the river of affliction, and reaches the far shore, the ever-abiding bliss of nirvāṇa. The bodhisattva who practices this great nirvāṇa reflects, thus: 'Should I be unable to bear such suffering of body and mind, I would be unable to bring any being at all across the river of affliction.' Reflecting in this way, though he undergoes suffering and affliction of body and mind of exactly this kind, he bears it in silence — and, because he bears it in this way, he gives rise to no outflow at all. Should even the bodhisattva be entirely free of outflow in this way, how much more so the Buddha, the Tathāgata? It is for this very reason that every buddha is not named subject to outflow. And how is it that the Tathāgata is not free of outflow either? Because the Tathāgata forever moves within what is subject to outflow. What is subject to outflow is precisely the twenty-five states of existence — it is on this account that the śrāvaka and the ordinary being say that the Buddha is subject to outflow, when, in reality, every buddha, every tathāgata, is truly and entirely free of outflow. Good son, it is on account of this very reasoning that every buddha, every tathāgata, has no fixed mark at all. Good son, it is for this very reason that transgressing the four gravest offenses, slandering the Vaipulya teachings, and being an icchantika are all, without exception, indeterminate."
Huiyuan divides the river's own excess over an ordinary river into a sequence of escalating comparisons: unlike a physical river, this river destroys not merely the body but every wholesome dharma of body and mind together; it sweeps away beings across all three realms rather than the desire realm alone; it can be crossed only through the six perfections, never through unaided physical effort; even the bodhisattvas of the ten abidings — an extraordinarily advanced attainment by any ordinary standard — cannot cross it fully, only a buddha can; a being fallen into it as an icchantika is beyond rescue by anyone, even a buddha, since rescue presupposes some residual capacity to be helped that the icchantika, by definition, lacks; and, where an ordinary river eventually dries up entirely at a kalpa's end, this river of affliction resists even the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha's own cultivation of the seven factors of awakening, since only complete buddhahood, not partial attainment, actually exhausts it.
On the closing "neither subject to outflow nor free of it," Huiyuan reads this final pairing as completing the twenty-pair catalogue Part 22 opened with the same underlying logic applied one last time to the fascicle's own central technical term: the Tathāgata is genuinely, truly free of outflow in his own nature, and yet, since he continues to move within the twenty-five states of existence for the sake of teaching beings there — which is, definitionally, what "subject to outflow" names — an observer mistaking this continued presence for actual affliction wrongly concludes the Buddha still suffers it. This closes the entire seven-outflow sequence begun in Part 22 on the same note the whole fascicle has pursued: nothing about the Tathāgata's own condition is exhausted by either half of any single fixed category, which Bright Virtuous King is about to acknowledge outright before pivoting the conversation toward its next question — what nirvāṇa itself actually is.
What Is Nirvāṇa? What Is Great Nirvāṇa?
爾時光明遍照高貴德王菩薩摩訶薩言：「如是，如是。誠如聖教，一切諸法皆悉不定。以不定故，當知如來亦不畢竟入於涅槃。如佛先說，菩薩摩訶薩修大涅槃，聞不聞中有涅槃、大涅槃？云何涅槃？云何大涅槃？」爾時佛讚光明遍照高貴德王菩薩摩訶薩言：「善哉，善哉！善男子！若有菩薩得念總持，乃能如汝之所諮問。善男子！如世人言有海、大海，有河、大河，有山、大山，有地、大地，有城、大城，有眾生、大眾生，有王、大王，有人、大人，有天、天中天，有道、大道，涅槃亦爾，有涅槃、有大涅槃。云何涅槃？善男子！如人飢餓，得少飯食名為安樂，如是安樂亦名涅槃。如病得差則名安樂，如是安樂亦名涅槃。如人怖畏得歸依處則得安樂，如是安樂亦名涅槃。如貧窮人獲七寶物則得安樂，如是安樂亦名涅槃。如人觀骨不起貪欲則得安樂，如是安樂亦名涅槃。如是涅槃不得名為大涅槃也。何以故？以飢渴故、病故、怖故、貧故、生貪著故，是名涅槃，非大涅槃。」
At that time, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Bright Virtuous King of Universal Illumination said: "Just so, just so. Truly, as the sacred teaching says, every single dharma is indeterminate — and, being indeterminate, one should know that the Tathāgata, too, does not, in the end, actually enter nirvāṇa at all. As the Buddha has said before, does the bodhisattva-mahāsattva who cultivates this great nirvāṇa, within this very 'hearing what was not heard,' find nirvāṇa and great nirvāṇa both present? What, then, is nirvāṇa, and what is this great nirvāṇa?" At that time, the Buddha praised the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Bright Virtuous King of Universal Illumination: "Excellent, excellent, good son! Only a bodhisattva who has attained the total retention of mindfulness could ask a question exactly as you have. Good son, just as people of the world speak of a sea and a great sea, a river and a great river, a mountain and a great mountain, land and a great land, a city and a great city, a being and a great being, a king and a great king, a person and a great person, a god and the god beyond gods, a path and a great path — nirvāṇa is exactly the same: there is nirvāṇa, and there is this great nirvāṇa. What, then, is nirvāṇa? Good son, it is like a starving man who, obtaining even a little food, is named at ease — an ease of exactly this kind, too, is named nirvāṇa. It is like an illness cured, which is named at ease — an ease of exactly this kind, too, is named nirvāṇa. It is like a terrified man who finds a place of refuge, and thereby attains ease — an ease of exactly this kind, too, is named nirvāṇa. It is like a poverty-stricken man who obtains the seven treasures, and thereby attains ease — an ease of exactly this kind, too, is named nirvāṇa. It is like a man who, contemplating a skeleton, no longer gives rise to craving, and thereby attains ease — an ease of exactly this kind, too, is named nirvāṇa. And yet nirvāṇa of this kind cannot be named this great nirvāṇa. Why is this? Because it arises on account of hunger and thirst, on account of illness, on account of fear, on account of poverty, and on account of craving — this is what is named nirvāṇa, not this great nirvāṇa."
「善男子！若凡夫人及以聲聞，或因世俗，或因聖道，斷欲界結則得安樂，如是安樂亦名涅槃，不得名為大涅槃也。能斷初禪，乃至能斷非想非非想處結，則得安樂，如是安樂亦名涅槃，不得名為大涅槃也。何以故？還生煩惱，有習氣故。……善男子！譬如有處能受眾水，名為大海。隨有聲聞、緣覺、菩薩、諸佛如來所入之處，名大涅槃。……善男子！譬如有河，第一香象不能得底，則名為大。聲聞緣覺至十住菩薩不見佛性，名為涅槃，非大涅槃。若能了了見於佛性，則得名為大涅槃也。是大涅槃，唯大象王能盡其底，大象王者謂諸佛也。善男子！若摩訶那伽及鉢揵陀、大力士等經歷多時，所不能上，乃名大山。聲聞、緣覺及諸菩薩摩訶、那伽大力士等所不能見，如是乃名大涅槃也。復次善男子！隨有小王之所住處，名為小城，轉輪聖王所住之處乃名大城。聲聞、緣覺，八萬、六萬、四萬、二萬、一萬住處，名為涅槃。無上法主、聖王住處，乃得名為大般涅槃，以是故名大般涅槃。善男子！譬如有人見四種兵不生怖畏，當知是人名大眾生。若有眾生於三惡道、煩惱惡業不生怖畏，而能於中廣度眾生，當知是人得大涅槃。若有人能供養父母、恭敬沙門及婆羅門，修治善法所言誠實無有欺誑，能忍諸惡，惠施貧乏名大丈夫。菩薩亦爾，有大慈悲憐愍一切，於諸眾生猶如父母，能度眾生於生死河，普示眾生一實之道，是則名為大般涅槃。」
"Good son, should any ordinary being or śrāvaka, whether through worldly means or through the noble path, sever the fetters of the desire realm, he thereby attains ease — an ease of exactly this kind, too, is named nirvāṇa, but cannot be named this great nirvāṇa. Should he be able to sever the fetters of the first meditative absorption, up through the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception, he thereby attains ease — an ease of exactly this kind, too, is named nirvāṇa, but cannot be named this great nirvāṇa. Why is this? Because affliction still arises again, its own residual trace still present… Good son, it is like a place able to receive every water that flows into it, which is named the great ocean — wherever the śrāvaka, the pratyekabuddha, the bodhisattva, and every buddha, every tathāgata, enters, is named this great nirvāṇa. Good son, it is like a river whose bottom even the finest fragrant elephant cannot reach, which is thereby named great — the śrāvaka, the pratyekabuddha, up through the bodhisattva of the ten abidings, who does not yet see buddha-nature, attains only nirvāṇa, not this great nirvāṇa; only one able to see buddha-nature with complete clarity can be named as having attained this great nirvāṇa. This great nirvāṇa, only the great elephant king is able to fathom to its very bottom — and this great elephant king means every buddha. Good son, should even the great nāga, the great garuḍa, or a mighty strongman, over a great span of time, be unable to climb it, it is thereby named a great mountain — what the śrāvaka, the pratyekabuddha, and even the great bodhisattva, the great nāga, or the mighty strongman are unable to see is, exactly in this way, named this great nirvāṇa. Furthermore, good son, wherever a lesser king dwells is named a small city, while wherever a wheel-turning sage-king dwells is named a great city — the dwelling place of the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha, after eighty, sixty, forty, twenty, or ten thousand kalpas, is named nirvāṇa; but the dwelling place of the unsurpassed lord of the Dharma, the sage-king himself, is what can be named this great nirvāṇa — it is for this reason that it is named this great nirvāṇa. Good son, it is like a person who, seeing an army of four divisions, gives rise to no fear at all — one should know that this person is named a great being. Should any being give rise to no fear at all with regard to the three evil destinies or the affliction of evil karma, and yet be able, within them, to save beings broadly, one should know that this person has attained this great nirvāṇa. Should any person be able to care for his own parents, revere śramaṇas and brahmins, cultivate wholesome dharmas, speak only what is sincere and true, without any deception at all, be able to bear every kind of evil, and give generously to the poor and needy, he is named a great man — the bodhisattva is exactly the same: possessed of great compassion, holding pity for all, regarding every being as though they were his own father and mother, able to bring beings across the river of birth-and-death, and universally showing beings the one, true path — this is precisely what is named this great nirvāṇa."
Huiyuan reads Bright Virtuous King's opening acknowledgment ("just so, truly as the sacred teaching says") as the fascicle's own formal close of the entire "everything is indeterminate" argument, before the conversation pivots to a genuinely new question — not whether nirvāṇa exists, but what distinguishes an ordinary nirvāṇa from this great one — and reads the Buddha's opening list of ordinary-versus-great pairs (sea, river, mountain, land, city, being, king, person, god, path) as establishing, through everyday language itself, that the same word regularly names both a lesser and a greater instance of a single category, so that "nirvāṇa, great nirvāṇa" should surprise no one on purely linguistic grounds.
On the five similes of a merely small nirvāṇa (hunger relieved, illness cured, fear allayed, poverty ended, craving's object seen through), Huiyuan reads the shared flaw as circumstantial dependency: each names ease that exists only relative to some prior deficiency (hunger, sickness, fear, poverty, or craving itself) — remove the deficiency, and the "nirvāṇa" evaporates with it, which is precisely why even a full severing of every affliction from the desire realm up through the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception still counts, on his reading, as merely "small": affliction's own residual trace (習氣) persists even after its active form is cut, so that what looks like a final ending remains, in fact, still conditioned by what it ended. He then traces the six similes elaborating what makes a nirvāṇa "great" — the ocean receiving every water without limit, the river no ordinary strength can fathom, the mountain no strength can climb, the city belonging to the highest king alone, the being unafraid even of a full army, and the person of complete moral integrity — as together isolating a single quality: not merely quantity or duration, but a capacity that exists on an entirely different order from anything gradual improvement could ever reach, requiring, in the sūtra's own repeated formula, the direct, complete seeing of buddha-nature that even the bodhisattva of the ten abidings has not yet attained.
Eight Kinds of Mastery
「善男子！大名不可思議，若不可思議，一切眾生所不能信，是則名為大般涅槃，唯佛菩薩之所見故名大涅槃。以何因緣復名為大？以無量因緣然後乃得，故名為大。……云何復名為大涅槃？有大我故，名大涅槃。涅槃無我，大自在故，名為大我。云何名為大自在耶？有八自在，則名為我。何等為八？一者、能示一身以為多身，身數大小猶如微塵，充滿十方無量世界。如來之身實非微塵，以自在故現微塵身，如是自在則為大我。二者、示一塵身滿於三千大千世界，如來之身實不滿於三千大千世界。何以故？以無礙故，直以自在故，滿於三千大千世界，如是自在，名為大我。三者、能以滿此三千大千世界之身輕舉飛空，過於二十恒河沙等諸佛世界而無障礙。如來之身，實無輕重，以自在故能為輕重，如是自在名為大我。四者、以自在故而得自在。云何自在？如來一心安住不動，所可示化無量形類，各令有心。如來有時或造一事，而令眾生各各成辦。如來之身常住一土，而令他土一切悉見。如是自在名為大我。」
"Good son, 'great' means inconceivable — and, should something be inconceivable, no being at all is able to believe it; this, precisely, is what is named this great nirvāṇa, seen only by a buddha or bodhisattva, and it is for this reason that it is named great nirvāṇa. For what cause and condition, further, is it named great? Because it is attained only after immeasurable causes and conditions, it is for this very reason that it is named great… What, further, is meant by great nirvāṇa? Because it possesses the great self, it is named great nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa is without self — and it is precisely because of its great mastery that this is named the great self. What is meant by this great mastery? There are eight kinds of mastery, and it is these that are named the self. What are these eight? First, being able to manifest a single body as many bodies, their number, whether great or small, like fine motes of dust, filling every immeasurable world throughout the ten directions — the Tathāgata's own body, in reality, is not made of fine motes of dust at all, and yet, through mastery, he manifests a body of fine motes of dust; mastery of exactly this kind is the great self. Second, manifesting a body the size of a single mote of dust that fills an entire trichiliocosm — the Tathāgata's own body, in reality, does not fill an entire trichiliocosm at all. Why is this? Because, being free of all obstruction, it is purely through mastery alone that it fills an entire trichiliocosm; mastery of exactly this kind is named the great self. Third, being able, with a body filling this entire trichiliocosm, to rise up lightly and fly through the sky, passing beyond buddha-worlds as numerous as twenty times the sands of the Gaṅgā, entirely without obstruction — the Tathāgata's own body, in reality, has neither lightness nor heaviness at all, and yet, through mastery, is able to become light or heavy as needed; mastery of exactly this kind is named the great self. Fourth, through mastery, attaining mastery itself. What is meant by this mastery? The Tathāgata's own single mind abides securely, unmoved, while whatever forms he manifests in transformation, immeasurable in number, are each given their own mind. The Tathāgata, at times, may perform a single act, and yet cause every being to accomplish his own task through it. The Tathāgata's own body forever abides within a single land, and yet causes every being in every other land to see him there fully. Mastery of exactly this kind is named the great self."
「五者、根自在故。云何名為根自在耶？如來一根，亦能見色、聞聲、嗅香、別味、覺觸、知法。如來六根，亦不見色、聞聲、嗅香、別味、覺觸、知法。以自在故，令根自在，如是自在名為大我。六者、以自在故得一切法，如來之心亦無得想。何以故？無所得故。若是有者可名為得，實無所有云何名得？若使如來計有得想，是則諸佛不得涅槃，以無得故名得涅槃，以自在故得一切法，得諸法故名為大我。七者、說自在故。如來演說一偈之義，經無量劫，義亦不盡，所謂若戒、若定、若施、若慧，如來爾時都不生念，我說彼聽；亦復不生一偈之想，世間之人以四句為偈，隨世俗故說名為偈；一切法性亦無有說，以自在故如來演說，以演說故名為大我。八者、如來遍滿一切諸處，猶如虛空。虛空之性不可得見，如來亦爾實不可見，以自在故令一切見，如是自在名為大我，如是大我名大涅槃，以是義故名大涅槃。」
"Fifth, mastery of the faculties. What is meant by this mastery of the faculties? A single one of the Tathāgata's own faculties is able, on its own, to see form, hear sound, smell fragrance, distinguish flavor, feel touch, and know a dharma; and yet, likewise, none of the Tathāgata's own six faculties, individually, sees form, hears sound, smells fragrance, distinguishes flavor, feels touch, or knows a dharma at all. Through mastery, he causes his faculties to be free and unrestricted in this way — mastery of exactly this kind is named the great self. Sixth, through mastery, attaining every dharma — and yet the Tathāgata's own mind holds no notion of attainment at all. Why is this? Because there is nothing at all that is attained. Were there something that truly existed, it could be named an attainment — but, there being nothing at all in reality, how could this be named attainment? Were the Tathāgata to hold the notion that there is something attained, then no buddha at all would ever attain nirvāṇa — it is precisely because there is no attainment that this is named attaining nirvāṇa; and it is through mastery that he attains every dharma, and, attaining every dharma, this is named the great self. Seventh, mastery of speech. The Tathāgata expounds the meaning of a single verse throughout immeasurable kalpas, and its meaning is still not exhausted — whether it concerns moral discipline, concentration, giving, or wisdom, the Tathāgata, at that very time, gives rise to no notion at all of 'I am speaking, and he is listening,' nor does he give rise to any notion of 'a single verse' at all; it is people of the world who take four lines as a verse, and it is only in accordance with worldly convention that this is spoken of as a verse — the very nature of every dharma, too, is without any speech at all, and it is through mastery alone that the Tathāgata expounds it; and it is through this very expounding that this is named the great self. Eighth, the Tathāgata pervades every single place, just like empty space. The very nature of empty space cannot be seen at all — the Tathāgata is exactly the same, in reality entirely unable to be seen, and yet, through mastery, causes himself to be seen by everyone; mastery of exactly this kind is named the great self. This great self is what is named great nirvāṇa — it is for this very reason that it is named great nirvāṇa."
Huiyuan reads the eight kinds of mastery as this section's own precise unpacking of "great self" — a term the sūtra deploys carefully, first denying that nirvāṇa possesses any self in the ordinary sense (a fixed, independent, controlling agent) before immediately affirming that it possesses the "great self," defined entirely through unrestricted capacity rather than through any such fixed core. His own numbered gloss: mastery of quantity (one body into many, or many into one, at any scale); mastery of size (a single mote filling a trichiliocosm); mastery of weight (a vast body flying weightlessly across worlds); mastery over mastery itself (a single, unmoved mind nonetheless animating countless distinct manifestations, each fully "having its own mind," and one act accomplishing many purposes at once — what he glosses as also being called mastery "of function"); mastery of the faculties (any single sense able to perform every sense's function, and no sense, taken individually, actually bound to only its own object); mastery of attainment (a striking paradox: precisely because there is nothing fixed to be attained, "attainment" itself becomes possible — grasping at a determinate object would make nirvāṇa itself unreachable); mastery of speech (a single verse's meaning genuinely inexhaustible across kalpas, expounded without the speaker or hearer ever being treated as fixed, separate parties); and mastery of pervasion (present everywhere, exactly like space, and equally imperceptible in itself, made visible only through this same mastery).
He flags the sixth kind — mastery through non-attainment — as the philosophical hinge of the whole list: every other kind of mastery described here (multiplying bodies, filling worlds, flying, animating countless forms) could, taken alone, sound like an inventory of miraculous powers rather than a description of nirvāṇa's own nature; it is specifically the paradox that "attaining nirvāṇa" means attaining nothing that exists as a fixed object that keeps the whole list from collapsing into mere thaumaturgy, tying every prior and subsequent form of mastery back to the same emptiness of fixed self this whole fascicle has pursued since Bright Virtuous King's opening challenge in Part 22.
Four Kinds of Bliss, and Four Kinds of Purity
「復次善男子！譬如寶藏，多諸珍異，百種具足，故名大藏。諸佛如來甚深奧藏亦復如是，多諸奇異，具足無缺，名大涅槃。復次善男子！無邊之物乃名為大，涅槃無邊是故名大。復次善男子！有大樂故名大涅槃。涅槃無樂；以四樂故，名大涅槃。何等為四？一者、斷諸樂故，不斷樂者則名為苦，若有苦者不名大樂。以斷樂故則無有苦，無苦無樂乃名大樂。涅槃之性無苦無樂，是故涅槃名為大樂，以是義故名大涅槃。復次善男子！樂有二種：一者凡夫，二者諸佛。凡夫之樂，無常敗壞，是故無樂。諸佛常樂無有變異，故名大樂。復次善男子！有三種受：一者苦受，二者樂受，三者不苦不樂受，不苦不樂是亦為苦。涅槃雖同不苦不樂，然名大樂，以大樂故，名大涅槃。二者、大寂靜故名為大樂。涅槃之性是大寂靜。何以故？遠離一切憒閙法故，以大寂故名大涅槃。三者、一切知故，名為大樂。非一切知不名大樂；諸佛如來一切知故名為大樂。以大樂故，名大涅槃。四者、身不壞故，名為大樂。身若可壞則不名樂；如來之身金剛無壞，非煩惱身、無常之身，故名大樂。以大樂故，名大涅槃。」
"Furthermore, good son, it is like a treasury of jewels, containing every kind of rare and precious thing, a hundred varieties fully complete — this is what is named a great treasury. Every buddha, every tathāgata's own very deep and profound treasury is exactly the same, containing every kind of rare and marvelous thing, fully complete, without the slightest lack — this is what is named great nirvāṇa. Furthermore, good son, whatever is boundless is thereby named great — nirvāṇa is boundless, and it is for this reason that it is named great. Furthermore, good son, because it possesses great bliss, it is named great nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa itself is without ordinary pleasure — and it is precisely through these four kinds of bliss that it is named great nirvāṇa. What are these four? First, because every ordinary pleasure is severed — for whatever pleasure is not severed is itself named suffering, and, wherever there is suffering, it cannot be named great bliss. Because pleasure is severed, there is thereby no suffering at all; and it is precisely this absence of both suffering and pleasure that is named great bliss. The very nature of nirvāṇa is free of both suffering and pleasure, and it is for this reason that nirvāṇa is named great bliss — it is for this very reason that it is named great nirvāṇa. Furthermore, good son, pleasure is of two kinds: the ordinary being's own, and every buddha's own. An ordinary being's own pleasure is impermanent and subject to decay, and is therefore not true pleasure at all; every buddha's own bliss is ever-abiding, without any change at all, and it is for this reason that it is named great bliss. Furthermore, good son, there are three kinds of sensation: painful sensation, pleasant sensation, and sensation that is neither painful nor pleasant — and this last, neither painful nor pleasant, is, itself, likewise a form of suffering. Nirvāṇa, though it shares this same quality of being neither painful nor pleasant, is nonetheless named great bliss — and it is on account of this great bliss that it is named great nirvāṇa. Second, because of great tranquility, it is named great bliss. The very nature of nirvāṇa is great tranquility. Why is this? Because it keeps far from every noisy, tumultuous dharma entirely — and it is on account of this great tranquility that it is named great nirvāṇa. Third, because of knowing all things, it is named great bliss. Whatever does not know all things cannot be named great bliss — every buddha, every tathāgata, knowing all things, is for this reason named great bliss; and it is on account of this great bliss that it is named great nirvāṇa. Fourth, because the body is indestructible, it is named great bliss. Should a body be destructible, it cannot be named blissful at all — the Tathāgata's own body is like vajra, indestructible, neither a body of affliction nor a body of impermanence, and it is for this reason that it is named great bliss; and it is on account of this great bliss that it is named great nirvāṇa."
「善男子！世間名字或有因緣、或無因緣。有因緣者，如舍利弗，母名舍利，因母立字，故名舍利弗。……無因緣者，如蓮花、地、水、火、風、虛空。……善男子！是大涅槃亦復如是，無有因緣，強為立名。善男子！譬如虛空，不因小空名為大空也。涅槃亦爾，不因小相名大涅槃。善男子！譬如有法，不可稱量、不可思議，故名為大。涅槃亦爾，不可稱量、不可思議，故得名為大般涅槃。以純淨故名大涅槃。云何純淨？淨有四種。何等為四？一者、二十五有名為不淨，能永斷故得名為淨，淨即涅槃。如是涅槃，亦得名有，而是涅槃，實非是有，諸佛如來隨世俗故，說涅槃有。譬如世人，非父言父、非母言母，實非父母，而言父母。涅槃亦爾，隨世俗故說言諸佛有大涅槃。二者、業清淨故。一切凡夫業不清淨，故無涅槃；諸佛如來業清淨故，故名大淨，以大淨故名大涅槃。三者、身清淨故。身若無常，則名不淨；如來身常故名大淨，以大淨故名大涅槃。四者、心清淨故，心若有漏，名曰不淨；佛心無漏，故名大淨，以大淨故名大涅槃。善男子！是名善男子、善女人修行如是大涅槃經，具足成就初分功德。」
"Good son, worldly names are, in some cases, given with a specific cause, and, in other cases, given without one. As for those given with a cause: Śāriputra's own mother was named Śārī, and it was on account of his mother that his own name was given, and so he is named Śāriputra… As for those given without any cause: such as 'lotus flower,' 'earth,' 'water,' 'fire,' 'wind,' or 'empty space'… Good son, this great nirvāṇa is exactly the same, its name given forcibly, without any specific cause behind it at all. Good son, it is like empty space, which is not named 'great space' on account of some smaller space — nirvāṇa is exactly the same, not named this great nirvāṇa on account of any smaller mark at all. Good son, it is like a dharma that cannot be measured or reckoned, and is inconceivable, and is therefore named great — nirvāṇa is exactly the same, unable to be measured or reckoned, and inconceivable, and it is for this reason that it is named this great nirvāṇa. Because it is purely and entirely pure, it is named great nirvāṇa. What is meant by this pure purity? Purity is of four kinds. What are these four? First, the twenty-five states of existence are named impure — and, because he is able to sever them forever, one is thereby named pure; and this very purity is nirvāṇa itself. Nirvāṇa of this kind, too, can be spoken of as existing — and yet this very nirvāṇa, in reality, is not existence at all; every buddha, every tathāgata, in accordance with worldly convention alone, speaks of nirvāṇa as existing. It is like people of the world, who, though someone is not truly their father, call him father, and, though someone is not truly their mother, call her mother — though not truly father or mother, they are nonetheless called by these names. Nirvāṇa is exactly the same: it is only in accordance with worldly convention that it is said that every buddha possesses this great nirvāṇa. Second, purity of karma. Every ordinary being's own karma is impure, and so he has no nirvāṇa; every buddha, every tathāgata's own karma is pure, and it is for this reason that this is named great purity, and, on account of this great purity, it is named great nirvāṇa. Third, purity of body. Should a body be impermanent, it is named impure; the Tathāgata's own body is ever-abiding, and it is for this reason that it is named great purity, and, on account of this great purity, it is named great nirvāṇa. Fourth, purity of mind. Should a mind be subject to outflow, it is named impure; the Buddha's own mind is free of outflow, and it is for this reason that it is named great purity, and, on account of this great purity, it is named great nirvāṇa. Good son, this is what is meant by a good son or a good daughter who practices this great Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra fully accomplishing and completing the merit of its very first division."
Huiyuan reads the four kinds of bliss as answering an implicit objection: since nirvāṇa is repeatedly said to be "without pleasure" in the ordinary sense, how can it also be called blissful at all? His answer traces the sūtra's own careful redefinition — the first bliss is simply the absence of the suffering/pleasure cycle itself (an ordinary being's neutral sensation still counts as a subtle form of suffering, on the classical analysis of the three kinds of feeling, but nirvāṇa's own freedom from both poles is not neutral suffering but something categorically different, entitled to the name "bliss" precisely because it has escaped the cycle both suffering and pleasure belong to); the second is bliss as tranquility, freedom from all disturbance; the third is bliss as omniscience, entitled to the name because ignorance is itself a form of suffering this omniscience has ended; and the fourth is bliss as an indestructible body, since anything destructible is, by that very fact, disqualified from being called truly blissful at all. Each redefinition, on his reading, is doing real philosophical work rather than merely reassigning a positive-sounding word to what would otherwise seem an austere, joyless state.
On the closing distinction between names given "with cause" (Śāriputra, named for his mother) and "without cause" (lotus, earth, water — conventional labels with no explanatory etymology behind them), Huiyuan reads the sūtra's placement of "great nirvāṇa" in the second category as a final, deliberate humbling of the entire preceding catalogue of definitions: every explanation offered across this whole fascicle — indestructibility, boundlessness, the eight masteries, the four blisses, the four purities — describes what great nirvāṇa is like, without ever supplying the kind of causal etymology that would fully domesticate the term the way "Śāriputra" is domesticated by reference to his mother. The four kinds of purity closing the section (freedom from the twenty-five states of existence, pure karma, a permanent body, and a mind free of outflow) function, on his reading, as this fascicle's own final summary term, gathering everything argued since Part 22's opening challenge about indeterminacy into a single closing formula — and the passage's own closing line, crediting a practitioner with "the merit of the first division" of the sūtra's ten, signals that this entire extended argument, spanning three full fascicles, has been building toward completing only the very first of the ten merits named at the start of this whole chapter in Part 21.
Part 23 Complete
This closes Part 23 (fascicle 23 of 40) and completes the sūtra's treatment of the first of the ten merits named at the opening of 光明遍照高貴德王菩薩品 — "hearing what was not heard" — a single merit whose full unfolding has now run three entire fascicles. The famous extended parable of the man fleeing four poisonous snakes, five executioners, a false friend, an empty village, and six great thieves before crossing a raging river completes the sūtra's account of the seven kinds of outflow begun in Part 22, mapping each danger onto the four elements, the five aggregates, craving, the six senses, and the six sense-objects respectively. Bright Virtuous King's own acknowledgment that nothing is fixed then opens a new question — not whether nirvāṇa exists, but what makes it great — answered through ten similes distinguishing ordinary attainment from complete buddhahood, the famous teaching on the eight kinds of mastery that constitute nirvāṇa's own "great self," and closing formulas of four blisses and four purities. Part 24 continues 光明遍照高貴德王菩薩品第十之四, turning to the remaining nine of the chapter's ten merits.
Continue to Part 24 →