藥師琉璃光如來本願功德經 十二大願（五至八）
前四願寫佛身：光明、相好、琉璃、焰網。從第五願起，經換了寫法——先寫人的難處，再讓佛的名號進來。
四種難處
第五願寫戒。上半是正面的，下半才是重量所在：「設有毀犯，聞我名已，還得清淨，不墮惡趣」。
「設有毀犯」四個字，願文裡少見。它不假設人守得住，它假設有人守不住，然後為守不住的人留一條路。這一節不是每個譯本都有——古譯的《灌頂》本只誓持戒無濁穢、堅持不犯，沒有『破了以後』這一段。
只誓『令一切人持戒清淨』聽起來更圓滿；但持過戒的人知道，難在破了之後那一刻——那時最順手的念頭是：既然已經破了，就算了。第五願擋的正是這個念頭。
第六願寫身。經一口氣列了十三樣：醜陋、頑愚、盲、聾、瘖、瘂、攣、躄、背僂、白癩、癲狂……而果句的四個字，是逐一反轉前面的四類。願是逐項回應的，不是籠統一句都好了。
第七願寫病。「無救無歸，無醫無藥，無親無家」——無救是沒有人能把你從病裡拉出來，無歸是病好了也沒有地方去。一個人病重，缺的常常不只是治病的東西。經把這兩層分開寫，也照兩層給。
第八願寫女身，而條件句要看清楚：所被的不是一切女人，是「極生厭離，願捨女身」者。經自己設了一道以自願為門的限。
同一件事說了四次
把四願的末句排在一起：「聞我名已，還得清淨」「聞我名已，一切皆得端正黠慧」「我之名號，一經其耳，病悉得除」「聞我名已，一切皆得轉女成男」。
四願，四次聞名。而願一到願四，一次都沒有。
十二願在此轉了向。前半寫的是佛成佛以後那個世界的樣子；自第五願起，經要交代的是這件事怎麼傳到人身上——靠一個名號被聽見。
同一件事反覆四次，就不是修辭，是樞紐。後文那幾大段聞名利益、供養守護、救脫續命，都從這裡長出來。
為什麼這一段不打比方
願二寫佛身，琉璃、焰網、「過於日月」，譬喻連著譬喻。這一段寫人的難處，四願之中一個譬喻都沒有。
破戒就說破戒，盲聾就說盲聾，無醫無藥就說無醫無藥。
沒見過的才需要打比方；已經在裡面的不需要。寫佛用譬，寫人不用——這一段的分寸就在這裡。
十二願走到中間，點到的不是『若有人受苦』，是破了戒的人、缺了根的人、病了沒人管的人、受夠了想換一個身的人。
願要落到人身上，得先認得出那個人。
The first four vows wrote the buddha-body: light, marks, beryl, a net of flame. From vow five the sūtra changes its manner — first the difficulty a person is in, and then the buddha’s name coming into it.
Four Kinds of Difficulty
Vow five is about the precepts. Its upper half is put positively; the weight is in the lower half: should any have broken them, then upon hearing my name they shall regain purity and shall not fall into evil destinies.
“Should any have broken them” is a rare turn in a vow-text. It does not assume that people will hold; it assumes that some will not, and then leaves a road open for those who do not. This section is not in every recension — the old Consecration translation pledges only the keeping of the precepts without turbidity, holding firm and not transgressing, with nothing about “after it is broken.”
To pledge only that all shall keep the precepts in purity sounds more complete; but anyone who has kept precepts knows the hard place is the moment after the break — and the handiest thought at that moment is: since it is broken already, let it go. That thought is exactly what vow five blocks.
Vow six is about the body. The sūtra lists thirteen things in one breath: ugly, dull and stupid, blind, deaf, mute, speechless, crippled in the limbs, unable to walk, hunchbacked, leprous, deranged. And the four members of the fruit-clause reverse, one by one, the four classes above. The vow answers item by item; it is not one loose sentence saying everything is better.
Vow seven is about illness. None to save them and nowhere to turn, without physician or medicine, without kin or home — none to save is that no one can pull you out of the illness, nowhere to turn is that even when it passes there is no place to go. When a person is gravely ill, what is missing is often not only the means of treatment. The sūtra writes the two layers apart, and gives according to both.
Vow eight is about the body of a woman, and its conditional clause must be read closely: those upon whom it acts are not all women, but the one who conceives an extreme weariness of it and vows to cast off the body of a woman. The sūtra itself sets a limit whose gate is her own willing.
One and the Same Thing, Four Times Over
Put the closing clauses of the four vows side by side: upon hearing my name they shall regain purity; upon hearing my name they shall all become well-formed and quick of understanding; let my name but once pass their ear, and their illnesses shall all be removed; upon hearing my name she shall be turned from woman to man.
Four vows, four hearings of the name. And in vows one through four, not one.
The twelve vows change direction here. The first half wrote what that world is like after he becomes a buddha; from vow five the sūtra means to hand over how this reaches a person — by a name being heard.
One and the same thing said four times over is not a turn of style. It is a pivot. The later stretches on the benefits of hearing the name, on making offerings and being guarded, on rescue, deliverance, and the prolonging of life all grow out of it.
Why This Passage Uses No Comparisons
Vow two wrote the buddha-body with beryl, with a net of flame, with “surpassing the sun and moon” — figure upon figure. This passage, writing human difficulty, has not one simile in all four vows.
A broken precept is called a broken precept, blindness and deafness are called blindness and deafness, no physician and no medicine is called no physician and no medicine.
Only what one has never seen needs a comparison; what one is already inside does not. Figures for the buddha, none for the human — that is the measure of this passage.
Arriving at the middle of the twelve vows, what is touched is not “if anyone suffers,” but the one who broke a precept, the one missing a faculty, the one ill with no one to care, the one who has had enough and wants a different body.
For a vow to come down upon a person, it has first to recognize that person.
大唐、三藏法師玄奘奉 詔譯《藥師琉璃光如來本願功德經》〈十二大願（五至八）〉· 大正藏 T14n0450〔起 T14 0405a21〕。段／行首〔T14 …〕＝大正藏頁・欄・行錨。
〔T14 0405a21〕「第五大願：願我來世得菩提時，若有無量無邊有情，於我法中修行梵行，一切皆令得不缺戒，具三聚戒。設有毀犯，聞我名已，還得清淨，不墮惡趣。 「第六大願：願我來世得菩提時，若諸有情，其身下劣，諸根不具，醜陋、頑愚、盲、聾、瘖、瘂、攣、躄、背僂、白癩、癲狂、種種病苦；聞我名已，一切皆得端正黠慧。諸根完具，無諸疾苦。 「第七大願：願我來世得菩提時，若諸有情，眾病逼切，無救無歸，無醫無藥，無親無家，貧窮多苦，我之名號，一經其耳，病悉得除，身心安樂，家屬資具，悉皆豐足，乃至證得無上菩提。 「第八大願：願我來世得菩提時，若有女人，為女百惡之所逼惱，極生厭離，願捨女身；聞我名已，一切皆得轉女成男，具丈夫相，乃至證得無上菩提。
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
大唐三藏法師玄奘譯《藥師琉璃光如來本願功德經》T14n0450，自「第五大願」至「乃至證得無上菩提」。段首（…）＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。願文是誓願之辭，白話仍作願體，不改成敘述。
〔一·第五大願·戒之毀犯還淨〕（0405a21）『第五大願：願我未來世中證得菩提的時候，假使有無量無邊的有情，（0405a22）在我的法中修行梵行（清淨的行持），一切都使他們得到不缺損的戒，具足三聚戒（三類菩薩戒：律儀戒、攝善法戒、饒益有情戒；《瑜伽師地論》稱此為「三種戒藏」）。（0405a23）假設有毀犯的，聽聞我的名號之後，還能重得清淨，不墮入惡趣。』
〔二·第六大願·諸根不具者具足〕（0405a25）『第六大願：願我未來世中證得菩提的時候，假使有情之中，（0405a26）其身低劣、諸根不具足——醜陋、頑愚（意根鈍）、盲、聾、瘖（不能出聲）、瘂（不能言語）、攣（手足彎曲）、躄（不能行走）、背僂（駝背）、白癩（皮膚之惡疾）、癲狂、以及種種病苦；（0405a27）聽聞我的名號之後，一切都得到端正黠慧（相端正、心明利），諸根完備具足，沒有種種疾苦。』
〔三·第七大願·無醫無親者病除資足〕（0405a29）『第七大願：願我未來世中證得菩提的時候，假使有情之中，（0405b01）眾病逼迫切身，無人救、無處歸，沒有醫、沒有藥，沒有親人、沒有家，貧窮而多苦；（0405b02）我的名號一經過他的耳，眾病全都得除，身心安樂，家屬與資生之具全都豐足，乃至證得無上菩提。』
〔四·第八大願·願捨女身者轉女成男〕（0405b05）『第八大願：願我未來世中證得菩提的時候，假使有女人，（0405b05）被為女的百般惡苦所逼迫惱害，極生厭離之心，自願捨去女身；（0405b07）聽聞我的名號之後，一切都得轉女成男，具足丈夫之相，乃至證得無上菩提。』
Xuanzang’s translation, T14n0450, from “the fifth great vow” to “until they realize unsurpassed awakening.” The figures in parentheses at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line. The vow-text is language of pledging; the plain reading keeps it as vow and does not turn it into narration.
〔1 · The fifth great vow · purity regained after a breach of the precepts〕（0405a21）“The fifth great vow: I vow that in an age to come, when I have attained awakening, if there are measureless, boundless sentient beings（0405a22）who practice the holy life within my Dharma, I shall cause them all to obtain precepts unbroken, and to be complete in the threefold precepts (the three classes of the bodhisattva precepts: the restraint precepts, the precepts embracing wholesome dharmas, and the precepts benefiting sentient beings; the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra calls these the three treasuries of precepts).（0405a23）And should any have broken them, then upon hearing my name they shall regain purity and shall not fall into evil destinies.”
〔2 · The sixth great vow · those whose faculties are not whole made whole〕（0405a25）“The sixth great vow: I vow that in an age to come, when I have attained awakening, if among sentient beings（0405a26）there are any whose body is lowly and whose faculties are not whole — ugly, dull and stupid (blunt in the faculty of mind), blind, deaf, mute (unable to make a sound), speechless (unable to form words), crippled in the limbs, unable to walk, hunchbacked, leprous, deranged, and afflicted with every kind of illness —（0405a27）then upon hearing my name they shall all become well-formed and quick of understanding (upright in form and clear in mind), their faculties whole and complete, without any of these sicknesses and pains.”
〔3 · The seventh great vow · the sick with no physician and no kin, their illness removed and their goods made ample〕（0405a29）“The seventh great vow: I vow that in an age to come, when I have attained awakening, if among sentient beings（0405b01）there are any pressed hard by a host of illnesses, with none to save them and nowhere to turn, without physician or medicine, without kin or home, poor and full of suffering,（0405b02）then let my name but once pass their ear, and their illnesses shall all be removed, body and mind shall be at ease, household and the goods of livelihood shall all be ample, and so on until they realize unsurpassed awakening.”
〔4 · The eighth great vow · those who would be free of a woman’s body, turned from woman to man〕（0405b05）“The eighth great vow: I vow that in an age to come, when I have attained awakening, if there is a woman（0405b05）oppressed and harassed by the hundred evils of being a woman, so that she conceives an extreme weariness of it and vows to cast off the body of a woman,（0405b07）then upon hearing my name she shall be turned from woman to man, complete in the marks of a man, and so on until she realizes unsurpassed awakening.”
前四願寫的是佛身：光明、相好、琉璃、焰網，末句才轉到眾生。從第五願起，經文換了寫法——先寫人的難處，再寫佛的名號進來。
這四願所寫的難處，一件比一件貼身：戒破了、身殘了、病重而無人照管、身為女人而受盡逼惱。
青丘沙門太賢的《本願藥師經古迹》把這四願配成兩對：願五、願六為「存戒存身門」——一存其戒，一存其身；願七、願八為「除內外苦門」——一除外緣之苦，一轉內緣之苦。本段也是這部疏訓釋最細的一段：願六十三個名相，他一個一個配到六根上去。
第五願：破了以後怎麼辦
第五願分兩截。上半是正面的：「於我法中修行梵行，一切皆令得不缺戒，具三聚戒」〔T14n0450 0405a22〕。
上半這一句裡有兩件事，不是一件：「不缺戒」是不缺，「具三聚戒」是具足。歷來的讀法把這兩件分別配過：「不缺重戒，具三聚故」〔T38n1770 0258b25〕——不缺，重在重戒不缺；具足，指三類戒都在。
三聚是哪三類，這一路所依的論說得明白：「謂律儀戒所攝戒藏，攝善法戒所攝戒藏，饒益有情戒所攝戒藏」〔T30n1579 0514b11〕。律儀戒是持守，攝善法戒是修善，饒益有情戒是利他。
而三者之中有一個是承重的：「此三種戒，由律儀戒之所攝持，令其和合」〔T30n1579 0711b26〕，「若能於此精勤守護，亦能精勤守護餘二」〔T30n1579 0711b27〕；反過來也成立——「是故若有毀律儀戒，名毀一切菩薩律儀」〔T30n1579 0711b29〕。
所以「不缺重戒」四個字不是隨口說的。重戒一缺，三聚俱動。
下半才是這一願真正的重量：「設有毀犯，聞我名已，還得清淨，不墮惡趣」〔T14n0450 0405a23〕。
「設有毀犯」四個字，是願文裡少見的口氣。它不假設人守得住。它假設有人守不住，然後為守不住的人留一條路。
這一節不是四本都有的。《灌頂》古譯本的第五願只誓「發大精進，淨持戒地令無濁穢」〔T21n1331 0532c15〕，往下是慎護、堅持、不犯——通篇沒有『破了以後』這一節。
一個願若只誓『令一切人持戒清淨』，聽起來更圓滿；可是真正持過戒的人知道，難處不在發心那一刻，在破了之後那一刻。人在那個時候最容易做的判斷是：既然已經破了，就算了。
第五願擋的正是這個判斷。
第六願：十三個名相，四對四
第六願列了一長串：「其身下劣，諸根不具，醜陋、頑愚、盲、聾、瘖、瘂、攣、躄、背僂、白癩、癲狂、種種病苦」〔T14n0450 0405a26〕。
讀起來像是把所有殘疾湊在一處。歷來的讀法卻指出這串名相是有結構的。
先分總別：「此中下劣，不具標句也」〔T38n1770 0258b26〕——「其身下劣，諸根不具」兩句是總標，不是名目。總標的意思是：「雖具諸根，不勝妙故及有缺故」〔T38n1770 0258b26〕；下劣有兩種，一種是諸根都在而不夠好，一種是根本缺了。
然後逐一配根：「言醜陋者，釋身下劣。言頑愚者，釋意下劣」〔T38n1770 0258b27〕——醜陋是身的下劣，頑愚是意的下劣。「盲聾等下，釋眼耳舌身根不具」〔T38n1770 0258b28〕——盲配眼，聾配耳，瘖瘂配舌，攣躄背僂白癩配身。「癲狂，釋意根不具」〔T38n1770 0258b29〕。至於鼻根沒有專門的名目，用一句總攝：「種種病苦，攝鼻等病」〔T38n1770 0258b29〕。
配完之後，最要緊的一句在後面：「端正等四，如次翻上」〔T38n1770 0258c01〕。
經文的果句是四個：端正、黠慧、諸根完具、無諸疾苦。這四個不是泛泛地說『都好了』，是逐一反轉前面的四類——端正翻醜陋，黠慧翻頑愚，諸根完具翻盲聾等，無諸疾苦翻種種病苦。
四對四，一個不落。
這樣讀有一個好處：它讓「一切皆得端正黠慧」不成為一句籠統的許諾。願是逐項回應的，前面說了什麼，後面就對什麼。
第七願：無救，無歸
第七願寫的是病中最壞的處境：「眾病逼切，無救無歸，無醫無藥，無親無家，貧窮多苦」〔T14n0450 0405b01〕。
「無救無歸」四個字，歷來的讀法把它當作兩個總標，各領下句：「無救者，標無醫藥也。無歸者，標無親等也」〔T38n1770 0258c02〕。
無救，是沒有人能把你從病裡拉出來——那是醫與藥的事。無歸，是病好了也沒有地方去——那是親與家的事。
一個人病重，缺的常常不只是治病的東西，還有病中被誰接著、病後回哪裡去。經文把這兩層分開寫，不合成一句『很可憐』。
而所與的，也照這兩層給：「今得佛醫法藥聖財，故除病等乃至豐足」〔T38n1770 0258c03〕——佛是醫，法是藥，聖財是資具。經文的果句正是兩層：「病悉得除，身心安樂」對前一層，「家屬資具，悉皆豐足」對後一層。
願不只把病治好就收手。
這第二層不是每個譯本都聽見了。四本之中——底本作「家屬資具，悉皆豐足」，義淨本作「眾病消散，眷屬增盛，資財無乏，身心安樂」〔T14n0451 0413b02〕，二本俱有；而隋本此願之果唯作「此人若得聞我名號，眾患悉除無諸痛惱」〔T14n0449 0401c22〕，古譯本唯作「我為此等攝大法藥，令諸疾病皆得除愈」〔T21n1331 0532c22〕——病除即止，不及所歸。
二有二無。並錄不判——而這一對照恰好照出底本自己的層次：它把「無救」與「無歸」分開寫，就在果句裡也分開答。病治好而無處可去，這一願不算圓滿。
第八願：以「厭離」為門
第八願是這四願中最須逐字讀的一願：「若有女人，為女百惡之所逼惱，極生厭離，願捨女身」〔T14n0450 0405b05〕；聞名之後「一切皆得轉女成男，具丈夫相」〔T14n0450 0405b07〕。
要看清楚的是條件句。這一願所被的，不是一切女人，是「極生厭離，願捨女身」〔T14n0450 0405b06〕者——經自己設了一道以自願為門的限。願在此不加於不願者。
歷來的注家於此引《涅槃經》為證：「一切女人皆是眾惡之所住處」〔T38n1770 0258c05〕。這一句是為釋經文「為女百惡之所逼惱」而舉的。古來如此讀，今照錄其語，不代它斷，也不替它緩。
而這一願所以與第七願同為一對，理由在「內外」二字：第七願除的是外緣逼切之苦——病、貧、無親；第八願轉的是內緣之苦——「二能轉內緣女身苦」〔T38n1770 0258c04〕。外緣可以拿掉，內緣要轉。一對之中，一個除，一個轉。
一句反覆出現的話
把這四願放在一起，會發現一件前四願沒有的事。
願五：「聞我名已，還得清淨」。願六：「聞我名已，一切皆得端正黠慧」。願七：「我之名號，一經其耳，病悉得除」〔T14n0450 0405b02〕。願八：「聞我名已，一切皆得轉女成男」。
四願之中三願作「聞我名已」，一願作「我之名號，一經其耳」——四願，四次聞名。
而前面的願一到願四，一次都沒有。
這是十二願走到一半時發生的轉折。前四願說的是佛成佛之後那個世界的樣子；從第五願起，經文開始交代這件事怎麼傳到人身上——靠一個名號被聽見。
我們如果問『這部經到底要人做什麼』，答案就是從這裡開始長出來的。後文整整幾大段的聞名利益、供養守護、救脫續命，都是這四個「聞我名已」的展開。
同一件事反覆四次，就不是修辭了，是樞紐。
難處寫得很實
最後看一件寫法上的事。
願二寫佛身，用了琉璃、用了焰網、用了「過於日月」——譬喻連著譬喻。而這一段寫人的難處，四願之中一個譬喻都沒有。
破戒就說破戒，盲聾就說盲聾，無醫無藥就說無醫無藥，被逼惱就說被逼惱。
寫佛的地方用譬，因為那是人沒見過的；寫人的地方不用譬，因為那是人已經在裡面的。已經在裡面的事，不需要打比方。
這一段的分量就在這裡。十二願不是十二句好聽的話——走到中間，它一項一項點到了人真正過不去的地方，而且點得很準：不是『若有人受苦』，是破了戒的人、缺了根的人、病了而沒人管的人、受夠了而想換一個身的人。
願要落到人身上，先得認得出那個人。
承衍——一路配六根，一路講故事
上來是本段自身的義。此下另以兩副眼旁照——鏡非經，只是同一組願，換兩種讀法來看；而這兩副眼不但配對不同，連說法的方式都全然兩路。
《本願藥師經古迹》（青丘沙門太賢撰）牒玄奘本而釋，上文之六根配屬、四對四之翻、「無救無歸」二標、佛醫法藥聖財之配，骨幹全出於此。他讀願的方式是分析的：把一串名相拆開，一一歸位，再看果句如何逐項回應。這一路的長處，是讓願文不能含糊——每一個字都得有著落。
敦煌所出的失名疏（T85n2766，首已殘缺）牒《灌頂》古譯本，走的是另一條路：它講故事。
釋精進，它舉鹿王之事——「昔有大杯樹多諸禽獸野火來燒三邊俱起」〔T85n2766 0309b14〕，野火三面燒來，眾獸逃到水邊無路，那頭大鹿以前後足跨住兩岸，讓眾獸踏著自己的背過去，皮肉磨盡而「以慈愍力忍之」〔T85n2766 0309b17〕；到最後「一兔來氣力以竭自強」〔T85n2766 0309b18〕，牠再強起一口氣讓兔子過去，於是「背折墮水而死」〔T85n2766 0309b19〕。
——精進二字，它不下定義，它讓你看見最後那一隻兔子。
釋諸根不具，它逐一舉業因：「盲者」〔T85n2766 0309b23〕由「先世重罪」〔T85n2766 0309b24〕，破人之眼、破正見之眼、盜塔中燈明；「聾者何因」〔T85n2766 0309b25〕——「答曰師文教訓不受不行而返瞋恚」〔T85n2766 0309b26〕，又截人之耳、盜塔寺之物；瘂由截舌、塞口、與惡藥，或聞師父母之教而不用。癲狂則由擾亂坐禪之人，並舉兩件人間之事：一個婆羅門失了稻田又喪妻，當下發狂裸走；一位比丘尼七個孩子接連死去，憂愁太重而失心。
它還別立一目叫「裸形狂」，說有一種狂，人人看得出來；另有一種狂，自己不覺得而別人也不當他是狂。說到這裡它記了一場論議：南天竺有法師高座說五戒，外道群起發難，法師只以手指指著那群外道，改說別事——灰塗身、以髑髏盛糞而食、拔髮臥刺、冬則入水夏則火炙，這些行為，才是狂相。
這一路以業因與本生說願，那一路以六根配屬說願。一個要你看見，一個要你分清。同一段願文，兩種講法各有各的用場——而它們所依的，本來就不是同一個譯本。
至於另一卷敦煌失名疏（T85n2767），所牒為隋本，其現存部分自國土一節之末起，十二願通篇不在其中，本段無可徵引。查無即記無。
經自己則兩樣都不做。它既不分析也不舉例，只是把難處一項一項寫下來，然後在每一項後面放上同一句話：聞我名已。
The first four vows wrote the buddha-body: light, marks, beryl, a net of flame, and only at the closing clause a turn toward beings. From vow five onward the sūtra changes its manner of writing — first the difficulty a person is in, and then the buddha’s name coming into it.
The difficulties written in these four vows come closer to the bone one after another: the precepts broken, the body maimed, illness heavy with no one to look after one, and the being oppressed and harassed as a woman.
The Ancient Traces on the Medicine Buddha’s Original-Vow Sūtra, by Taehyŏn, śramaṇa of Ch’ŏnggu, matches these four into two pairs: vows five and six as the gate of preserving precepts and preserving the body — one preserving the precepts, one preserving the body; vows seven and eight as the gate of removing inner and outer suffering — one removing the suffering of outer conditions, one turning the suffering of inner condition. This passage is also the most finely trained stretch in that commentary: the thirteen terms of vow six he assigns one by one to the six faculties.
Vow Five: What to Do After It Is Broken
Vow five falls into two halves. The upper half is put positively: 「於我法中修行梵行，一切皆令得不缺戒，具三聚戒」—“who practice the holy life within my Dharma, I shall cause them all to obtain precepts unbroken, and to be complete in the threefold precepts.” 〔T14n0450 0405a22〕
There are two matters in that clause, not one: “precepts unbroken” is about nothing being missing, “complete in the threefold precepts” is about all being present. The reading handed down matched the two separately: 「不缺重戒，具三聚故」—“because the grave precepts are unbroken and the threefold precepts complete” 〔T38n1770 0258b25〕 — unbroken, with the weight on the grave precepts not being broken; complete, meaning all three classes of precepts are there.
Which three classes, the treatise this line relies on states plainly: 「謂律儀戒所攝戒藏，攝善法戒所攝戒藏，饒益有情戒所攝戒藏」—“that is, the treasury of precepts gathered under the restraint precepts, the treasury of precepts gathered under the precepts embracing wholesome dharmas, and the treasury of precepts gathered under the precepts benefiting sentient beings.” 〔T30n1579 0514b11〕 The restraint precepts are the keeping and guarding, the precepts embracing wholesome dharmas are the cultivating of good, the precepts benefiting sentient beings are the benefiting of others.
And of the three, one bears the load: 「此三種戒，由律儀戒之所攝持，令其和合」—“These three kinds of precept are held together and gathered by the restraint precepts, which make them accord.” 〔T30n1579 0711b26〕, 「若能於此精勤守護，亦能精勤守護餘二」—“If one can diligently guard this, one can diligently guard the other two as well.” 〔T30n1579 0711b27〕; and the reverse holds too — 「是故若有毀律儀戒，名毀一切菩薩律儀」—“Therefore if one breaks the restraint precepts, that is called breaking all the bodhisattva restraints.” 〔T30n1579 0711b29〕
So the words “the grave precepts unbroken” are not casually said. Let a grave precept go, and all three classes are shaken.
The lower half is where the real weight of this vow lies: 「設有毀犯，聞我名已，還得清淨，不墮惡趣」—“And should any have broken them, then upon hearing my name they shall regain purity and shall not fall into evil destinies.” 〔T14n0450 0405a23〕
“Should any have broken them” is a rare turn in a vow-text. It does not assume that people will hold. It assumes that some will not hold, and then leaves a road open for those who do not.
This section is not in all four recensions. Vow five of the old Consecration translation pledges only 「發大精進，淨持戒地令無濁穢」—“to raise great vigour, purely keeping the ground of the precepts so that it is without turbidity or stain” 〔T21n1331 0532c15〕, and goes on to careful guarding, firm holding, and not transgressing — nowhere in it is there a section on “after it is broken.”
A vow that pledged only “that all shall keep the precepts in purity” would sound more complete; but anyone who has actually kept precepts knows that the hard place is not the moment of resolve, it is the moment after the break. What a person most easily concludes at that moment is: since it is broken already, let it go.
That conclusion is exactly what vow five blocks.
Vow Six: Thirteen Terms, Matched Four to Four
Vow six sets out a long string: 「其身下劣，諸根不具，醜陋、頑愚、盲、聾、瘖、瘂、攣、躄、背僂、白癩、癲狂、種種病苦」—“their body lowly and their faculties not whole — ugly, dull and stupid, blind, deaf, mute, speechless, crippled in the limbs, unable to walk, hunchbacked, leprous, deranged, and afflicted with every kind of illness.” 〔T14n0450 0405a26〕
It reads like every disability heaped into one place. The reading handed down points out that this string has a structure.
First the general and the particular are divided: 「此中下劣，不具標句也」—“Here ‘lowly’ and ‘not complete’ are the sentences of general heading.” 〔T38n1770 0258b26〕 — “their body lowly” and “their faculties not whole” are the general heading, not items in the list. And the sense of that heading is 「雖具諸根，不勝妙故及有缺故」—“Though the faculties be complete, they are not fine and excellent; or else something is lacking.” 〔T38n1770 0258b26〕; lowliness is of two kinds, one where all the faculties are present but not good enough, one where something is missing outright.
Then each is matched to a faculty: 「言醜陋者，釋身下劣。言頑愚者，釋意下劣」—“‘Ugly’ glosses lowliness of body; ‘dull and stupid’ glosses lowliness of mind.” 〔T38n1770 0258b27〕 — ugliness is lowliness of body, dullness and stupidity lowliness of mind. 「盲聾等下，釋眼耳舌身根不具」—“From ‘blind and deaf’ onward glosses the incompleteness of the faculties of eye, ear, tongue, and body.” 〔T38n1770 0258b28〕 — blind to the eye, deaf to the ear, mute and speechless to the tongue, crippled and unable to walk and hunchbacked and leprous to the body. 「癲狂，釋意根不具」—“‘Deranged’ glosses the incompleteness of the faculty of mind.” 〔T38n1770 0258b29〕 As for the nose, it has no item of its own, and one clause gathers it in: 「種種病苦，攝鼻等病」—“‘Every kind of illness’ gathers in the illnesses of the nose and the rest.” 〔T38n1770 0258b29〕
The matching done, the most important sentence comes after: 「端正等四，如次翻上」—“The four beginning with ‘well-formed’ reverse the above in order.” 〔T38n1770 0258c01〕
The fruit-clause of the sūtra has four members: well-formed, quick of understanding, faculties whole and complete, without sicknesses and pains. These four are not a loose “all better now”; they reverse, one by one, the four classes above — well-formed reverses ugly, quick of understanding reverses dull and stupid, faculties whole and complete reverses blind and deaf and the rest, without sicknesses and pains reverses every kind of illness.
Four to four, with nothing left over.
Reading it this way has an advantage: it keeps “they shall all become well-formed and quick of understanding” from being a blanket promise. The vow answers item by item; whatever was said before is what is answered after.
Vow Seven: None to Save, Nowhere to Turn
Vow seven writes the worst situation of illness: 「眾病逼切，無救無歸，無醫無藥，無親無家，貧窮多苦」—“pressed hard by a host of illnesses, with none to save them and nowhere to turn, without physician or medicine, without kin or home, poor and full of suffering.” 〔T14n0450 0405b01〕
The four characters “none to save, nowhere to turn” are taken by the reading handed down as two headings, each governing the clause below it: 「無救者，標無醫藥也。無歸者，標無親等也」—“‘None to save’ heads what follows about having no physician or medicine. ‘Nowhere to turn’ heads what follows about having no kin and the rest.” 〔T38n1770 0258c02〕
None to save is that no one can pull you out of the illness — a matter of physician and medicine. Nowhere to turn is that even when the illness passes there is no place to go — a matter of kin and home.
When a person is gravely ill, what is missing is often not only the means of treatment, but who will take them in during it and where they will return to after. The sūtra writes these two layers apart, and does not fold them into one sigh of pity.
And what is given follows the same two layers: 「今得佛醫法藥聖財，故除病等乃至豐足」—“Now they obtain the Buddha as physician, the Dharma as medicine, and the noble wealth; and so illness and the rest are removed, on to ampleness.” 〔T38n1770 0258c03〕 — the Buddha is physician, the Dharma is medicine, the noble wealth is the goods of livelihood. The sūtra’s fruit-clause is exactly two layers as well: “their illnesses shall all be removed, body and mind shall be at ease” answers the first, “household and the goods of livelihood shall all be ample” answers the second.
The vow does not stop once the illness is cured.
That second layer was not heard by every translator. Among the four — the base text reads “household and the goods of livelihood shall all be ample,” and Yijing reads 「眾病消散，眷屬增盛，資財無乏，身心安樂」—“the host of illnesses shall disperse, kinsfolk shall increase and flourish, goods and wealth shall not be lacking, body and mind shall be at ease” 〔T14n0451 0413b02〕; both have it. But the Sui version’s fruit for this vow reads only 「此人若得聞我名號，眾患悉除無諸痛惱」—“If such a person gets to hear my name, the host of afflictions shall all be removed, without any pain or distress” 〔T14n0449 0401c22〕, and the old translation only 「我為此等攝大法藥，令諸疾病皆得除愈」—“for such as these I shall gather the great medicine of the Dharma, causing all illnesses to be healed” 〔T21n1331 0532c22〕 — illness removed and there it stops, with nothing of where one is to return to.
Two have it, two do not. Recorded without adjudication — and the comparison brings out the layering in the base text itself: having written “none to save” and “nowhere to turn” apart, it answers them apart in the fruit-clause too. Cured and with nowhere to go, this vow would not count itself complete.
Vow Eight: Weariness Is the Gate
Vow eight is the one of these four that must be read most closely word by word: 「若有女人，為女百惡之所逼惱，極生厭離，願捨女身」—“if there is a woman oppressed and harassed by the hundred evils of being a woman, so that she conceives an extreme weariness of it and vows to cast off the body of a woman” 〔T14n0450 0405b05〕; and after hearing the name, 「一切皆得轉女成男，具丈夫相」—“she shall be turned from woman to man, complete in the marks of a man.” 〔T14n0450 0405b07〕
What must be seen clearly is the conditional clause. Those upon whom this vow acts are not all women, but the one who 「極生厭離，願捨女身」—“conceives an extreme weariness of it and vows to cast off the body of a woman” 〔T14n0450 0405b06〕 — the sūtra itself sets a limit whose gate is her own willing. The vow is not laid here upon one who does not will it.
The commentators of old cite the Nirvāṇa Sūtra here as witness: 「一切女人皆是眾惡之所住處」—“All women are the dwelling place of the multitude of evils.” 〔T38n1770 0258c05〕 This sentence is raised in order to gloss the sūtra’s “oppressed and harassed by the hundred evils of being a woman.” So it was read of old; the words are recorded here as they stand, neither adjudicated in their stead nor softened on their behalf.
And the reason this vow makes a pair with vow seven lies in the words inner and outer: what vow seven removes is suffering pressed on by outer conditions — illness, poverty, having no kin; what vow eight turns is suffering of inner condition — 「二能轉內緣女身苦」—“the second is able to turn the suffering of a woman’s body, which is of inner condition.” 〔T38n1770 0258c04〕 Outer conditions can be taken away; inner condition has to be turned. Within one pair, one removes and one turns.
One Sentence That Keeps Coming Back
Put the four vows side by side and something appears that the first four did not have.
Vow five: upon hearing my name they shall regain purity. Vow six: upon hearing my name they shall all become well-formed and quick of understanding. Vow seven: 「我之名號，一經其耳，病悉得除」—“let my name but once pass their ear, and their illnesses shall all be removed.” 〔T14n0450 0405b02〕 Vow eight: upon hearing my name she shall be turned from woman to man.
Three of the four read “upon hearing my name,” one reads “let my name but once pass their ear” — four vows, four hearings of the name.
And in vows one through four there is not a single one.
This is the turn that happens halfway through the twelve vows. The first four spoke of what that world is like after he becomes a buddha; from vow five onward the sūtra begins to hand over how this reaches a person — by a name being heard.
If we ask what this sūtra actually wants a person to do, the answer starts growing from here. The whole later stretches on the benefits of hearing the name, on making offerings and being guarded, on rescue, deliverance, and the prolonging of life, are the unfolding of these four occurrences of “upon hearing my name.”
One and the same thing said four times over is no longer a turn of style. It is a pivot.
The Difficulties Are Written Very Plainly
One last matter of manner.
Vow two wrote the buddha-body with beryl, with a net of flame, with “surpassing the sun and moon” — figure upon figure. This passage, writing human difficulty, has not one simile in all four vows.
A broken precept is called a broken precept, blindness and deafness are called blindness and deafness, no physician and no medicine is called no physician and no medicine, being oppressed and harassed is called being oppressed and harassed.
Where the buddha is written, figures are used, because that is what a person has never seen; where the human is written, figures are not used, because that is what a person is already inside. What one is already inside needs no comparison.
Here is where the weight of this passage lies. The twelve vows are not twelve fine-sounding sentences — arriving at the middle, they touch, item by item, the places a person really cannot get past, and touch them precisely: not “if anyone suffers,” but the one who broke a precept, the one missing a faculty, the one ill with no one to care, the one who has had enough and wants a different body.
For a vow to come down upon a person, it must first be able to recognize that person.
Transmission — One Line Matches the Six Faculties, the Other Tells Stories
The above is the sense of the passage itself. Below, two eyes cast their light from the side — the mirror is not the sūtra, only the same set of vows seen through two ways of reading; and these two eyes differ not only in their pairing but wholly in their manner of exposition.
The Ancient Traces on the Medicine Buddha’s Original-Vow Sūtra (by Taehyŏn, śramaṇa of Ch’ŏnggu) follows Xuanzang’s version and glosses it; the assignment to the six faculties, the four-to-four reversal, the two headings of “none to save, nowhere to turn,” and the matching of Buddha as physician, Dharma as medicine, and noble wealth all come from it in their whole frame. Its way of reading a vow is analytic: take a string of terms apart, put each in its place, and then see how the fruit-clause answers each in turn. The strength of this line is that it will not let a vow-text be vague — every character must have somewhere to land.
The anonymous commentary recovered at Dunhuang (T85n2766, its opening already lost) follows the old Consecration translation, and takes another road: it tells stories.
Glossing vigour, it raises the matter of the deer-king — 「昔有大杯樹多諸禽獸野火來燒三邊俱起」—“Of old there was a great cup-tree with many birds and beasts, and a wildfire came burning, rising on three sides at once” 〔T85n2766 0309b14〕 — the wildfire coming on from three sides, the beasts fleeing to the water’s edge with no way out, and that great deer spanning the two banks with its fore and hind feet so the beasts could cross over its back, its hide and flesh worn utterly away while 「以慈愍力忍之」—“by the power of kindness and pity it bore it” 〔T85n2766 0309b17〕; and at the very last 「一兔來氣力以竭自強」—“a hare came when its strength was already spent, and it forced itself” 〔T85n2766 0309b18〕, rousing one more breath so the hare could pass, whereupon 「背折墮水而死」—“its back broke and it fell into the water and died” 〔T85n2766 0309b19〕.
— Of vigour it lays down no definition; it makes you see that last hare.
Glossing faculties not whole, it raises the karmic causes one by one: 「盲者」—“the blind” 〔T85n2766 0309b23〕 come of 「先世重罪」—“grave sins of a former life” 〔T85n2766 0309b24〕 — destroying another’s eyes, destroying the eye of right view, stealing the lamp-flames of a stūpa; 「聾者何因」—“From what cause the deaf?” 〔T85n2766 0309b25〕 — 「答曰師文教訓不受不行而返瞋恚」—“Answer: not receiving and not practicing the instruction of a teacher’s words, but turning to anger instead.” 〔T85n2766 0309b26〕, and further cutting off another’s ears and stealing the goods of stūpa and monastery; speechlessness from cutting off a tongue, stopping a mouth, giving evil medicine, or hearing the instruction of teacher and parents and not using it. Derangement it lays to disturbing those who sit in meditation, and it raises two matters from human life: a brahmin who lost his rice-field and then his wife, and went mad on the spot and ran out naked; and a bhikṣuṇī whose seven children died one after another, until grief was too heavy and her mind gave way.
It also sets up a separate item called “naked derangement,” saying that there is one kind of madness everyone can see, and another kind that the person himself does not feel and others do not take for madness. Coming to this it records a debate: in South India a Dharma master on the high seat was expounding the five precepts, and when the followers of the outer paths rose together to challenge him, he only pointed his finger at that crowd and turned to another subject — smearing the body with ashes, eating from skulls filled with filth, pulling out the hair and lying on thorns, entering water in winter and roasting by fire in summer: these are the marks of derangement.
This line speaks of the vows by karmic causes and birth-stories; that line speaks of them by assigning the six faculties. One would have you see; the other would have you distinguish. One and the same vow-text, and each way of telling has its own use — and what they rest on was never the same translation to begin with.
As for the other Dunhuang scroll (T85n2767), it follows the Sui version, and what survives of it begins at the end of that version’s section on the land; the twelve vows are absent from it throughout, so nothing from it can be cited for this passage. Searched and not found is recorded as not found.
The sūtra itself does neither of these things. It neither analyses nor illustrates. It only writes the difficulties down one by one, and after each one sets the same sentence: upon hearing my name.
考據Apparatus
全段定位 本段為十二大願之願五至願八，屬「廣說門」六對中之第三、第四對——存戒存身門（願五、六）與除內外苦門（願七、八）。本段是逐文鏡逐字訓釋最密之處：願六「其身下劣」以下十三名相，鏡逐一配屬六根，並斷「端正等四，如次翻上」。四譯之中，願五、六、七三願四本大體相當，唯願八所誓《灌頂》本全異（彼本願八誓講宣妙法入智慧門，非轉女成男）。異同並錄，不判優劣。
一、科判定位
| 對 | 願 | 疏文逐字 | 錨 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 三·存戒存身門 | 願五、願六 | 「三存戒存身門，即次二願，不缺重戒，具三聚故、六根之身皆得淨故」 | 〔T38n1770 0258b24〕 |
| 四·除內外苦門 | 願七、願八 | 「四除內外苦門，即次二願，一能除外緣逼切苦」 | 〔T38n1770 0258c01〕 |
除內外苦門之二支：一除外緣逼切苦（願七·病·無醫無親），二轉內緣女身苦（願八）—— 「二能轉內緣女身苦」〔T38n1770 0258c04〕。內外之分即在此：病與貧來自外緣，身之所受屬內緣。
| 願 | 經文起訖逐字（各繫其錨） |
|---|---|
| 五 | 「第五大願：願我來世得菩提時」〔T14n0450 0405a21〕…「設有毀犯，聞我名已，還得清淨，不墮惡趣」〔T14n0450 0405a23〕 |
| 六 | 「第六大願：願我來世得菩提時」〔T14n0450 0405a25〕…「聞我名已，一切皆得端正黠慧。諸根完具，無諸疾苦」〔T14n0450 0405a27〕 |
| 七 | 「第七大願：願我來世得菩提時」〔T14n0450 0405a29〕…「我之名號，一經其耳，病悉得除，身心安樂，家屬資具，悉皆豐足，乃至證得無上菩提」〔T14n0450 0405b02〕 |
| 八 | 「第八大願：願我來世得菩提時」〔T14n0450 0405b05〕…「聞我名已，一切皆得轉女成男，具丈夫相，乃至證得無上菩提」〔T14n0450 0405b07〕 |
二、異譯對勘（一經四譯·異同誌錄不判）
| 願 | 玄奘 T14n0450（底本） | 隋笈多 T14n0449 | 唐義淨 T14n0451 | 東晉《灌頂經》卷十二 T21n1331 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 五 | 「於我法中修行梵行，一切皆令得不缺戒，具三聚戒」〔T14n0450 0405a22〕·「設有毀犯，聞我名已，還得清淨，不墮惡趣」〔T14n0450 0405a23〕 | 「第五大願：願我來世得菩提時」〔T14n0449 0401c12〕以下 | 「於我法中修行梵行，一切皆令得不缺戒」〔T14n0451 0413a21〕 | 戒而不及還淨：「使我來世發大精進，淨持戒地令無濁穢」〔T21n1331 0532c15〕 |
| 六 | 「其身下劣，諸根不具，醜陋、頑愚、盲、聾、瘖、瘂、攣、躄、背僂、白癩、癲狂、種種病苦」〔T14n0450 0405a26〕 | — | 「諸根不具、醜陋頑痹、聾盲瘖瘂、攣躄背僂、白癩瘨狂」〔T14n0451 0413a25〕 | 「諸根毀敗盲者使視」〔T21n1331 0532c18〕 |
| 七 | 「眾病逼切，無救無歸，無醫無藥，無親無家，貧窮多苦」〔T14n0450 0405b01〕 | — | — | 「若有苦惱無救護者，我為此等攝大法藥」〔T21n1331 0532c21〕 |
| 八 | 「若有女人，為女百惡之所逼惱，極生厭離，願捨女身」〔T14n0450 0405b05〕 | 「第八大願」〔T14n0449 0401c25〕以下 | — | 所誓全異：「以善業因緣，為諸愚冥無量眾生講宣妙法，令得度脫入智慧門」〔T21n1331 0532c24〕 |
誌錄不判五事：
- 願五之「還淨」一節唯後三譯有：底本、隋本、義淨本皆有『設有毀犯…還得清淨』之意；《灌頂》本願五唯誓持戒無濁穢、堅持不犯，不及毀犯還淨。此為戒門之一大差別（有無『破後可補』一節）。
- 願六之名相數：底本列十三目（下劣·諸根不具·醜陋·頑愚·盲·聾·瘖·瘂·攣·躄·背僂·白癩·癲狂·種種病苦）；義淨本作「醜陋頑痹」（痹／愚異字）、「白癩瘨狂」（瘨／癲異字）；《灌頂》本則以「盲者使視，䏊者能聽啞者得語，軁者能申跛者能行」〔T21n1331 0532c18〕之對句出之，體式異而非目數異。
- 願七之所與：底本除病之外兼許「家屬資具，悉皆豐足」；《灌頂》本唯言「攝大法藥，令諸疾病皆得除愈」，不及資具。
- 願八所誓四本二型：底本、隋本、義淨本作轉女成男；《灌頂》本作講宣妙法、入智慧門——與前三本非同一願。
- 「瘖」「瘂」二字底本分列，義淨本作「瘖瘂」連文；底本「攣」字校記記「元作癮」（見目九）。
五事並錄，不判優劣、不據以改底本一字。
三、經論宗依（眼）
逐文鏡於本段引經一處——釋願八之女身苦，引《涅槃經》：
「一切女人皆是眾惡之所住處」〔T38n1770 0258c05〕
引據之位置須看清：此引繫於「二能轉內緣女身苦」〔T38n1770 0258c04〕之下，是為釋經文所言之「為女百惡之所逼惱」而舉，非別立一義。經文自身之條件句為「極生厭離，願捨女身」〔T14n0450 0405b06〕——所轉者是自願捨離者之身，願不加於不願者。經與鏡之語並錄如上，不代其斷、不為之緩（Rule 9 引據唯經與古德）。
願五之「三聚戒」：底本作「具三聚戒」〔T14n0450 0405a23〕，鏡釋作「不缺重戒，具三聚故」〔T38n1770 0258b25〕——以不缺重戒配「不缺戒」，以三聚配「具三聚戒」，逐字相當。
四、本段釋要（逐文鏡逐文·本段最詳）
願六十三名相之逐一配屬（本帙鏡訓釋最密之處）：
- 標句之判：「此中下劣，不具標句也」〔T38n1770 0258b26〕——「其身下劣，諸根不具」二語是總標，非別目。
- 總標之義：「雖具諸根，不勝妙故及有缺故」〔T38n1770 0258b26〕——下劣者，或諸根雖具而不勝妙，或竟有所缺。
- 「言醜陋者，釋身下劣。言頑愚者，釋意下劣」〔T38n1770 0258b27〕——醜陋屬身，頑愚屬意。
- 「盲聾等下，釋眼耳舌身根不具」〔T38n1770 0258b28〕——盲配眼，聾配耳，瘖瘂配舌，攣躄背僂白癩配身。
- 「癲狂，釋意根不具」〔T38n1770 0258b29〕——癲狂屬意根。
- 「種種病苦，攝鼻等病」〔T38n1770 0258b29〕——鼻根獨無專目，以「種種病苦」總攝之。
- 「端正等四，如次翻上」〔T38n1770 0258c01〕——果之四句（端正·黠慧·諸根完具·無諸疾苦）逐一反轉因之四類：端正翻醜陋，黠慧翻頑愚，諸根完具翻盲聾等，無諸疾苦翻種種病苦。
⇒ 願六之因果非泛言，是四對四。此判使「一切皆得端正黠慧。諸根完具，無諸疾苦」一句不作籠統之許。
願七之「無救無歸」二語：「無救者，標無醫藥也。無歸者，標無親等也」〔T38n1770 0258c02〕—— 無救指無醫無藥，無歸指無親無家；經文下句「無醫無藥，無親無家」正是此二語之展開。 所與者三事：「今得佛醫法藥聖財，故除病等乃至豐足」〔T38n1770 0258c03〕——佛為醫、法為藥、聖財為資， 以配經文之「病悉得除」與「家屬資具，悉皆豐足」。
五、諸家異釋（三疏分欄·誌錄不判）
| 鏡 | 所牒之本 | 逐字 | 錨 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 《本願藥師經古迹》（青丘沙門太賢撰） | 玄奘本（與底本同） | 「三存戒存身門，即次二願，不缺重戒，具三聚故、六根之身皆得淨故」 | 〔T38n1770 0258b24〕 |
| 敦煌失名《藥師經疏》（T85n2766·殘卷·首闕） | 《灌頂》本 | 「第五願者此下兩段」 | 〔T85n2766 0309b10〕 |
| 敦煌失名《藥師經疏》（T85n2767） | 隋笈多本 | 本段零命中（已查 T85n2767：現存 0310c14–0327c17，其牒經始於彼本國土一節之末，十二願無文） | — |
二疏之對配於本段分道——《古迹》以願五、六為一對（存戒存身），願七、八為一對（除內外苦）； T85n2766 則以願五、六為「自行化他」一雙〔T85n2766 0309b11〕，願七、八為「就慈悲體」一雙 〔T85n2766 0310b05〕。二科並錄，不設調停。
T85n2766 於願五（彼本誓「發大精進」）以本生譚釋精進：「精進者」〔T85n2766 0309b13〕之下舉鹿王之事—— 「昔有大杯樹多諸禽獸野火來燒三邊俱起」〔T85n2766 0309b14〕，鹿以前後足跨兩岸為橋令眾獸蹈背而度， 皮肉盡壞而「以慈愍力忍之」〔T85n2766 0309b17〕；至最後「一兔來氣力以竭自強」〔T85n2766 0309b18〕， 強起怒力令其得過，遂「背折墮水而死」〔T85n2766 0309b19〕。又釋彼本「戒地」之名：「所以名戒為地者」 〔T85n2766 0309b21〕——地能生眾善，故以地譬戒。
T85n2766 於願六（「第六願者。此明外化盲聾眾生」〔T85n2766 0309b23〕）逐一舉諸根不具之業因： 「盲者」〔T85n2766 0309b23〕由「先世重罪」〔T85n2766 0309b24〕，破或出眾生眼、破正見眼、盜塔中珠火燈明； 「聾者何因」〔T85n2766 0309b25〕——「答曰師文教訓不受不行而返瞋恚」〔T85n2766 0309b26〕， 又截破眾生耳、盜佛塔僧塔物及揵推鈴；啞由截他舌、塞其口、與惡藥、不用師教父母語； 狂由破坐禪人（並舉婆羅門失稻田喪婦而狂、翅舍伽憍曇比丘尼七子皆死憂愁失心二事）。 又別立「裸形狂」一目，舉南天竺法師以指指外道而不言之事，以外道灰塗身、髑髏盛糞、拔髮臥刺、 冬入水夏火炙諸行為「狂相」。此一路以業因與本生譚說願，與《古迹》以六根配屬說願，路徑全異。
T85n2766 於願七、願八分悲與慈：「初一願是悲願」〔T85n2766 0310b06〕——願七屬悲（拔苦）； 「第八願者。第二明慈體」〔T85n2766 0310b12〕——願八屬慈（與樂）。彼本願八既誓講宣妙法， 故其釋以度脫為實智、入智慧門為權智。此配唯就《灌頂》本之願八為說，底本願八所誓非此，不可移用。
T85n2766 之寫本狀況：敦煌寫本殘卷，首已闕，文中訛字與缺字（□）時見，凡引皆照寫本之字， 不擅改、不擅補。
六、術語（首見名相）
| 名相 | 釋義所據（逐字各繫其錨） |
|---|---|
| 梵行 | 底本作「於我法中修行梵行，一切皆令得不缺戒，具三聚戒」〔T14n0450 0405a22〕 |
| 三聚戒 | 鏡釋作「不缺重戒，具三聚故」〔T38n1770 0258b25〕；底本作「具三聚戒」〔T14n0450 0405a23〕 |
| 其身下劣·諸根不具 | 屬總標非別目：「此中下劣，不具標句也」〔T38n1770 0258b26〕·「雖具諸根，不勝妙故及有缺故」〔T38n1770 0258b26〕 |
| 醜陋·頑愚 | 「言醜陋者，釋身下劣。言頑愚者，釋意下劣」〔T38n1770 0258b27〕 |
| 盲·聾·瘖·瘂·攣·躄·背僂·白癩 | 「盲聾等下，釋眼耳舌身根不具」〔T38n1770 0258b28〕；義淨本作「攣躄背僂、白癩瘨狂」〔T14n0451 0413a26〕 |
| 癲狂 | 「癲狂，釋意根不具」〔T38n1770 0258b29〕 |
| 端正黠慧 | 果之四句反轉因之四類：「端正等四，如次翻上」〔T38n1770 0258c01〕 |
| 無救·無歸 | 「無救者，標無醫藥也。無歸者，標無親等也」〔T38n1770 0258c02〕 |
| 轉女成男 | 底本作「聞我名已，一切皆得轉女成男，具丈夫相，乃至證得無上菩提」〔T14n0450 0405b07〕；其條件句為「極生厭離，願捨女身」〔T14n0450 0405b06〕 |
七、譬喻·修辭
- 經文自用之譬：本段四願皆直陳無譬。願五至願八所寫者為戒之毀犯、身之殘缺、病之逼切、身之厭離—— 皆實事，經不設譬。與願二之琉璃焰網成對照：寫佛身則用譬，寫眾生之苦則不用譬。
- 鏡疏用譬（《古迹》）：唯「佛醫法藥聖財」一組〔T38n1770 0258c03〕——以醫、藥、財三事配佛、法、聖財， 就經文之「無醫無藥」翻轉而立。
- 旁照之疏用譬極繁（所牒非底本）：鹿王捨身為橋〔T85n2766 0309b14〕以譬精進； 戒以地為譬〔T85n2766 0309b21〕（地能生眾善）；並以本生譚與業因故事說願，非以名相說願。
- 修辭：四願之句式與前段同（標願＋所被之機＋聞名＋所得），而「聞我名已」「我之名號，一經其耳」 於本段四見其三（願五、六、八作「聞我名已」，願七作「我之名號，一經其耳」）—— 願三、願四無此一節。⇒ 自願五起，「聞名」成為願文之常句（願五至八四見；願十至十二又三見「若聞我名」「得聞我名」；唯願九無之），正是後文聞名利益一大段之伏筆。
八、徵引承衍
- 《涅槃經》為證〔T38n1770 0258c05〕——釋願八女身苦所引，涅槃部之語入願經之疏。
- 軸內對讀點：願六之諸根不具與地藏二經之業報名相同屬一類語域（
canon/benyuan/dizang／shilun）， 屆時可互讀。 - 「聞名」樞紐之承衍：本段所立之「聞我名已」句式，於本經後文聞名利益、供養守護、救脫續命三大段 逐段展開；四譯皆守此樞紐。
- 本段被本 corpus 其餘各帙徵引者，零命中。
九、校本定位
大正藏校記（<app>）本單元域內四處：
| 錨 | 底本 | 異讀 | 見證 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0405a26 | 「攣」 | 癮 | 元 |
| 0405a28 | 「疾」 | 病 | 敦 |
| 0405b02 | 〔麗藏出校〕 | 麗本「病」上有「眾」字 | 大正藏出校 |
| 0405b02 | 「得」 | 〔無〕 | 宋·元·明·宮·敦 |
第一條在願六之身病列（底本「攣、躄、背僂」，元本「攣」作「癮」）；第二條在願六之果句 （底本「無諸疾苦」，敦本作「無諸病苦」）。後二條同在願七之果句——底本作 「我之名號，一經其耳，病悉得除」〔T14n0450 0405b02〕，麗藏於「病」上有「眾」字， 而宋元明宮敦五本俱無「得」字。
逐文鏡所牒於此二處俱不同底本：其牒作「我之名號一經其耳，眾病悉除」〔T38n1770 0258a29〕—— 有「眾」字（同麗藏）而無「得」字（同五本）。此為本帙鏡與底本分流之第二例 （第一例為「琉／瑠」，鏡同敦本）。誌錄不判，不據以改底本一字。
四本於願六名相用字之異（非校記，屬譯例）：底本「頑愚」／義淨本「頑痹」；底本「癲狂」／義淨本「瘨狂」。 誌錄不判。
gaiji：本單元零命中。 夾註：本單元零命中。
Placement of the passage as a whole. This passage holds vows five through eight of the twelve great vows, belonging to the third and fourth of the six pairs of the gate of extensive exposition — the gate of preserving precepts and preserving the body (vows five and six) and the gate of removing inner and outer suffering (vows seven and eight). This is the place where the word-by-word mirror trains the text most closely: for the thirteen terms from “his body lowly” onward in vow six, the mirror assigns each in turn to one of the six faculties, and judges that “the four beginning with ‘well-formed’ reverse the above in order.” Of the four translations, vows five, six, and seven correspond broadly in all four; only in vow eight does what the Consecration version pledges differ entirely (there vow eight pledges the proclaiming of the wondrous Dharma and entry into the gate of wisdom, not the turning from woman to man). The divergences stand recorded together; no ranking of better and worse is imposed.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
| Pair | Vows | Verbatim from the commentary | Anchor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three · the gate of preserving precepts and preserving the body | Vows five and six | 「三存戒存身門，即次二願，不缺重戒，具三聚故、六根之身皆得淨故」—“Third, the gate of preserving precepts and preserving the body, that is, the next two vows: because the grave precepts are unbroken and the threefold precepts complete, and because the body of the six faculties is wholly made pure.” | 〔T38n1770 0258b24〕 |
| Four · the gate of removing inner and outer suffering | Vows seven and eight | 「四除內外苦門，即次二願，一能除外緣逼切苦」—“Fourth, the gate of removing inner and outer suffering, that is, the next two vows: the first is able to remove the suffering pressed on by outer conditions.” | 〔T38n1770 0258c01〕 |
The two branches of the gate of removing inner and outer suffering: the first removes the suffering pressed on by outer conditions (vow seven · illness · no physician and no kin), the second turns the inner-conditioned suffering of a woman’s body (vow eight) — 「二能轉內緣女身苦」—“the second is able to turn the suffering of a woman’s body, which is of inner condition.” 〔T38n1770 0258c04〕 The distinction of inner and outer lies just here: illness and poverty come from outer conditions, while what the body itself undergoes belongs to inner condition.
| Vow | Opening and closing of the sūtra text, verbatim (each with its anchor) |
|---|---|
| Five | 「第五大願：願我來世得菩提時」—“The fifth great vow: I vow that in an age to come, when I have attained awakening” 〔T14n0450 0405a21〕 … 「設有毀犯，聞我名已，還得清淨，不墮惡趣」—“And should any have broken them, then upon hearing my name they shall regain purity and shall not fall into evil destinies” 〔T14n0450 0405a23〕 |
| Six | 「第六大願：願我來世得菩提時」—“The sixth great vow: I vow that in an age to come, when I have attained awakening” 〔T14n0450 0405a25〕 … 「聞我名已，一切皆得端正黠慧。諸根完具，無諸疾苦」—“then upon hearing my name they shall all become well-formed and quick of understanding, their faculties whole and complete, without any of these sicknesses and pains” 〔T14n0450 0405a27〕 |
| Seven | 「第七大願：願我來世得菩提時」—“The seventh great vow: I vow that in an age to come, when I have attained awakening” 〔T14n0450 0405a29〕 … 「我之名號，一經其耳，病悉得除，身心安樂，家屬資具，悉皆豐足，乃至證得無上菩提」—“let my name but once pass their ear, and their illnesses shall all be removed, body and mind shall be at ease, household and the goods of livelihood shall all be ample, and so on until they realize unsurpassed awakening” 〔T14n0450 0405b02〕 |
| Eight | 「第八大願：願我來世得菩提時」—“The eighth great vow: I vow that in an age to come, when I have attained awakening” 〔T14n0450 0405b05〕 … 「聞我名已，一切皆得轉女成男，具丈夫相，乃至證得無上菩提」—“then upon hearing my name she shall be turned from woman to man, complete in the marks of a man, and so on until she realizes unsurpassed awakening” 〔T14n0450 0405b07〕 |
II. Cross-Recension Collation (one sūtra in four translations — divergences recorded without adjudication)
| Vow | Xuanzang, T14n0450 (base text) | Dharmagupta, Sui, T14n0449 | Yijing, Tang, T14n0451 | Consecration Sūtra fasc. 12, Eastern Jin, T21n1331 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Five | 「於我法中修行梵行，一切皆令得不缺戒，具三聚戒」—“who practice the holy life within my Dharma, I shall cause them all to obtain precepts unbroken, and to be complete in the threefold precepts” 〔T14n0450 0405a22〕 · 「設有毀犯，聞我名已，還得清淨，不墮惡趣」—“And should any have broken them, then upon hearing my name they shall regain purity and shall not fall into evil destinies” 〔T14n0450 0405a23〕 | 「第五大願：願我來世得菩提時」—“The fifth great vow: I vow that in an age to come, when I have attained awakening” 〔T14n0449 0401c12〕 and what follows | 「於我法中修行梵行，一切皆令得不缺戒」—“who practice the holy life within my Dharma, I shall cause them all to obtain precepts unbroken” 〔T14n0451 0413a21〕 | Precepts, but nothing of regaining purity: 「使我來世發大精進，淨持戒地令無濁穢」—“May it be that I, in an age to come, shall raise great vigour, purely keeping the ground of the precepts so that it is without turbidity or stain” 〔T21n1331 0532c15〕 |
| Six | 「其身下劣，諸根不具，醜陋、頑愚、盲、聾、瘖、瘂、攣、躄、背僂、白癩、癲狂、種種病苦」—“their body lowly and their faculties not whole — ugly, dull and stupid, blind, deaf, mute, speechless, crippled in the limbs, unable to walk, hunchbacked, leprous, deranged, and afflicted with every kind of illness” 〔T14n0450 0405a26〕 | — | 「諸根不具、醜陋頑痹、聾盲瘖瘂、攣躄背僂、白癩瘨狂」—“faculties not whole, ugly, dull and numb, deaf, blind, mute and speechless, crippled and unable to walk, hunchbacked, leprous and deranged” 〔T14n0451 0413a25〕 | 「諸根毀敗盲者使視」—“those whose faculties are ruined, and the blind, made to see” 〔T21n1331 0532c18〕 |
| Seven | 「眾病逼切，無救無歸，無醫無藥，無親無家，貧窮多苦」—“pressed hard by a host of illnesses, with none to save them and nowhere to turn, without physician or medicine, without kin or home, poor and full of suffering” 〔T14n0450 0405b01〕 | — | — | 「若有苦惱無救護者，我為此等攝大法藥」—“If there are any in affliction with none to save and protect them, for such as these I shall gather the great medicine of the Dharma” 〔T21n1331 0532c21〕 |
| Eight | 「若有女人，為女百惡之所逼惱，極生厭離，願捨女身」—“if there is a woman oppressed and harassed by the hundred evils of being a woman, so that she conceives an extreme weariness of it and vows to cast off the body of a woman” 〔T14n0450 0405b05〕 | 「第八大願」—“The eighth great vow” 〔T14n0449 0401c25〕 and what follows | — | What is pledged differs entirely: 「以善業因緣，為諸愚冥無量眾生講宣妙法，令得度脫入智慧門」—“By the causes and conditions of good karma, for the sake of measureless beings in ignorance and gloom I shall proclaim the wondrous Dharma, causing them to gain deliverance and enter the gate of wisdom” 〔T21n1331 0532c24〕 |
Five matters recorded without adjudication:
- The section on regaining purity in vow five is present only in the three later translations: the base text, the Sui version, and Yijing’s version all carry the sense of “should any have broken them … they shall regain purity”; the Consecration version’s vow five pledges only the keeping of the precepts without turbidity, holding firm and not transgressing, and says nothing of regaining purity after a breach. This is a large difference within the gate of the precepts — whether or not there is a section on mending what has been broken.
- The number of terms in vow six: the base text lists thirteen items (lowly · faculties not whole · ugly · dull and stupid · blind · deaf · mute · speechless · crippled in the limbs · unable to walk · hunchbacked · leprous · deranged · every kind of illness); Yijing reads “ugly, dull and numb” (numb for stupid) and “leprous and deranged” (a variant character for deranged); the Consecration version brings it out in paired clauses — 「盲者使視，䏊者能聽啞者得語，軁者能申跛者能行」—“the blind made to see, the hard of hearing able to hear, the speechless given speech, the bent able to stretch, the lame able to walk” 〔T21n1331 0532c18〕 — differing in form, not in the number of items.
- What vow seven bestows: besides removing illness, the base text also grants that “household and the goods of livelihood shall all be ample”; the Consecration version says only “I shall gather the great medicine of the Dharma, causing all illnesses to be healed,” and nothing of the goods of livelihood.
- What vow eight pledges falls into two types across the four: the base text, the Sui version, and Yijing read the turning from woman to man; the Consecration version reads the proclaiming of the wondrous Dharma and entry into the gate of wisdom — not the same vow as in the other three.
- The base text lists “mute” and “speechless” as two separate items, while Yijing joins them into one compound; and at the base text’s character for “crippled in the limbs” the collation note records the Yuan witness reading a different character (see topic IX).
The five stand recorded together; no ranking of better and worse is imposed, and not one character of the base text is altered on their account.
III. Scriptural and Treatise Basis (the “eye”)
The word-by-word mirror cites scripture in one place in this passage — glossing the suffering of a woman’s body in vow eight, it cites the Nirvāṇa Sūtra:
「一切女人皆是眾惡之所住處」—“All women are the dwelling place of the multitude of evils.” 〔T38n1770 0258c05〕
The position of the citation must be seen clearly: it is attached beneath 「二能轉內緣女身苦」—“the second is able to turn the suffering of a woman’s body, which is of inner condition” 〔T38n1770 0258c04〕, and is raised in order to gloss the sūtra’s own words, “oppressed and harassed by the hundred evils of being a woman”; it does not set up a separate doctrine. The sūtra’s own conditional clause is 「極生厭離，願捨女身」—“so that she conceives an extreme weariness of it and vows to cast off the body of a woman” 〔T14n0450 0405b06〕 — what is turned is the body of one who wills it herself, and the vow is not laid upon one who does not. The words of sūtra and of mirror are both recorded as above, neither adjudicated in their stead nor softened on their behalf (citation here is drawn only from the sūtras and the ancients).
The threefold precepts in vow five: the base text reads 「具三聚戒」—“and to be complete in the threefold precepts” 〔T14n0450 0405a23〕, and the mirror glosses 「不缺重戒，具三聚故」—“because the grave precepts are unbroken and the threefold precepts complete” 〔T38n1770 0258b25〕 — matching “the grave precepts unbroken” to “precepts unbroken” and “the threefold complete” to “complete in the threefold precepts,” word answering to word.
IV. Exegesis of the Passage (the word-by-word mirror, phrase by phrase — the densest in this volume)
The thirteen terms of vow six assigned one by one (the most closely trained place in this edition’s mirror):
- The judgment as to the heading: 「此中下劣，不具標句也」—“Here ‘lowly’ and ‘not complete’ are the sentences of general heading.” 〔T38n1770 0258b26〕 — the two phrases “their body lowly” and “their faculties not whole” are a general heading, not separate items.
- The sense of the heading: 「雖具諸根，不勝妙故及有缺故」—“Though the faculties be complete, they are not fine and excellent; or else something is lacking.” 〔T38n1770 0258b26〕 — the lowly are either complete in their faculties yet not fine, or else actually lacking something.
- 「言醜陋者，釋身下劣。言頑愚者，釋意下劣」—“‘Ugly’ glosses lowliness of body; ‘dull and stupid’ glosses lowliness of mind.” 〔T38n1770 0258b27〕 — ugliness belongs to the body, dullness and stupidity to the mind.
- 「盲聾等下，釋眼耳舌身根不具」—“From ‘blind and deaf’ onward glosses the incompleteness of the faculties of eye, ear, tongue, and body.” 〔T38n1770 0258b28〕 — blind to the eye, deaf to the ear, mute and speechless to the tongue, crippled, unable to walk, hunchbacked, and leprous to the body.
- 「癲狂，釋意根不具」—“‘Deranged’ glosses the incompleteness of the faculty of mind.” 〔T38n1770 0258b29〕 — derangement belongs to the faculty of mind.
- 「種種病苦，攝鼻等病」—“‘Every kind of illness’ gathers in the illnesses of the nose and the rest.” 〔T38n1770 0258b29〕 — the nose alone has no item of its own, and is gathered under “every kind of illness.”
- 「端正等四，如次翻上」—“The four beginning with ‘well-formed’ reverse the above in order.” 〔T38n1770 0258c01〕 — the four clauses of the fruit (well-formed · quick of understanding · faculties whole and complete · without sicknesses and pains) reverse, one by one, the four classes of the cause: well-formed reverses ugly, quick of understanding reverses dull and stupid, faculties whole and complete reverses blind and deaf and the rest, without sicknesses and pains reverses every kind of illness.
⇒ Cause and fruit in vow six are not spoken of loosely but matched four to four. This judgment keeps the sentence “they shall all become well-formed and quick of understanding, their faculties whole and complete, without any of these sicknesses and pains” from being a blanket promise.
The two phrases “none to save” and “nowhere to turn” in vow seven: 「無救者，標無醫藥也。無歸者，標無親等也」—“‘None to save’ heads what follows about having no physician or medicine. ‘Nowhere to turn’ heads what follows about having no kin and the rest.” 〔T38n1770 0258c02〕 — “none to save” means no physician and no medicine, “nowhere to turn” means no kin and no home; and the sūtra’s next clause, “without physician or medicine, without kin or home,” is precisely the unfolding of these two. Three things are bestowed: 「今得佛醫法藥聖財，故除病等乃至豐足」—“Now they obtain the Buddha as physician, the Dharma as medicine, and the noble wealth; and so illness and the rest are removed, on to ampleness.” 〔T38n1770 0258c03〕 — the Buddha as physician, the Dharma as medicine, the noble wealth as goods, matched to the sūtra’s “their illnesses shall all be removed” and “household and the goods of livelihood shall all be ample.”
V. Divergent Readings of the Commentators (three commentaries side by side — recorded without adjudication)
| Mirror | Recension followed | Verbatim | Anchor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient Traces on the Medicine Buddha’s Original-Vow Sūtra (by Taehyŏn, śramaṇa of Ch’ŏnggu) | Xuanzang’s version (the same as the base text) | 「三存戒存身門，即次二願，不缺重戒，具三聚故、六根之身皆得淨故」—“Third, the gate of preserving precepts and preserving the body, that is, the next two vows: because the grave precepts are unbroken and the threefold precepts complete, and because the body of the six faculties is wholly made pure.” | 〔T38n1770 0258b24〕 |
| Anonymous Commentary on the Medicine Buddha Sūtra from Dunhuang (T85n2766 · fragmentary scroll · beginning lost) | the Consecration version | 「第五願者此下兩段」—“As for the fifth vow: the two sections below this.” | 〔T85n2766 0309b10〕 |
| Anonymous Commentary on the Medicine Buddha Sūtra from Dunhuang (T85n2767) | Dharmagupta’s Sui version | Nothing found for this passage (T85n2767 has been searched: what survives runs 0310c14–0327c17, its lemmata begin at the end of that version’s section on the land, and the twelve vows are absent) | — |
The two commentaries part ways in their pairing at this passage — the Ancient Traces makes vows five and six one pair (preserving precepts and preserving the body) and vows seven and eight one pair (removing inner and outer suffering); T85n2766 makes vows five and six 「自行化他」—“practice for oneself and transformation of others” one couple 〔T85n2766 0309b11〕, and vows seven and eight 「就慈悲體」—“taking the substance of kindness and compassion” one couple 〔T85n2766 0310b05〕. The two outlines stand recorded together, and no reconciliation is set up.
T85n2766 on vow five (which in that version pledges “raising great vigour”) glosses vigour by a birth-story: beneath 「精進者」—“As for vigour” 〔T85n2766 0309b13〕 it raises the matter of the deer-king — 「昔有大杯樹多諸禽獸野火來燒三邊俱起」—“Of old there was a great cup-tree with many birds and beasts, and a wildfire came burning, rising on three sides at once” 〔T85n2766 0309b14〕 — and the deer spanned the two banks with its fore and hind feet as a bridge, letting the beasts cross over its back, its hide and flesh worn away utterly, and 「以慈愍力忍之」—“by the power of kindness and pity it bore it” 〔T85n2766 0309b17〕; and at the last 「一兔來氣力以竭自強」—“a hare came when its strength was already spent, and it forced itself” 〔T85n2766 0309b18〕, rousing itself with an effort to let the hare pass, whereupon 「背折墮水而死」—“its back broke and it fell into the water and died” 〔T85n2766 0309b19〕. It also glosses that version’s name for the ground of the precepts — 「所以名戒為地者」—“The reason the precepts are named a ground” — and answers at 〔T85n2766 0309b21〕 that the earth can grow all that is good, so that the ground is made a figure for the precepts.
T85n2766 on vow six (「第六願者。此明外化盲聾眾生」—“As for the sixth vow: this makes plain the outward transforming of blind and deaf beings.” 〔T85n2766 0309b23〕) raises one by one the karmic causes of faculties not being whole: 「盲者」—“the blind” 〔T85n2766 0309b23〕 come of 「先世重罪」—“grave sins of a former life” 〔T85n2766 0309b24〕 — destroying or putting out the eyes of beings, destroying the eye of right view, stealing the pearls and lamp-flames of a stūpa; 「聾者何因」—“From what cause the deaf?” 〔T85n2766 0309b25〕 — 「答曰師文教訓不受不行而返瞋恚」—“Answer: not receiving and not practicing the instruction of a teacher’s words, but turning to anger instead.” 〔T85n2766 0309b26〕, and further cutting off and destroying the ears of beings, stealing the goods of buddha-stūpas and saṅgha-stūpas and the wooden mallet and the bell; speechlessness from cutting off another’s tongue, stopping his mouth, giving him evil medicine, and not heeding the words of teacher and parents; derangement from disturbing those who sit in meditation (with two cases raised — a brahmin who lost his rice-field and his wife and went mad, and the bhikṣuṇī Kiśā Gautamī, whose seven children all died so that she grieved until her mind gave way). It also sets up a separate item of “naked derangement,” raising the affair of a Dharma master of South India who pointed his finger at the followers of the outer paths and said nothing, and taking the outer paths’ smearing of ashes on the body, filling skulls with filth, pulling out the hair and lying on thorns, entering water in winter and roasting by fire in summer, as “the marks of derangement.” This line speaks of the vows by karmic causes and birth-stories, where the Ancient Traces speaks of them by assigning the six faculties — the paths are wholly different.
T85n2766 divides vows seven and eight as compassion and kindness: 「初一願是悲願」—“The first of them is the vow of compassion.” 〔T85n2766 0310b06〕 — vow seven belongs to compassion, the drawing out of suffering; 「第八願者。第二明慈體」—“As for the eighth vow: the second makes plain the substance of kindness.” 〔T85n2766 0310b12〕 — vow eight belongs to kindness, the giving of happiness. Since that version’s vow eight pledges the proclaiming of the wondrous Dharma, its gloss takes deliverance as the real wisdom and entry into the gate of wisdom as the provisional. This matching holds only for the Consecration version’s vow eight; what the base text’s vow eight pledges is not this, and it cannot be carried across.
The state of the manuscript of T85n2766: a fragmentary Dunhuang manuscript with its beginning lost, in which miswritten characters and gaps (marked □) appear here and there; every citation follows the characters of the manuscript, without emendation and without supplying what is missing.
VI. Terms (first occurrences)
| Term | Ground of the gloss (verbatim, each with its anchor) |
|---|---|
| The holy life | The base text reads 「於我法中修行梵行，一切皆令得不缺戒，具三聚戒」—“who practice the holy life within my Dharma, I shall cause them all to obtain precepts unbroken, and to be complete in the threefold precepts” 〔T14n0450 0405a22〕 |
| The threefold precepts | The mirror glosses 「不缺重戒，具三聚故」—“because the grave precepts are unbroken and the threefold precepts complete” 〔T38n1770 0258b25〕; the base text reads 「具三聚戒」—“and to be complete in the threefold precepts” 〔T14n0450 0405a23〕 |
| Their body lowly · their faculties not whole | Belonging to the general heading, not separate items: 「此中下劣，不具標句也」—“Here ‘lowly’ and ‘not complete’ are the sentences of general heading.” 〔T38n1770 0258b26〕 · 「雖具諸根，不勝妙故及有缺故」—“Though the faculties be complete, they are not fine and excellent; or else something is lacking.” 〔T38n1770 0258b26〕 |
| Ugly · dull and stupid | 「言醜陋者，釋身下劣。言頑愚者，釋意下劣」—“‘Ugly’ glosses lowliness of body; ‘dull and stupid’ glosses lowliness of mind.” 〔T38n1770 0258b27〕 |
| Blind · deaf · mute · speechless · crippled in the limbs · unable to walk · hunchbacked · leprous | 「盲聾等下，釋眼耳舌身根不具」—“From ‘blind and deaf’ onward glosses the incompleteness of the faculties of eye, ear, tongue, and body.” 〔T38n1770 0258b28〕; Yijing reads 「攣躄背僂、白癩瘨狂」—“crippled and unable to walk, hunchbacked, leprous and deranged” 〔T14n0451 0413a26〕 |
| Deranged | 「癲狂，釋意根不具」—“‘Deranged’ glosses the incompleteness of the faculty of mind.” 〔T38n1770 0258b29〕 |
| Well-formed and quick of understanding | The four clauses of the fruit reverse the four classes of the cause: 「端正等四，如次翻上」—“The four beginning with ‘well-formed’ reverse the above in order.” 〔T38n1770 0258c01〕 |
| None to save · nowhere to turn | 「無救者，標無醫藥也。無歸者，標無親等也」—“‘None to save’ heads what follows about having no physician or medicine. ‘Nowhere to turn’ heads what follows about having no kin and the rest.” 〔T38n1770 0258c02〕 |
| Turned from woman to man | The base text reads 「聞我名已，一切皆得轉女成男，具丈夫相，乃至證得無上菩提」—“then upon hearing my name she shall be turned from woman to man, complete in the marks of a man, and so on until she realizes unsurpassed awakening” 〔T14n0450 0405b07〕; its conditional clause is 「極生厭離，願捨女身」—“so that she conceives an extreme weariness of it and vows to cast off the body of a woman” 〔T14n0450 0405b06〕 |
VII. Simile and Rhetoric
- Similes used by the sūtra text itself: the four vows of this passage all state directly and raise no figure. What vows five through eight write of is the breaking of precepts, the maiming of the body, the pressing of illness, and weariness of one’s own body — all of them actual matters, and the sūtra sets up no simile for them. This stands in contrast with the beryl and the net of flame of vow two: where the buddha-body is written, simile is used; where the suffering of beings is written, it is not.
- The mirror commentary’s use of simile (the Ancient Traces): only the one set of the Buddha as physician, the Dharma as medicine, and the noble wealth 〔T38n1770 0258c03〕 — matching physician, medicine, and wealth to Buddha, Dharma, and noble wealth, and set up by turning over the sūtra’s own “without physician or medicine.”
- The commentary read alongside uses simile very freely (it does not follow the base text): the deer-king giving his body as a bridge 〔T85n2766 0309b14〕 as a figure for vigour; the precepts figured by the earth 〔T85n2766 0309b21〕 (the earth can grow all that is good); and it speaks of the vows by birth-stories and karmic causes rather than by terminology.
- Rhetoric: the sentence-pattern of the four vows is as in the passage before (the vow marked out · those upon whom it acts · hearing the name · what is gained), and “upon hearing my name” and “let my name but once pass their ear” appear in three of the four vows here (vows five, six, and eight read “upon hearing my name,” and vow seven reads “let my name but once pass their ear”) — vows three and four had no such joint. ⇒ From vow five onward, “hearing the name” becomes the standing clause of the vow-text (four occurrences in vows five through eight; three more in vows ten through twelve, with “if they hear my name” and “obtain hearing of my name”; only vow nine has none), which is precisely the foreshadowing of the great section on the benefits of hearing the name that comes later.
VIII. Citation and Carrying Forward
- The Nirvāṇa Sūtra as witness 〔T38n1770 0258c05〕 — cited in glossing the suffering of a woman’s body in vow eight: a passage of the Nirvāṇa division entering a commentary on the vow-sūtra.
- A point of parallel reading within the axis: the faculties not whole in vow six and the terms of karmic recompense in the two Kṣitigarbha sūtras belong to a single field of language (
canon/benyuan/dizang／shilun), and may be read together in due course. - The carrying forward of the pivot of hearing the name: the pattern “upon hearing my name” set up in this passage unfolds section by section in the later parts of this sūtra — the benefits of hearing the name, the making of offerings and the guarding, and the Bodhisattva Rescue-and-Deliverance with the method of prolonging life; all four translations keep this pivot.
- Of citation of this passage by the remaining volumes of this corpus, nothing is found.
IX. Text-critical Placement
The Taishō collation notes (<app>) record four instances within this unit:
| Anchor | Base text | Variant | Witnesses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0405a26 | 「攣」—“crippled in the limbs” | 癮 | Yuan |
| 0405a28 | 「疾」—“sicknesses” | “illnesses” | Dunhuang |
| 0405b02 | 〔a note issued from the Korean canon〕 | the Korean witness has the character “host of” before “illnesses” | issued by the Taishō |
| 0405b02 | 「得」—“shall … be” | 〔absent〕 | Song · Yuan · Ming · Palace · Dunhuang |
The first entry falls in the list of bodily afflictions in vow six (the base text reads “crippled in the limbs, unable to walk, hunchbacked,” where the Yuan witness has a different character for the first); the second falls in the fruit-clause of vow six (the base text reads “without any of these sicknesses and pains,” where the Dunhuang witness reads “without any of these illnesses and pains”). The last two both fall in the fruit-clause of vow seven — the base text reads 「我之名號，一經其耳，病悉得除」—“let my name but once pass their ear, and their illnesses shall all be removed” 〔T14n0450 0405b02〕, the Korean canon has the character for “host of” before “illnesses,” and the five witnesses Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Dunhuang all lack the character rendered “shall … be.”
The word-by-word mirror’s lemma differs from the base text at both these places: its lemma reads 「我之名號一經其耳，眾病悉除」—“let my name but once pass their ear, and the host of illnesses shall all be removed” 〔T38n1770 0258a29〕 — having the character for “host of” (as the Korean canon does) and lacking the character rendered “shall … be” (as the five witnesses do). This is the second instance of this edition’s mirror running apart from the base text (the first being the two ways of writing the character for beryl, where the mirror runs with the Dunhuang witness). Recorded without adjudication; not one character of the base text is altered on that account.
Divergences among the four in the characters used for the terms of vow six (not collation notes, but renderings): the base text “dull and stupid” against Yijing’s “dull and numb”; the base text’s character for “deranged” against Yijing’s variant character. Recorded without adjudication.
Gaiji: none in this unit. Inline gloss: none in this unit.