維摩詰所說經 方便品第二
維摩詰為度人故，以善方便住毘耶離。
他住在毘耶離城中。身為白衣，守清淨律行；住在家中，不著三界；示有妻子，常修梵行；身有眷屬，心常遠離。寶飾在身，真正莊嚴他的卻是相好；飲食入口，真正成為滋味的卻是禪悅。
他不只住在家裡。他走到四衢，進入處理政事的地方、講論處與學堂，也進入婬舍與酒肆。四衢需要饒益，政事需要救護，講論需要導向大乘，童蒙需要誘導開發；欲染之處要看見欲的過患，失志之處要重新立志。地方沒有替他決定方向，他帶著度人的方向走進每一個地方。
他也走進一類又一類人中。長者需要勝法，居士需要鬆開貪著，剎利需要忍辱，婆羅門需要除慢，大臣需要正法，王子需要忠孝，內官需要化正宮女，庶民需要福力，梵天需要勝慧，帝釋需要看見無常，護世天王需要守護眾生。方便不是對所有人說一樣的話，而是在每個人現前的位置，指出那裡真正需要的一步。
可是，本品的轉折，不在街道、講堂或酒肆，而在一場病。
維摩詰以方便現身有疾。先前是他走向眾人，此時是國王、大臣、長者、居士、婆羅門、王子與官屬走來問他。病沒有中斷他的方便，反而讓每一個前來探問的人，聽見自己也帶在身上的問題。
這個身像聚沫，不能撮取；像水泡，不能久立；像陽炎，從渴愛而生；像芭蕉，中心不堅；像幻、像夢、像影、像響；像片刻變滅的浮雲，也像念念不停的閃電。它由四大暫時成家，由五陰、十八界、十二入共同合成。洗浴、衣服、飲食能照料它，卻不能使它免於磨滅；今日不知何時死，最後卻一定會死。
若只讀到這裡，〈方便品〉彷彿只是在勸人厭棄身體。但經文立刻轉身：這個身可患厭，應當欣求佛身。
佛身不是從另一種外表生起，而是從功德與智慧、戒定慧、慈悲喜捨、布施持戒忍辱精進、禪定解脫、多聞智慧而生；也從方便、助道、止觀、斷惡、集善、真實與不放逸而生。四大和合之身終會散壞，無量清淨法卻指向如來身。
所以，全品最後沒有收在『我怎樣不生病』，而收在發菩提心。欲得佛身，也欲斷一切眾生病，兩個願不能分開。維摩詰住進城市、走進人群、示現疾病，這些段落前後指向同一件事：讓眾生從所依的身，看見不可依；再從不可依處，發起成佛與度眾生的心。
如果心不被世間繫住，為什麼還要走進世間每一處？因為不著不是離開眾生。本品所寫的方便，是無論身在四衢、居家或病中，都讓清淨德行成為別人發心的門。
To liberate people, Vimalakīrti dwells in Vaiśālī through skillful means.
He lives in the city of Vaiśālī. White-robed, he keeps pure discipline. Living at home, he is not attached to the three realms. He manifests having a wife, yet constantly cultivates brahmacarya. He has a household retinue, yet his mind constantly delights in seclusion. Precious ornaments rest on his body, but what truly adorns him are his marks and excellences. Food enters his mouth, but what truly becomes its savor is meditative joy.
He does not remain only at home. He goes to the crossroads and enters places of government, halls of debate, and schools. He also enters brothels and wine shops. The crossroads need benefit; public affairs need protection; debate needs guidance toward the Great Vehicle; children need to be drawn out and awakened. Places of sensual defilement need the faults of desire to be seen, and places where resolve has been lost need resolve to be established anew. The place does not determine his direction for him. He enters every place bearing the direction of liberating people.
He also enters one class of people after another. Elders need the supreme Dharma; householders need to loosen their attachment; kṣatriyas need patience; brahmins need pride removed; ministers need the true Dharma; princes need loyalty and filial devotion; palace officials need to correct the palace women; ordinary people need the strength of merit; Brahmā gods need supreme wisdom; Śakra gods need to see impermanence; world-protecting heavenly kings need to protect sentient beings. Skillful means is not saying the same thing to everyone. It points out the step truly needed where each person presently stands.
Yet the turn in this chapter occurs not at a crossroads, in a hall of debate, or in a wine shop, but in an illness.
Through skillful means, Vimalakīrti manifests bodily illness. Before, he went toward others; now kings, ministers, elders, householders, brahmins, princes, and officials come to inquire about him. Illness does not interrupt his skillful means. Instead, it enables every visitor to hear of the problem that each person also carries in the body.
This body is like a mass of foam that cannot be grasped; like a bubble that cannot remain for long; like a mirage arising from thirst and craving; like a plantain tree with no solid core; like an illusion, a dream, a shadow, and an echo; like a drifting cloud that changes and vanishes in a moment; and like lightning that never stops from thought-moment to thought-moment. It takes the four great elements as a temporary home and is jointly compounded by the five aggregates, eighteen elements, and twelve sense-fields. Bathing, clothing, and food can tend it, but cannot keep it from wearing away. Today, no one knows when it will die, yet in the end it must die.
If one reads only this far, Chapter 02, “Skillful Means,” seems merely to urge disgust with the body. But the sūtra immediately turns: this body should be regarded with revulsion; one should delight in seeking the Buddha-body.
The Buddha-body does not arise from another kind of outward appearance. It is born of merit and wisdom; ethical discipline, meditation, and wisdom; loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; giving, ethical discipline, patience, diligent effort, meditation, liberation, great learning, and wisdom. It is also born of skillful means, factors conducive to the path, calm and insight, abandoning what is unwholesome, gathering what is wholesome, truth, and heedfulness. This body compounded from the four great elements must finally disperse, while immeasurable pure dharmas point toward the body of the Tathāgata.
The whole chapter therefore does not conclude with “How can I avoid becoming ill?” It concludes with arousing the mind of awakening. The wish to attain the Buddha-body and the wish to eliminate the illnesses of all sentient beings cannot be separated. Vimalakīrti dwells in the city, enters the crowds, and manifests illness. All these passages point forward and backward to the same matter: from the body on which sentient beings rely, he enables them to see what cannot be relied upon; then, from the place that cannot be relied upon, he enables them to arouse the mind that seeks buddhahood and liberates sentient beings.
If the mind is not bound by the world, why enter every place within the world? Because nonattachment does not mean leaving sentient beings. The skillful means taught in this chapter is to let pure conduct become a gate through which others arouse the mind, whether one is at a crossroads, at home, or in illness.
姚秦三藏鳩摩羅什譯《維摩詰所說經》卷上〈方便品第二〉· 大正藏 T14n0475〔起 T14 0539a07〕。段/行首〔T14 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔T14 0539a07〕維摩詰所說經方便品第二 爾時毘耶離大城中有長者，名維摩詰，已曾供養無量諸佛，深植善本，得無生忍；辯才無礙，遊戲神通，逮諸總持；獲無所畏，降魔勞怨；入深法門，善於智度，通達方便，大願成就；明了眾生心之所趣，又能分別諸根利鈍，久於佛道，心已純淑，決定大乘；諸有所作，能善思量；住佛威儀，心大如海，諸佛咨嗟，弟子、釋、梵、世主所敬。欲度人故，以善方便居毘耶離；資財無量，攝諸貧民；奉戒清淨，攝諸毀禁；以忍調行，攝諸恚怒；以大精進，攝諸懈怠；一心禪寂，攝諸亂意；以決定慧，攝諸無智；雖為白衣，奉持沙門清淨律行；雖處居家，不著三界；示有妻子，常修梵行；現有眷屬，常樂遠離；雖服寶飾，而以相好嚴身；雖復飲食，而以禪悅為味；若至博弈戲處，輒以度人；受諸異道，不毀正信；雖明世典，常樂佛法；一切見敬，為供養中最；執持正法，攝諸長幼；一切治生諧偶，雖獲俗利，不以喜悅；遊諸四衢，饒益眾生；入治政法，救護一切；入講論處，導以大乘；入諸學堂，誘開童蒙；入諸婬舍，示欲之過；入諸酒肆，能立其志；若在長者，長者中尊，為說勝法；若在居士，居士中尊，斷其貪著；若在剎利，剎利中尊，教以忍辱；若在婆羅門，婆羅門中尊，除其我慢；若在大臣，大臣中尊，教以正法；若在王子，王子中尊，示以忠孝；若在內官，內官中尊，化政宮女；若在庶民，庶民中尊，令興福力；若在梵天，梵天中尊，誨以勝慧；若在帝釋，帝釋中尊，示現無常；若在護世，護世中尊，護諸眾生：長者維摩詰，以如是等無量方便饒益眾生。 其以方便，現身有疾。以其疾故，國王、大臣、長者、居士、婆羅門等，及諸王子并餘官屬，無數千人，皆往問疾。其往者，維摩詰因以身疾廣為說法：「諸仁者！是身無常、無強、無力、無堅、速朽之法，不可信也！為苦、為惱，眾病所集。諸仁者！如此身，明智者所不怙；是身如聚沫，不可撮摩；是身如泡，不得久立；是身如炎，從渴愛生；是身如芭蕉，中無有堅；是身如幻，從顛倒起；是身如夢，為虛妄見；是身如影，從業緣現；是身如響，屬諸因緣；是身如浮雲，須臾變滅；是身如電，念念不住；是身無主，為如地；是身無我，為如火；是身無壽，為如風；是身無人，為如水；是身不實，四大為家；是身為空，離我、我所；是身無知，如草木瓦礫；是身無作，風力所轉；是身不淨，穢惡充滿；是身為虛偽，雖假以澡浴衣食，必歸磨滅；是身為災，百一病惱；是身如丘井，為老所逼；是身無定，為要當死；是身如毒蛇、如怨賊、如空聚，陰、界、諸入所共合成。 「諸仁者！此可患厭，當樂佛身。所以者何？佛身者即法身也！從無量功德智慧生，從戒、定、慧、解脫、解脫知見生，從慈、悲、喜、捨生，從布施、持戒、忍辱、柔和、勤行精進、禪定、解脫、三昧、多聞、智慧諸波羅蜜生，從方便生，從六通生，從三明生，從三十七道品生，從止觀生，從十力、四無所畏、十八不共法生，從斷一切不善法、集一切善法生，從真實生，從不放逸生：從如是無量清淨法生如來身。諸仁者！欲得佛身、斷一切眾生病者，當發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」 如是，長者維摩詰為諸問疾者，如應說法，令無數千人皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。
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.
底本：姚秦鳩摩羅什譯《維摩詰所說經》卷上〈方便品第二〉。以下依本品四個散文段逐句今譯；德目、場域、身喻與佛身諸因逐項不省。
毘耶離城中的維摩詰
那時，毘耶離大城中有一位長者，名叫維摩詰。
他過去已經供養過無量諸佛，深深種下善根，證得無生法忍；他的辯才沒有障礙，能自在運用神通，也已獲得各種總持，能把所聞所悟的法攝持不失。他得到無所畏，能降伏魔與帶來逼惱的怨敵；進入甚深法門，善於智慧到彼岸，也通達種種方便。他的大願已經成就，明白眾生內心所趨向的地方，又能分辨每一個人根性銳利或遲鈍。
他長久修行佛道，心性已經純熟，決定安住於大乘。凡有所作，都能善加思量；他安住於佛的威儀，心量廣大如海。諸佛都稱歎他，佛弟子、帝釋、梵天與世間諸主也都尊敬他。
他為了度化人，以善巧方便住在毘耶離城中。
以六種修行攝受六類眾生
維摩詰擁有無量資財，便用財物救濟、攝受貧窮的人；他自己持戒清淨，便攝受那些破壞禁戒的人；他以忍耐調伏自己的行為，便攝受容易憤怒的人；他以強大的精進，攝受懈怠的人；他專心安住禪定寂靜，攝受心意散亂的人；他以決定不疑的智慧，攝受沒有智慧的人。
他的每一種德行，都不是只為自己保存；布施、持戒、忍辱、精進、禪定與智慧，各自成為接引眾生的方便。
身在居家生活中，心不被生活繫住
維摩詰雖然是在家的白衣，卻奉持出家修行者的清淨戒行；雖然住在家中，卻不貪著欲界、色界、無色界這三界。他示現有妻子，卻常修清淨無欲的梵行；顯現有眷屬，內心卻常喜愛遠離染著。
他雖然穿戴珍寶飾物，真正用來莊嚴自己的卻是相好；雖然也吃日常飲食，內心所品嘗的卻是禪定所生的喜悅。
他若到了博弈遊戲的地方，便利用那個機會度人；也學習、接觸各種外道的法門，卻不因此損壞對正法的信心。他雖然明白世間各種典籍，心中常愛樂的仍是佛法。所有人見到他都敬重他，他在一切受供養的人中最受尊敬。他執持正法，使年長與年幼的人都受到攝持。
他從事各種維持生計的事業，樣樣都能經營得當；即使得到世俗利益，也不因此生起喜悅與貪著。
城中每一處，都成為利益眾生的地方
維摩詰行走在四方道路交會之處，利益來往的眾生；進入處理政事與法令的地方，便救護所有人；進入講論辯議的場所，便引導眾人歸向大乘；進入學堂，便誘導、啟發初學的兒童。
他進入婬舍，向其中的人顯示欲望的過患；進入酒肆，幫助其中的人建立自己的志向。
他若在長者之中，便成為長者最尊敬的人，為他們宣說殊勝之法；若在居士之中，便成為居士最尊敬的人，斷除他們對財富的貪著；若在剎利王族之中，便成為剎利最尊敬的人，教導他們忍辱；若在婆羅門之中，便成為婆羅門最尊敬的人，除去他們的傲慢。
他若在大臣之中，便成為大臣最尊敬的人，教導他們依正法行事；若在王子之中，便成為王子最尊敬的人，向他們顯示忠與孝；若在內官，也就是掌理宮中事務的官員之中，便成為內官最尊敬的人，引導、端正宮女的行為；若在庶民，也就是一般百姓之中，便成為庶民最尊敬的人，使他們生起修福的力量。
他若在梵天之中，便成為梵天最尊敬的人，教導他們殊勝智慧；若在帝釋之中，便成為帝釋最尊敬的人，向他們顯示五欲歡娛終歸無常；若在護世天王之中，便成為護世天王最尊敬的人，教他們守護一切眾生。
長者維摩詰就是這樣，以無量方便利益眾生。
他以方便示現生病
接著，維摩詰又運用方便，示現自己的身體生病。因為他有病，國王、大臣、長者、居士、婆羅門，以及各位王子和其餘官員部屬，無數千人都前來探問病情。
每一個前來問疾的人，維摩詰都藉著自己的身病，廣泛為他們說法。他說：
『諸位仁者！這個身體是無常的；它不強盛，沒有可靠的力量，也沒有堅固不壞的體性。它很快就會衰朽，不能信賴。它是苦，是逼惱，也是各種疾病聚集的地方。
『諸位仁者！像這樣的身體，有智慧的人不會把它當作永遠可靠的依靠。
身體的十種譬喻
『這個身體像聚沫，也就是一團水沫，鬆散得不能用手捏取；又像水泡，不能長久停留。
『它像陽光下的炎影，看來似乎有水，其實由口渴與愛取而生；又像芭蕉樹，一層一層剝開，中間找不到堅實的核心。
『它像幻術所現的事物，從顛倒認取而起；又像夢中所見，是虛妄分別所見的影像。
『它像影子，隨業與因緣而顯現；又像回響，依賴聲音和各種條件才出現。
『它像浮雲，片刻之間便會變化消散；又像閃電，每一念都在變動，從不停住。』
四大之身沒有主宰
維摩詰接著說：
『這個身體沒有主人，經文把它比作大地；這個身體沒有一個自在的我，經文把它比作火；這個身體沒有一個固定不變的壽命，經文把它比作風；這個身體沒有一個固定不變的人，經文把它比作水。
『這個身體並不真實，只是把地、水、火、風四大當作暫時的家；它的體性是空的，離開一個真實的我，也離開一切被認作我所有的東西。
『這個身體本身沒有知覺，就像草木、瓦片和石塊；它沒有一個獨立的造作者，只是隨著風力而轉動。
『這個身體不清淨，充滿種種穢惡；它虛偽不實，即使用洗浴、衣服和飲食暫時照料，最後仍一定走向磨損與壞滅。
『這個身體是一種災患，有百一種疾病帶來逼惱；它像荒廢、乾枯的井，受到衰老逼迫。它的壽命沒有固定期限，但最後一定會死亡。
『這個身體又像毒蛇、像怨敵般的盜賊、像一座空無主人的聚落；它只是由五陰、十八界與十二入共同組合而成。五陰是色、受、想、行、識五種聚集，十八界是六根、六境、六識，十二入是六根與六境。這些條件和合時，才暫時顯出一個名為身體的整體。』
不停在厭離，而轉向欣求佛身
維摩詰又說：
『諸位仁者！這樣的身體確實應當看見它的過患而生厭離；你們應當欣求佛身。為什麼呢？因為佛身就是法身。
『佛身從無量功德與智慧而生；從戒、定、慧、解脫、解脫知見而生；從慈、悲、喜、捨四種廣大心而生。
『佛身從布施、持戒、忍辱、柔和、勤奮精進、禪定、解脫、三昧、多聞、智慧，以及這一切到彼岸的修行而生。
『佛身從善巧方便而生，從六種神通而生，從天眼、宿命、漏盡三明而生；從三十七種助道法而生，從止與觀而生。
『佛身從佛所具的十種智力、四種無所畏、十八種不共功德而生；從斷除一切不善法、積集一切善法而生；從真實而生，也從不放逸而生。
『如來之身，就是從這樣無量的清淨法而生。
『諸位仁者！你們若想得到佛身，也想斷除一切眾生的病，就應當發起阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，也就是成就無上正等正覺的心。』
無數千人發起無上菩提心
長者維摩詰就是這樣，面對每一位前來問疾的人，按照對方所能領受的方式為他說法，使無數千人都發起阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。
本品從維摩詰為了度人而居城開始，以他為了度人而現疾展開，最後落在眾人共同發心。城中的生活、身體的疾病與成佛的願，在這一品中沒有被切成互不相干的三件事；它們都成為饒益眾生的方便。
Base text: Kumārajīva’s Yao-Qin translation, The Vimalakīrti Sūtra, Upper Scroll, Chapter 02, “Skillful Means.” What follows renders the chapter’s four prose sections sentence by sentence; no item among its qualities, settings, bodily similes, or causes of the Buddha-body is omitted.
Vimalakīrti in the Great City of Vaiśālī
At that time, in the great city of Vaiśālī, there was an elder named Vimalakīrti.
In the past, he had already made offerings to immeasurable buddhas and deeply planted roots of goodness. He had attained acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. His eloquence was unobstructed; he could freely employ supernormal powers; and he had attained the various dhāraṇīs, through which he retained without loss the Dharma he had heard and realized. He had attained fearlessness and could subdue Māras and harassing adversaries. He had entered the profound Dharma-gates, was skilled in the perfection of wisdom, and had mastered the various skillful means. His great vows had been fulfilled. He understood the directions toward which the minds of sentient beings inclined and could discern whether each person’s faculties were sharp or dull.
He had long cultivated the Buddha-way, and his mind had become pure and mature. He was firmly established in the Great Vehicle. Whatever he did, he considered well. He abided in the Buddha’s dignified conduct, and his mind was as vast as the ocean. All buddhas praised him, and the Buddha’s disciples, Śakra, Brahmā, and the lords of the world all revered him.
To liberate people, he dwelt in the city of Vaiśālī through skillful means.
Gathering Six Kinds of Sentient Beings through Six Kinds of Practice
Vimalakīrti possessed immeasurable wealth, and with his resources he aided and gathered in the poor. Keeping his own ethical discipline pure, he gathered in those who violated the precepts. Taming his conduct through patience, he gathered in those prone to anger. With great diligent effort, he gathered in the indolent. Abiding one-pointedly in the stillness of meditation, he gathered in those whose minds were distracted. With decisive and unwavering wisdom, he gathered in those without wisdom.
He did not keep any of these virtues for himself alone. Giving, ethical discipline, patience, diligent effort, meditation, and wisdom each became a skillful means for guiding sentient beings.
Living a Household Life without Being Bound by It
Although Vimalakīrti was a white-robed layman, he upheld the pure discipline of renunciant practitioners. Although he lived at home, he was not attached to the three realms of desire, form, and formlessness. He manifested having a wife, yet constantly cultivated the pure, desire-free life of brahmacarya. He appeared to have a household retinue, yet inwardly always delighted in freedom from attachment.
Although he wore precious ornaments, what truly adorned him were his marks and excellences. Although he ate ordinary food, what he savored inwardly was the joy born of meditation.
When he went to places of games and gambling, he used the occasion to guide people. He also studied and encountered the teachings of the various non-Buddhist paths, yet his faith in the true Dharma was not thereby impaired. Although he understood the many writings of the world, what he continually delighted in remained the Buddha-Dharma. Everyone who saw him honored him, and among all recipients of offerings he was the most revered. He upheld the true Dharma and thereby gathered in both old and young.
He engaged in every kind of livelihood and managed each one successfully. Even when he gained worldly profit, he did not become delighted by or attached to it.
Every Place in the City Becomes a Place for Benefiting Sentient Beings
Vimalakīrti walked through the crossroads where roads from the four directions met, benefiting the sentient beings who came and went. When he entered places where public affairs and laws were administered, he protected everyone. When he entered halls of discussion and debate, he guided the people toward the Great Vehicle. When he entered schools, he drew out and awakened children who were beginning to learn.
He entered brothels and showed those within the faults of desire. He entered wine shops and helped those within establish their resolve.
When among elders, he became the one most revered by the elders and taught them the supreme Dharma. When among householders, he became the one most revered by the householders and cut off their attachment to wealth. When among the kṣatriya royal class, he became the one most revered by the kṣatriyas and taught them patience. When among brahmins, he became the one most revered by the brahmins and removed their pride.
When among ministers, he became the one most revered by the ministers and taught them to act according to the true Dharma. When among princes, he became the one most revered by the princes and showed them loyalty and filial devotion. When among palace officials—that is, the officials who managed affairs within the palace—he became the one most revered by the palace officials and guided and corrected the conduct of the palace women. When among ordinary people, he became the one most revered by ordinary people and enabled them to arouse the strength to cultivate merit.
When among the Brahmā gods, he became the one most revered by the Brahmā gods and taught them supreme wisdom. When among the Śakra gods, he became the one most revered by the Śakra gods and showed them that the pleasures of the five desires ultimately are impermanent. When among the world-protecting heavenly kings, he became the one most revered by the world-protecting heavenly kings and taught them to protect all sentient beings.
In this way, the elder Vimalakīrti benefited sentient beings through immeasurable skillful means.
Through Skillful Means, He Manifests Illness
Vimalakīrti then employed skillful means once more and manifested illness in his own body. Because he was ill, kings, ministers, elders, householders, brahmins, princes, and the remaining officials and attendants—countless thousands of people—came to inquire about his illness.
For every person who came to inquire about his illness, Vimalakīrti used the illness of his own body to teach the Dharma extensively. He said:
“Good sirs! This body is impermanent. It is not strong, has no dependable power, and possesses no firm and indestructible nature. It will soon decay and cannot be trusted. It is suffering, it is affliction, and it is a gathering place for the many diseases.
“Good sirs! A person with wisdom does not regard a body such as this as an eternally reliable refuge.
Ten Similes for the Body
“This body is like a mass of foam—that is, a clump of foam upon water—so loose that it cannot be grasped in the hand. It is also like a bubble, which cannot remain for long.
“It is like a shimmering mirage in sunlight, which seems to be water but in fact arises from thirst and craving. It is also like a plantain tree: when its layers are peeled away one by one, no solid core can be found within.
“It is like something manifested through illusion, arising from inverted apprehension. It is also like what is seen in a dream, an image beheld through false discrimination.
“It is like a shadow, appearing in dependence on karma and conditions. It is also like an echo, which appears only in dependence on sound and various conditions.
“It is like a drifting cloud, changing and vanishing in a moment. It is also like lightning, changing in every thought-moment and never remaining still.”
The Body of the Four Great Elements Has No Master
Vimalakīrti continued:
“This body has no master; the sūtra compares it to the earth. This body has no autonomous self; the sūtra compares it to fire. This body has no fixed and unchanging lifespan; the sūtra compares it to wind. This body has no fixed and unchanging person; the sūtra compares it to water.
“This body is not real; it merely takes the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind as a temporary home. Its nature is empty, apart from any real self and apart from everything taken to belong to a self.
“This body has no awareness of its own, like grass, trees, tiles, and stones. It has no independent maker; it merely turns under the force of the wind.
“This body is impure and filled with all kinds of filth. It is false and unreal. Even if it is temporarily tended through bathing, clothing, and food, in the end it must still wear away and perish.
“This body is a calamity, afflicted by one hundred and one diseases. It is like an abandoned, dry well, oppressed by old age. Its lifespan has no fixed term, yet it must finally die.
“This body is also like venomous snakes, like hostile bandits, and like an empty village without a master. It is merely compounded by the five aggregates, the eighteen elements, and the twelve sense-fields. The five aggregates are the five collections of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. The eighteen elements are the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses. The twelve sense-fields are the six faculties and six objects. Only when these conditions come together does a whole temporarily appear under the name ‘body.’”
Not Stopping at Revulsion, but Turning toward Seeking the Buddha-Body
Vimalakīrti further said:
“Good sirs! You should indeed see the faults of a body such as this and become weary of it. You should delight in seeking the Buddha-body. Why? Because the Buddha-body is precisely the dharma-body.
“The Buddha-body is born of immeasurable merit and wisdom. It is born of ethical discipline, meditation, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation. It is born of the four vast minds of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.
“The Buddha-body is born of giving, ethical discipline, patience, gentleness, diligent effort, meditation, liberation, samādhi, great learning, wisdom, and all these practices of perfection.
“The Buddha-body is born of skillful means and of the six superknowledges. It is born of the three knowledges: the divine eye, recollection of past lives, and the exhaustion of the taints. It is born of the thirty-seven factors conducive to the path and of calm and insight.
“The Buddha-body is born of the Buddha’s ten powers, four kinds of fearlessness, and eighteen unique qualities. It is born of abandoning every unwholesome dharma and gathering every wholesome dharma. It is born of truth and also of heedfulness.
“The body of the Tathāgata is born of immeasurable pure dharmas such as these.
“Good sirs! If you wish to attain the Buddha-body and also to eliminate the illnesses of all sentient beings, you should arouse the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening—the mind that realizes unsurpassed, complete, and perfect awakening.”
Countless Thousands Arouse the Mind of Unsurpassed Awakening
In this way, the elder Vimalakīrti taught the Dharma to every person who came to inquire about his illness in accordance with what that person could receive, causing countless thousands of people to arouse the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening.
This chapter begins with Vimalakīrti dwelling in the city in order to liberate people, unfolds through his manifestation of illness in order to liberate people, and concludes with everyone arousing the mind of awakening together. City life, bodily illness, and the vow to attain buddhahood are not cut into three unrelated matters in this chapter. All become skillful means for benefiting sentient beings.
「欲度人故，以善方便居毘耶離；」這一句，是讀〈方便品〉的一把鑰匙。維摩詰不是因為離不開城市而住在城裡，也不是先住在城裡，後來才偶然做些利益人的事。經文把目的說得很清楚：為了度人，所以居城；居城的方式，就是善方便。
可是，什麼叫方便？若只把它理解成說話靈活、做事圓融，便讀窄了。本品先用一大段列維摩詰已具的德，再寫他如何進入不同生活場景，如何面對不同人，最後才寫他現身有疾。方便因此不是沒有根基的技巧，而是清淨德行在眾生所在之處所顯出的作用。
除德目中的『通達方便』外，品中又有三處以『方便』標出所行：先是以善方便居毘耶離，中間以無量方便總收饒益眾生，後是以方便現身有疾。四處都在本品正文之內。
方便先從自己真正具足的德行開始
經文先說維摩詰曾供養無量諸佛、深植善本、得無生忍。這三句把他的來處交代清楚：他不是忽然以一個善於交際的長者身分出現，而是久已供佛、修善、於無生之法有所證入。
接著，經文列出辯才、神通、總持與無所畏，又說他能降魔勞怨、進入甚深法門、善於智慧到彼岸、通達方便。辯才、神通、總持、無畏、智慧與方便，都列在『欲度人故』之前；這一長列先寫他所具之德，後文才寫他在城中所行之事。
經文又說他大願成就，明了眾生心之所趣，能分別諸根利鈍。眾生想往哪裡走，能領受得快或慢，維摩詰都能明白。所以後面同樣是教化，他對長者說勝法，對居士斷貪著，對剎利教忍辱，對婆羅門除我慢；不是對所有人說同一句話。
再往下，久於佛道、心已純淑、決定大乘，說明他的方向已定；凡有所作能善思量、住佛威儀，說明他的行動不是倉促反應。心大如海、諸佛咨嗟、人天世主所敬，則把他的心量與眾望一併寫出。至此，經文才落到『為了度人而居城』。先具其德，再行其便；這個次第不能倒過來。
六種修行，六條攝受眾生的路
維摩詰有無量資財，經文沒有停在富有，而說他以資財攝受貧民。奉戒清淨，也沒有停在自守，而用來攝受毀犯禁戒的人。忍辱不是只讓自己忍住，而成為攝受恚怒者的力量；精進不是只求自己前進，而用來攝受懈怠者；禪寂不是獨享寂靜，而用來攝受散亂心；決定慧也不是自證聰明，而用來攝受無智者。
這六句的句法一再重複：自己所具的行，正對眾生所受的障。財對貧，戒對毀禁，忍對恚怒，精進對懈怠，禪寂對亂意，智慧對無智。經文沒有把修行與攝受眾生分成前後兩件事；每一種修行在本品出現時，都已朝向一類眾生。
在家與遠離，為什麼可以同時成立？
接下來的十二句，多以『雖然如此，卻不被如此繫縛』展開。
維摩詰雖是白衣，奉持沙門清淨律行；雖住在家中，不著三界；示有妻子，常修梵行；現有眷屬，常樂遠離。經文沒有抹去他的白衣、居家、妻子與眷屬，也沒有把遠離理解成物理上不見任何人。它所明說的是：身分與生活形態可以示現，貪著卻不隨之成立。
他雖穿寶飾，真正莊嚴自身的是相好；雖吃飲食，以禪悅為味。寶飾與飲食仍然存在，但經文把莊嚴與滋味的重心移開：所重不是外飾與口腹，而是相好與禪悅。
到了博弈戲處，他便在那裡度人；接受各種異道，卻不毀正信；明白世間典籍，仍常愛樂佛法。這三句尤其能顯本品的方便：經文沒有把陌生或染雜的場域先行排除，而是看維摩詰能否在其中保持正信、愛樂佛法，並使同行者得到利益。
一切人見到他都敬重，他在受供養者中最為人所敬；他執持正法，攝受長幼；從事各種治生事業，也能樣樣諧合。可是，即使得到俗世利益，他並不以此喜悅。能做，與貪著所得，不是同一件事。
四衢、政事、講堂、學堂，乃至婬舍與酒肆
經文接著把活動範圍推到城中公共場所。
四衢是眾人往來交會之處，他在那裡饒益眾生；治政法是處理公共事務之處，他在那裡救護一切；講論處重在言辯，他便導以大乘；學堂面對童蒙，他便誘導開發。場所不同，所行也不同，但都不離饒益、救護、引導與啟發。
經文沒有在婬舍與酒肆前停步。進入婬舍，是為顯示欲的過患；進入酒肆，是為使人建立志向。這兩處並沒有因維摩詰進入便被美化：入婬舍仍為示欲之過，入酒肆仍為令人立志。方便不等於隨順一切欲望；它在眾生已經所在之處，仍直說欲過與立志。
面對十一類人，不說一套整齊的話
維摩詰在長者、居士、剎利、婆羅門、大臣、王子、內官、庶民之中，都成為那一類人所尊重的人；到了梵天、帝釋與護世天王之中，也是如此。經文每次都先說『在其中為尊』，再說他給予什麼教導；十一類都同時保留身分與所教之法，不能只留一端。
長者所得的是勝法，居士所得的是斷貪著；剎利被教以忍辱，婆羅門被除去我慢；大臣被教以正法，王子被示以忠孝；內官能化正宮女，庶民能興起福力；梵天被教以勝慧，帝釋被示現無常，護世天王則被引向守護眾生。
十一類人各有自己的處境與所需。若把這一串只縮成『隨機教化』，便會漏掉經文的用心：不是只有對象不同，連所說的法、所要鬆開的執著、所要生起的德行也各不相同。長者維摩詰正是以這樣無量的方便饒益眾生。
為什麼方便走到最後，竟是現身有疾？
「其以方便，現身有疾。」前面是維摩詰主動走進城中各處，這裡則是國王、大臣、長者、居士、婆羅門、王子與官屬因他的病而來。行動的方向看似相反：先前是他去眾人所在之處，如今是眾人來到他這裡。然而兩段所做的事相同，都是讓相遇成為說法之緣。
無數千人前來問疾，本品沒有記他們各自問了什麼，只記維摩詰因以身疾廣為說法，隨即說『是身無常』。
前來的人依經序包括國王、大臣、長者、居士、婆羅門、各位王子與其餘官屬。身分雖然不同，經文以『無數千人，皆往問疾』總記他們同來，未別記各自所問。
他先總說身無常、無強、無力、無堅，迅速朽壞，不可保信；又說身為苦、為惱，是眾病聚集之處。這一段先拆去『身能長久作我的依靠』的信任，然後才用十個譬喻逐面照看。
十個譬喻，不是十次重複
經文逐喻各繫一句尾，十喻無一空懸：如聚沫，不可撮摩；如泡，不得久立；如炎，從渴愛生；如芭蕉，中無有堅；如幻，從顛倒起；如夢，為虛妄見；如影，從業緣現；如響，屬諸因緣；如浮雲，須臾變滅；如電，念念不住。十個譬各配一句，說的不是同一件事重複十次：不可撮摩說取不得，不得久立說住不得，從渴愛生說其所從來，中無有堅說其內無實，從顛倒起、為虛妄見說能見者之失，從業緣現、屬諸因緣說其所待，須臾變滅、念念不住說其不停。
幻從顛倒而起，夢是虛妄所見；影隨業緣而現，響依各種因緣而有。浮雲須臾變滅，閃電念念不住。十個譬喻有的著眼於不可把捉，有的著眼於不得久住，有的著眼於顛倒所見，有的著眼於因緣所生，有的著眼於迅速變化。若只記一句『身如夢幻』，其餘八喻所照之處便消失了。
經文續以影、響、浮雲、電為喻，各繫句尾：從業緣現、屬諸因緣、須臾變滅、念念不住。喻與句尾相接，經不另立解說。
無主、無我、無壽、無人，說的是哪一層？
十喻之後，經文以地、火、風、水四大說身沒有主宰。
身無主，如地；身無我，如火；身無壽，如風；身無人，如水。隨後經文直接說：身不實，四大為家；身為空，離我、我所；身無知，如草木瓦礫；身無作，風力所轉。前四句以四大為譬，後數句直說其義：從不實、為空，說到無知與無作——連『能作者』也不立。
接著，身無知，如草木瓦礫；身無作，隨風力而轉。它雖然能活動，經文卻不許人因此安立一個獨立造作者。身又不淨，穢惡充滿；即使以洗浴、衣服、食物照料，仍然必歸磨滅。
百一病惱顯它是災患，丘井顯它受老所逼，壽期不定卻終須死亡。經文接著逐句說：身不淨，穢惡充滿；身為災，百一病惱；身如丘井，為老所逼；身無定，為要當死。毒蛇、怨賊、空聚又把身的危迫推到結尾；經文說此身為陰、界、諸入所共合成。從無常、無強、無力、無堅、速朽，到此處的不淨、為災、為老所逼、要當死，經文一路只說此身之實況，未曾轉筆美化。
患厭此身之後，經文為何立刻轉向佛身？
「諸仁者！此可患厭，當樂佛身。」經文沒有讓讀者停在身體必壞的驚惶裡，也沒有以厭離作全品終點。它立刻轉問：若這個身不可依，應當欣求什麼？答案是佛身，而佛身即法身。
佛身所從生的長列，與前面的身喻形成鮮明轉折。這個四大和合之身會朽壞；如來身則從無量清淨法生。經文因此不是只說『不要這個身』，而是把行者帶向『應當修集哪些清淨法』。
先是無量功德智慧，再是戒、定、慧、解脫、解脫知見；接著是慈、悲、喜、捨。這些不是只向內的成就：慈悲喜捨本身已面向眾生。
再往下，布施、持戒、忍辱、柔和、精進、禪定、解脫、三昧、多聞、智慧諸波羅蜜，一項不少。方便、六通、三明、三十七道品與止觀接續列出；十力、四無所畏、十八不共法，也都在佛身所從生的長列之內。
最後，經文收在斷一切不善、集一切善、真實與不放逸。宏大的佛身之因，沒有離開最直接的斷一切不善、集一切善、真實與不放逸。所有項目由『無量清淨法』總收，沒有一項被說成可以單獨代替其餘一切。
全品為什麼以發心收束？
「欲得佛身、斷一切眾生病者，當發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」欲得佛身是一端，斷眾生病是另一端；經文用同一個菩提心把兩端接在一起。經文把『欲得佛身』與『斷一切眾生病』並列於同一發心之下，未分先後，也未另立次第。
於是，本品從『欲度人』開始，以『斷眾生病』收束。居城、攝眾、入諸場域、現疾、說身患、勸樂佛身，沒有一段離開最初的目的。經末直說維摩詰『如應說法』，又明記『令無數千人皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心』；本品的得益只依這一句，不另加經文未說的因果。
二鏡並照
上來只順羅什本〈方便品〉自身開講。古德讀到同一品，又分別照見序德、權行、現疾、身觀、佛身與發心的不同紋理。以下並列什門三家與慈恩一系兩路，各還其本，不以一鏡裁另一鏡。
什門之鏡：所具之德如何成為入世之方便
什曰先說，本品序淨名之德，是集經者承世尊平日稱歎方便辯才而記。肇曰則說，出經者欲存其人以弘其道，所以全品序德。什曰繫於承世尊所歎而序其德，肇曰繫於存其人以弘其道；兩說並列，本編不合為一說。
六攝一段，肇曰說：「肇曰：至人不現行；現行六度者，為攝六弊耳。」他的著眼點在『現行』：六種修行顯於世間，是為攝受與之相對的六種障。到了博弈、異道、四衢與講論處，什、肇又分別從現受外道、因戲止戲、同異而化與導以大乘解說；所照的都是維摩詰如何進入眾生現前之處而不失正信。
現疾一段，什曰把先前施戒攝人與問疾者眾連在一起；肇曰則說：「肇曰：同我者易信、異我者難順，故因其身疾，廣明有身之患。」一面照前方便如何使人願意前來，一面照共同有身如何使人容易信受。這些是注家的解釋，不是經文自列的全部動機。
身喻之下，什曰有時偏重無常，肇曰有時偏重空與不實，兩人並非每一喻都用同一科目收攝。到了佛身即法身，肇曰說：「肇曰：經云法身者，虛空身也。」生曰卻從另一面開說：「生曰：夫佛身者，丈六體也。」隨後再以丈六應身從法身出解釋『即法身』。同一牒句下兩種古釋並存，正應如實保存。品末肇曰又把發心說成不只自除病，也濟群生病，使全品利生之線得到收束。
慈恩之鏡：後得智、身語方便與二利之因
窺基依玄奘本先以四門解品，於品體處說：「出品體者，用後得智為體。」又把示現有疾看作身方便，把因疾說法、勸人發心看作語方便。這一鏡把本品的方便放在智慧發動身語之處，並將未疾以前分成以有攝無、同類益流、為尊誘下三路。
對厭身段，窺基說：「初文有五，教生五種厭壞觀故。」依次組織為無常、苦、空、無我、不淨。這五觀能幫助讀者看見長段身喻的次第，卻仍是疏家的科判；羅什本正文沒有自行列出五個小標。
到了佛身段，窺基說：「贊曰：下顯示相。有二：初示法身相、後示報化相。此初文也。」他先說法身，再從所列功德因說報化二身，最後以「正等覺心，二利因故。」解發心：得佛身是自利，斷他病是利他。這條路著力於法報化的分判與自利利他的同因，和什門在法身應現、身患與群生病上的說法各有語彙。
兩鏡都沒有把方便縮成一種應對技巧。什門從序德、六攝、同類易信、身喻與法身應現照見方便；慈恩從後得智、身語二權、五種厭壞觀、法報化與二利因照見方便。兩路並照而不必合成一套。經文仍在兩鏡之間居中：維摩詰以清淨德行走入眾生所在之處，又以共同的身病把眾人引向佛身與菩提心。這條由城中至病中、由身患至發心的路，正是本品留給後世的承衍。
「欲度人故，以善方便居毘耶離；」 — “To liberate people, he dwelt in Vaiśālī through skillful means.” This sentence is a key to reading Chapter 02, “Skillful Means.” Vimalakīrti does not live in the city because he cannot leave it behind, nor does he first live there and only later happen to perform a few beneficial acts. The sūtra states the purpose clearly: he lives in the city in order to liberate people, and his way of living there is skillful means.
But what is skillful means? If we understand it only as flexibility in speech or tact in action, we read the chapter too narrowly. The chapter first devotes a long passage to the virtues Vimalakīrti already possesses. It then describes how he enters different settings of life and faces different people, and only at the end does it say that he manifests bodily illness. Skillful means is therefore not technique without a foundation, but the functioning of pure conduct wherever sentient beings are found.
Apart from “mastered skillful means” in the list of virtues, three more occurrences mark his conduct with “skillful means” in this chapter: first, he dwells in Vaiśālī through skillful means; in the middle, immeasurable skillful means gather up his benefiting of sentient beings; and later, through skillful means he manifests bodily illness. All four occurrences stand within the chapter’s own text.
Skillful Means Begins with Virtues One Truly Possesses
The sūtra first says that Vimalakīrti had made offerings to immeasurable buddhas, deeply planted roots of goodness, and attained acceptance of non-arising. These three phrases make his point of departure clear. He does not suddenly appear merely as an elder skilled in social dealings; he has long made offerings to buddhas, cultivated goodness, and personally entered the non-arising of dharmas.
The sūtra next lists eloquence, supernormal powers, dhāraṇīs, and fearlessness. It also says that he could subdue Māras and harassing adversaries, enter profound Dharma-gates, master the perfection of wisdom, and master skillful means. Eloquence, supernormal powers, dhāraṇīs, fearlessness, wisdom, and skillful means all appear before “to liberate people.” This long list first describes the virtues he possesses; only afterward does the text describe the acts he performs in the city.
The sūtra further says that his great vows had been fulfilled, that he understood the inclinations of the minds of sentient beings, and that he could discern whether their faculties were sharp or dull. Vimalakīrti understood where sentient beings wished to go and whether they could receive the teaching quickly or slowly. Therefore, when he later teaches, he gives the supreme Dharma to elders, removes attachment from householders, teaches patience to kṣatriyas, and removes pride from brahmins. He does not say the same sentence to everyone.
Next, long cultivation of the Buddha-way, a mind already pure and mature, and firm establishment in the Great Vehicle show that his direction was settled. Careful consideration of every act and abiding in the Buddha’s dignified conduct show that his actions were not hasty reactions. A mind as vast as the ocean, the praise of all buddhas, and the reverence of human and heavenly lords together reveal both the measure of his mind and the trust placed in him. Only then does the sūtra arrive at his dwelling in the city in order to liberate people. First possess the virtues, then exercise the means: this sequence cannot be reversed.
Six Practices, Six Paths for Gathering In Sentient Beings
Vimalakīrti has immeasurable wealth, but the sūtra does not stop at his being rich; it says that with his resources he gathers in the poor. Keeping ethical discipline pure does not stop at guarding himself; he uses it to gather in those who violate the precepts. Patience is not merely a way to restrain himself but becomes a power for gathering in those prone to anger. Diligent effort is not solely a means for his own progress but gathers in the indolent. Meditative stillness is not a solitude he enjoys alone but gathers in those whose minds are distracted. Decisive wisdom is not proof of his own intelligence but gathers in those without wisdom.
The syntax of these six statements repeats: the practice he possesses directly answers an obstruction suffered by sentient beings. Wealth answers poverty, ethical discipline answers violation of the precepts, patience answers anger, diligent effort answers indolence, meditative stillness answers distraction, and wisdom answers lack of wisdom. The sūtra does not separate practice from gathering in sentient beings as two successive matters. Every practice, as it appears in this chapter, is already directed toward one class of sentient beings.
How Can Household Life and Seclusion Both Be Present?
The next twelve statements repeatedly unfold through “although this is so, he is not bound by it.”
Although Vimalakīrti is white-robed, he upholds the pure discipline of a renunciant. Although he lives at home, he is not attached to the three realms. He manifests having a wife, yet constantly cultivates brahmacarya. He appears to have a retinue, yet constantly delights in seclusion. The sūtra neither erases his white robes, household life, wife, and retinue nor understands seclusion as physically seeing no one. What it explicitly states is that identity and forms of life can be manifested without attachment being established along with them.
Although he wears precious ornaments, what truly adorns his body are his marks and excellences. Although he eats food, he takes meditative joy as its taste. Precious ornaments and food remain present, but the sūtra shifts the center of adornment and savor: what matters is not external decoration or appetite, but marks and excellences and meditative joy.
When he reaches places of games and gambling, he guides people there. He encounters the teachings of the various non-Buddhist paths without impairing right faith. He understands the writings of the world, yet continually delights in the Buddha-Dharma. These three statements especially reveal the skillful means of this chapter. The sūtra does not first exclude unfamiliar or defiled settings. It asks whether Vimalakīrti can maintain right faith and delight in the Buddha-Dharma within them while benefiting those who accompany him.
Everyone who sees him reveres him, and among recipients of offerings he is the most revered. He upholds the true Dharma and gathers in old and young. He engages in the various occupations of livelihood and brings each one into harmony. Yet even when he gains worldly profit, he does not delight in it. The ability to act and attachment to what is gained are not the same thing.
Crossroads, Government, Halls of Debate, Schools, Brothels, and Wine Shops
The sūtra next extends the sphere of activity to public places throughout the city.
The crossroads are where people coming from every direction meet, and there he benefits sentient beings. Government and law are where public affairs are handled, and there he protects everyone. Halls of debate center on verbal argument, so there he guides people toward the Great Vehicle. Schools face children beginning to learn, so there he draws them out and awakens them. The settings are not the same, and neither are his acts, yet none departs from benefiting, protecting, guiding, and awakening.
The sūtra does not stop at the entrance to brothels and wine shops. He enters brothels to show the faults of desire and enters wine shops to enable people to establish their resolve. These places are not beautified merely because Vimalakīrti enters them: entering a brothel still means showing the faults of desire, and entering a wine shop still means establishing resolve. Skillful means does not mean complying with every desire. Where sentient beings already are, it still speaks directly of the faults of desire and the need to establish resolve.
Facing Eleven Classes of People without Giving One Uniform Teaching
Among elders, householders, kṣatriyas, brahmins, ministers, princes, palace officials, and ordinary people, Vimalakīrti becomes the one most revered by each class. The same is true among Brahmā gods, Śakra gods, and world-protecting heavenly kings. Each time, the sūtra first says that he is the most revered among them and then states what he teaches. All eleven classes retain both their identity and the Dharma taught to them; neither side can be omitted.
The elders receive the supreme Dharma; householders, the relinquishment of attachment. Kṣatriyas are taught patience; brahmins have their pride removed. Ministers are taught the true Dharma; princes are shown loyalty and filial devotion. Palace officials can correct the palace women; ordinary people can arouse the strength of merit. Brahmā gods are taught supreme wisdom; Śakra gods are shown impermanence; world-protecting heavenly kings are directed to protect sentient beings.
Each of the eleven classes has its own situation and need. If this series is reduced merely to “teaching according to circumstances,” the care of the text is lost: not only are the recipients different, but the Dharma spoken, the attachment to be loosened, and the virtue to be aroused also differ in each case. Through precisely such immeasurable skillful means, the elder Vimalakīrti benefits sentient beings.
Why Does Skillful Means Culminate in Manifesting Bodily Illness?
「其以方便，現身有疾。」 — “Through skillful means, he manifested bodily illness.” Previously, Vimalakīrti actively went to the many places where people were found. Here, kings, ministers, elders, householders, brahmins, princes, and officials come because of his illness. The direction of movement seems opposite: earlier he went where others were; now others come to him. Yet the two passages do the same thing. Each allows an encounter to become a condition for teaching the Dharma.
Countless thousands of people come to inquire about his illness. This chapter does not record the separate questions they ask. It records only that Vimalakīrti uses his bodily illness to teach the Dharma extensively and immediately says, “This body is impermanent.”
Those who come, in the order given by the sūtra, include kings, ministers, elders, householders, brahmins, princes, and the remaining officials and attendants. Although their stations differ, the sūtra records their common arrival in the single statement “countless thousands of people all went to inquire about his illness” and does not separately record what each asked.
He first says generally that the body is impermanent, without strength, power, or firmness, quick to decay, and untrustworthy. He further says that it is suffering and affliction and the gathering place of the many diseases. This passage first dismantles trust in the body as a lasting refuge. Only then does he use ten similes to contemplate it from different sides.
Ten Similes Are Not Ten Repetitions
The sūtra attaches a distinct ending to each simile, and not one of the ten hangs empty: like a mass of foam, it cannot be grasped in the hand; like a bubble, it cannot remain for long; like a mirage, it arises from thirst and craving; like a plantain tree, it has no solid core within; like an illusion, it arises from inverted apprehension; like a dream, it is seen through false discrimination; like a shadow, it appears through karma and conditions; like an echo, it belongs to various causes and conditions; like a drifting cloud, it changes and vanishes in a moment; like lightning, it does not remain for even a thought-moment. Each of the ten similes is paired with one statement. They do not say the same thing ten times: “cannot be grasped” concerns the impossibility of taking hold; “cannot remain for long,” the impossibility of abiding; “arises from thirst and craving,” its source; “has no solid core within,” the absence of internal substance; “arises from inverted apprehension” and “seen through false discrimination,” the error of the perceiver; “appears through karma and conditions” and “belongs to various causes and conditions,” that on which it depends; “changes and vanishes in a moment” and “does not remain for even a thought-moment,” its ceaseless change.
An illusion arises from inversion, and a dream is falsely seen. A shadow appears according to karma and conditions, and an echo exists in dependence on various conditions. A drifting cloud changes and vanishes in a moment, and lightning never remains for even a thought-moment. Some of the ten similes focus on being impossible to grasp, some on being unable to remain, some on being seen through inversion, some on arising through conditions, and some on rapid change. If one remembers only “the body is like a dream and an illusion,” what the other eight similes illuminate disappears.
The text continues with the similes of a shadow, an echo, a drifting cloud, and lightning, each with its own ending: appearing through karma and conditions, belonging to various causes and conditions, changing and vanishing in a moment, and not remaining for even a thought-moment. Simile and ending remain connected; the sūtra establishes no separate explanation.
What Do No Master, No Self, No Lifespan, and No Person Address?
After the ten similes, the sūtra uses earth, fire, wind, and water to speak of the body’s lack of a master.
The body has no master and is like earth; it has no self and is like fire; it has no lifespan and is like wind; it has no person and is like water. The sūtra then states directly: the body is unreal and takes the four great elements as its home; the body is empty, apart from self and what belongs to self; the body has no awareness, like grass, trees, tiles, and stones; the body has no independent maker and turns under the force of the wind. The first four statements use the four great elements as similes; the following statements directly express their meaning. From unreality and emptiness they proceed to the absence of awareness and an independent maker: even an “agent who acts” is not established.
Next, the body has no awareness, like grass, trees, tiles, and stones; it has no independent maker and turns under the force of the wind. Although it can move, the sūtra does not permit an independent maker to be established on that account. The body is also impure and filled with filth. Even when tended with bathing, clothing, and food, it must still wear away and perish.
One hundred and one diseases reveal that it is a calamity; the abandoned well reveals that it is oppressed by age. Its lifespan is uncertain, yet it must finally die. The sūtra next states one by one that the body is impure and filled with filth; that the body is a calamity afflicted by one hundred and one diseases; that the body is like an abandoned well oppressed by age; and that the body is unstable and certain to die. Venomous snakes, hostile bandits, and an empty village bring the body’s peril to its conclusion. The sūtra says that this body is jointly compounded by the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields. From impermanence, lack of strength, power, and firmness, and rapid decay to impurity, calamity, oppression by age, and certain death, the sūtra throughout states only the actual condition of this body and never changes course to beautify it.
Why Does the Sūtra Turn Immediately toward the Buddha-Body after Revulsion toward This Body?
「諸仁者！此可患厭，當樂佛身。」 — “Good sirs! This should be regarded with revulsion; you should delight in the Buddha-body.” The sūtra does not leave the reader within terror at the body’s inevitable destruction, nor does it make revulsion the culmination of the chapter. It immediately asks: if this body cannot be relied upon, what should one delight in seeking? The answer is the Buddha-body, and the Buddha-body is precisely the dharma-body.
The long list of sources from which the Buddha-body arises forms a clear turn from the preceding similes for the body. This body compounded from the four great elements decays; the body of the Tathāgata is born of immeasurable pure dharmas. The sūtra therefore does not merely say, “Do not want this body.” It leads the practitioner toward the question, “Which pure dharmas should be cultivated?”
First come immeasurable merit and wisdom, then ethical discipline, meditation, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation, followed by loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. These are not accomplishments directed only inward. Loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity are already oriented toward sentient beings.
Next come giving, ethical discipline, patience, gentleness, diligent effort, meditation, liberation, samādhi, great learning, wisdom, and all the perfections, without omitting one. Skillful means, the six superknowledges, the three knowledges, the thirty-seven factors conducive to the path, and calm and insight follow. The ten powers, four fearlessnesses, and eighteen unique qualities are also all included in the long list from which the Buddha-body arises.
Finally, the sūtra concludes with abandoning every unwholesome dharma, gathering every wholesome dharma, truth, and heedfulness. The exalted causes of the Buddha-body do not leave behind the most direct practices of abandoning all that is unwholesome, gathering all that is wholesome, truth, and heedfulness. “Immeasurable pure dharmas” gathers all these items together; none is said to replace all the others by itself.
Why Does the Whole Chapter Conclude with Arousing the Mind?
「欲得佛身、斷一切眾生病者，當發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」 — “Those who wish to attain the Buddha-body and eliminate the illnesses of all sentient beings should arouse the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening.” The wish to attain the Buddha-body is one end; eliminating the illnesses of sentient beings is the other. The sūtra joins both ends with the same mind of awakening. It places “wishing to attain the Buddha-body” and “eliminating the illnesses of all sentient beings” together under the same arousing of the mind, without ranking them or establishing a separate sequence.
Thus, the chapter begins with “to liberate people” and concludes with “eliminate the illnesses of sentient beings.” Dwelling in the city, gathering in sentient beings, entering the many settings, manifesting illness, teaching bodily affliction, and urging delight in the Buddha-body: not one passage departs from the initial purpose. At the end, the sūtra directly says that Vimalakīrti “taught the Dharma in accordance with what was fitting” and explicitly records that he “caused countless thousands of people all to arouse the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening.” The benefit attained in this chapter rests only on this sentence; no cause or result unstated by the sūtra is added.
Two Mirrors Shining Side by Side
The exposition above has followed only Chapter 02, “Skillful Means,” in Kumārajīva’s recension. When the ancient masters read the same chapter, they separately illuminated the textures of the presentation of virtues, expedient conduct, manifestation of illness, contemplation of the body, Buddha-body, and arousing the mind. What follows presents the three masters of the Kumārajīva line and the Ci’en line as two paths, each returned to its own recension, without using either mirror to adjudicate the other.
The Kumārajīva-Line Mirror: How Possessed Virtues Become Skillful Means within the World
Kumārajīva first says that this chapter’s presentation of the virtues of Pure Renown records what the compiler had heard from the World-Honored One’s constant praise of his skillful means and eloquence. Sengzhao instead says that the one who produced the sūtra wished to preserve this person in order to propagate the Way and therefore presented his virtues throughout the chapter. Kumārajīva connects the presentation of virtue with reliance on the World-Honored One’s praise, while Sengzhao connects it with preserving the person to propagate the Way. The two explanations are presented side by side and are not combined into one.
On the six ways of gathering, Sengzhao says, 「肇曰：至人不現行；現行六度者，為攝六弊耳。」 — “Sengzhao says: The consummate person does not manifest practices; he manifests the six perfections only to gather in the six defects.” His focus is on “manifesting practices”: the six practices appear in the world in order to gather in the six obstructions that correspond to them. At places of games, among non-Buddhist paths, at crossroads, and in halls of debate, Kumārajīva and Sengzhao further explain, respectively, manifesting reception of non-Buddhist teachings, using play to stop play, transforming through sameness and difference, and guiding people toward the Great Vehicle. What each illuminates is how Vimalakīrti enters the present place of sentient beings without losing right faith.
On manifesting illness, Kumārajīva connects the preceding gathering of people through giving and ethical discipline with the multitude who come to inquire. Sengzhao says, 「肇曰：同我者易信、異我者難順，故因其身疾，廣明有身之患。」 — “Sengzhao says: One who is like me is easy to trust; one who differs from me is difficult to follow. Therefore, using his bodily illness, he broadly clarifies the affliction of having a body.” One side illuminates how earlier skillful means makes people willing to come; the other illuminates how sharing the condition of having a body makes the teaching easy to trust. These are the commentators’ explanations, not an exhaustive list of motives stated by the sūtra itself.
Under the bodily similes, Kumārajīva sometimes emphasizes impermanence, while Sengzhao sometimes emphasizes emptiness and unreality. The two do not subsume every simile under precisely the same category. When the text says that the Buddha-body is precisely the dharma-body, Sengzhao says, 「肇曰：經云法身者，虛空身也。」 — “Sengzhao says: When the sūtra speaks of the dharma-body, it means a body like space.” Daosheng instead begins from another side: 「生曰：夫佛身者，丈六體也。」 — “Daosheng says: The Buddha-body is the sixteen-foot body.” He then explains “precisely the dharma-body” by saying that the sixteen-foot response-body issues from the dharma-body and is named after that from which it issues. Two ancient interpretations stand under the same cited phrase and should be preserved just as they are. At the chapter’s end, Sengzhao further says that arousing the mind not only eliminates one’s own illness but also relieves the illnesses of the many sentient beings, completing the chapter’s line of benefiting others.
The Ci’en Mirror: Subsequently Attained Wisdom, Bodily and Verbal Skillful Means, and the Cause of the Two Benefits
Following Xuanzang’s recension, Kuiji first explains the chapter through four approaches and says of its essence, 「出品體者，用後得智為體。」 — “As for identifying the chapter’s essence, it takes subsequently attained wisdom as its essence.” He further regards manifesting illness as bodily skillful means and teaching the Dharma and urging others to arouse the mind on account of the illness as verbal skillful means. This mirror places the chapter’s skillful means where wisdom activates body and speech and divides the period before the illness into three paths: using what one has to gather in those who lack it, benefiting those of the same class, and becoming revered in order to guide those below.
On the section concerning revulsion toward the body, Kuiji says, 「初文有五，教生五種厭壞觀故。」 — “The opening text has five parts, because it teaches the arising of five contemplations of revulsion toward decay.” He organizes them in order as impermanence, suffering, emptiness, selflessness, and impurity. These five contemplations can help the reader see the sequence of the long passage on bodily similes, but they remain the commentator’s structural analysis; Kumārajīva’s text does not itself list five subheadings.
At the passage on the Buddha-body, Kuiji says, 「贊曰：下顯示相。有二：初示法身相、後示報化相。此初文也。」 — “The Commentary says: The following reveals their marks. There are two parts: first, revealing the mark of the dharma-body; second, revealing the marks of the enjoyment and transformation bodies. This is the first passage.” He first speaks of the dharma-body, then reads the listed causes of virtue through the enjoyment and transformation bodies, and finally explains arousing the mind with 「正等覺心，二利因故。」 — “The mind of perfect awakening is the cause of the two benefits.” Attaining the Buddha-body benefits oneself; eliminating the illnesses of others benefits others. This path emphasizes the distinctions among the dharma, enjoyment, and transformation bodies and their shared cause in the benefits for self and others. Its vocabulary differs from the Kumārajīva line’s language of the dharma-body’s responsive manifestation, bodily affliction, and the illnesses of sentient beings.
Neither mirror reduces skillful means to a technique of response. The Kumārajīva line sees skillful means through the presentation of virtues, the six ways of gathering, ease of trust among those sharing the same condition, bodily similes, and the responsive manifestation of the dharma-body. The Ci’en line sees it through subsequently attained wisdom, bodily and verbal forms of expedient means, five contemplations of revulsion toward decay, the dharma, enjoyment, and transformation bodies, and the shared cause of the two benefits. The two paths shine side by side without needing to become a single system. The sūtra remains centered between the two mirrors: Vimalakīrti enters the places where sentient beings dwell through pure conduct, then uses the shared condition of bodily illness to lead everyone toward the Buddha-body and the mind of awakening. This path from the city into illness and from bodily affliction to arousing the mind is precisely what this chapter transmits to later generations.
考據Apparatus
全品定位 本品位於卷上，承第一〈佛國品〉法會而轉入維摩詰在毘耶離城中的示現。經先列長者實德，再寫他以六度攝眾、出入居家與城中諸處、在十一類眾中各為其尊；繼而以方便現疾，藉問疾說身無常、苦、空、無我與不淨，最後由患厭此身轉向欣求佛身，勸發無上正等菩提心。方便在本品不是一種抽象名目，而是由所具之德、所入之處、所現之疾與所勸之心連成一條利生之路。
一、科判定位
| 節點 | 定位 |
|---|---|
| 卷品 | 卷上 · 第二〈方便品〉 |
| 品題 | T14n0475 0539a07 |
| 品身 | 0539a07–0539c13 |
| 長者出場與實德 | 0539a08–0539a15 |
| 六攝 | 0539a16–0539a18 |
| 居家與世俗場景之方便 | 0539a19–0539a29 |
| 十一類眾中為尊 | 0539a29–0539b08 |
| 現疾與問疾眾集 | 0539b10–0539b12 |
| 身患、身喻與四大無我 | 0539b13–0539b28 |
| 患厭此身、欣求佛身 | 0539b29–0539c09 |
| 勸發菩提心與得益 | 0539c09–0539c13 |
| 下一品題 | 第三〈弟子品〉，0539c14 |
本品在原典中分作四個散文段，沒有偈頌，也沒有呪文。第一段由長者出場直至無量方便饒益眾生；第二段由現身有疾直至身為陰、界、諸入所共合成；第三段由患厭此身轉入佛身所從生；第四段記無數千人發菩提心。全品可依實德、昔方便、今方便、厭身、欣佛身、發心六段讀；今昔之分是敘事先後，不把古德科判倒寫成經文原有標題。
二、異譯對勘
三譯各守本名：支謙、羅什二本作維摩詰與維耶離／毘耶離；玄奘本作無垢稱與廣嚴城。T474 品題作〈善權品〉，T475 作〈方便品〉，T476 作〈顯不思議方便善巧品〉。下列各處只並錄本品實文，不把一譯本多出的詞移入另一譯本。
一、品題與主角出場
| 譯本 | 逐字實文 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 支謙 T474 | 「維摩詰所說經善權品第二」 | T14n0474 0520c23 |
| 羅什 T475 | 「維摩詰所說經方便品第二」 | T14n0475 0539a07 |
| 玄奘 T476 | 「說無垢稱經顯不思議方便善巧品第二」 | T14n0476 0560b05 |
| 譯本 | 逐字實文 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 支謙 T474 · 維摩詰 | 「是時，維耶離大城中有長者名曰維摩詰，」 | T14n0474 0520c24 |
| 羅什 T475 · 維摩詰 | 「爾時毘耶離大城中有長者，名維摩詰，」 | T14n0475 0539a08 |
| 玄奘 T476 · 無垢稱 | 「爾時，廣嚴城中有大菩薩，離呫毘種，名無垢稱，」 | T14n0476 0560b06 |
二、為度眾生而居城
| 譯本 | 逐字實文 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 支謙 T474 | 「欲度人故，居維耶離，矜行權道。」 | T14n0474 0521a01 |
| 羅什 T475 | 「欲度人故，以善方便居毘耶離；」 | T14n0475 0539a15 |
| 玄奘 T476 | 「為欲成熟諸有情故，以善方便居廣嚴城。」 | T14n0476 0560b14 |
三、六攝起句
| 譯本 | 逐字實文 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 支謙 T474 | 「資財無量，救攝貧民；以善方便，攝諸惡戒；以忍調行，攝諸恚怒；」 | T14n0474 0521a02 |
| 羅什 T475 | 「資財無量，攝諸貧民；奉戒清淨，攝諸毀禁；以忍調行，攝諸恚怒；」 | T14n0475 0539a16 |
| 玄奘 T476 | 「具無盡財，攝益貧窮、無依、無怙；具清淨戒，攝益一切有犯有越；以調順忍攝益瞋恨、暴嫉、楚毒；」 | T14n0476 0560b15 |
三本都由財、戒、忍起列，支謙作『救攝』『善方便』，羅什作『攝諸』『奉戒清淨』，玄奘則展開為『貧窮、無依、無怙』與『有犯有越』。所列詳略各守本欄。
四、白衣、居家與妻子
| 譯本 | 逐字實文 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 支謙 T474 | 「雖為白衣，奉持沙門至賢之行；居家為行，不止無色；有妻子婦，自隨所樂常修梵行；」 | T14n0474 0521a05 |
| 羅什 T475 | 「雖為白衣，奉持沙門清淨律行；雖處居家，不著三界；示有妻子，常修梵行；」 | T14n0475 0539a19 |
| 玄奘 T476 | 「雖為白衣而具沙門威儀功德，雖處居家不著三界，示有妻子常修梵行，」 | T14n0476 0560b20 |
五、婬舍與酒會、酒肆、伎樂
| 譯本 | 逐字實文 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 支謙 T474 | 「入諸婬種，除其欲怒；入諸酒會，能立其志。」 | T14n0474 0521a14 |
| 羅什 T475 | 「入諸婬舍，示欲之過；入諸酒肆，能立其志；」 | T14n0475 0539a28 |
| 玄奘 T476 | 「入諸婬舍示欲之過，為令建立正念正知遊諸伎樂。」 | T14n0476 0560c03 |
玄奘本相應位置作伎樂，不以羅什本『酒肆』替換；支謙本另作『酒會』。三本都保存入欲染之處而作教化的形態，具體詞句不合成共同原文。
六、現疾與問疾
| 譯本 | 逐字實文 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 支謙 T474 | 「其以權道，現身有疾。以其疾故，國王、大臣、長者、居士、群臣、太子并餘眾輩，從而問疾者無數千人。」 | T14n0474 0521a26 |
| 羅什 T475 | 「其以方便，現身有疾。以其疾故，國王、大臣、長者、居士、婆羅門等，及諸王子并餘官屬，無數千人，皆往問疾。」 | T14n0475 0539b10 |
| 玄奘 T476 | 「其以方便現身有疾。以其疾故，國王、大臣、長者、居士、婆羅門等，及諸王子并餘官屬無數千人，皆往問疾。」 | T14n0476 0560c15 |
七、身之總判
| 譯本 | 逐字實文 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 支謙 T474 | 「諸仁者！是身無常，為無強，為無力，為無堅，為苦，為老，為病，為多痛畏。」 | T14n0474 0521a29 |
| 羅什 T475 | 「諸仁者！是身無常、無強、無力、無堅、速朽之法，不可信也！為苦、為惱，眾病所集。」 | T14n0475 0539b13 |
| 玄奘 T476 | 「諸仁者！是四大種所合成身，無常、無強、無堅、無力。朽故迅速，不可保信，為苦、為惱、眾病之器，多諸過患、變壞之法。」 | T14n0476 0560c18 |
八、四大與人我名目
| 譯本 | 逐字實文 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 支謙 T474 | 「是身無主，為如地；是身非身，為如火；是身非命，為如風；是身非人，為如水；」 | T14n0474 0521b07 |
| 羅什 T475 | 「是身無主，為如地；是身無我，為如火；是身無壽，為如風；是身無人，為如水；」 | T14n0475 0539b21 |
| 玄奘 T476 | 「是身無主為如地、是身無我為如水、是身無有情為如火、是身無命者為如風、」 | T14n0476 0560c28 |
地、水、火、風與無主、無我、無有情、無命者的配列在玄奘本不同；不得把後譯次序移回羅什本。
九、本品有無與病數
| 檢點 | 支謙 T474 | 羅什 T475 | 玄奘 T476 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 毒蛇、怨害、空聚合句 | 本品未見 | 「是身如毒蛇、如怨賊、如空聚，陰、界、諸入所共合成。」（0539b28） | 「是身如怨害周遍毒蛇之所充滿、是身如空聚諸蘊界處所共合成。」（0561a07） |
| 補特伽羅一語 | 本品未見 | 本品未見 | 「是身無有補特伽羅與虛空等、」（0561a01） |
| 身病數語 | 「是身為災，一增百病；」（0521b12） | 「是身為災，百一病惱；」（0539b26） | 「是身多患四百四病之所集成、」（0561a05） |
『本品未見』只記該譯本本品的實況，不從後二譯補入支謙本，也不把玄奘本『四百四病』覆寫羅什本『百一病惱』。
十、由厭身至發心
| 節點 | 支謙 T474 | 羅什 T475 | 玄奘 T476 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 厭身、樂佛身 | 「此可患厭，當發清淨不婬之行，如佛法身，吾等當學。」（0521b14） | 「諸仁者！此可患厭，當樂佛身。」（0539b29） | 「諸仁者！於如是身應生厭離，於如來身應起欣樂。」（0561a09） |
| 佛身所從生 | 「佛法身者，從福祐生，佛身者，從智生，從戒品、定品、慧品、解品、度知見品生，」（0521b15） | 「佛身者即法身也！從無量功德智慧生，從戒、定、慧、解脫、解脫知見生，」（0539c01） | 「如來身者，無量善法共所集成，從修無量殊勝福德智慧所生，從修無量勝戒定慧解脫解脫知見所生，」（0561a10） |
| 勸發菩提心 | 「欲除一切病者，當發行大道。」（0521b25） | 「欲得佛身、斷一切眾生病者，當發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」（0539c09） | 「汝等欲得如是之身、息除一切有情病者，當發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」（0561a21） |
| 說法得益 | 「令無數千人發無上正真道意。」（0521b26） | 「令無數千人皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」（0539c12） | 「令無數千人皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」（0561a24） |
三譯都由身患轉向佛身或如來身，再落在發心；但『清淨不婬之行』『佛身者即法身也』『無量善法共所集成』各屬其本，不互相補句。
三、經論宗依（眼）
本品之眼先在羅什本自身。它不是先立一套方便理論，再拿維摩詰作例；而是把方便寫成四次轉動。
一、由實德起方便。 經先列供佛、善本、無生忍、辯才、神通、總持、無畏、智度、大願、知機與佛威儀，然後才說：「欲度人故，以善方便居毘耶離；」（T14n0475 0539a15）方便以已有之德為根，以欲度人為方向。
二、由所處之地行方便。 六攝之後，經連用『雖』『若至』『受』『入』『若在』展開：白衣、居家、妻子、眷屬、寶飾、飲食、博弈、異道、世典、四衢、治政、講論、學堂、婬舍、酒肆，以及十一類人天眾中，沒有一處被排除在饒益之外。經末以「長者維摩詰，以如是等無量方便饒益眾生。」（T14n0475 0539b08）總收。
三、由身疾開說法之門。 「其以方便，現身有疾。」（T14n0475 0539b10）疾使無數千人來問，維摩詰便由眾人共同依怙的身說起，逐層顯其無常、苦惱、空、無主、無我、不淨與必歸磨滅。疾在經中不是孤立事件，而是今方便的起點。
四、由厭身轉成發心。 經沒有停在身之敗壞，而立即說：「諸仁者！此可患厭，當樂佛身。」（T14n0475 0539b29）佛身即法身，從無量清淨法生；欲得佛身並斷眾生病，則當發無上正等菩提心。全品的落點不是因身無常而退避，而是由身患轉向成佛與濟眾之願。
這四次轉動都由本品實文可見。古德對品體、五觀、法身與報化所作的分判，只在目五傳錄，不倒作經文唯一的自我解說。
四、本品釋要
一、實德不是裝飾性的讚語
經列二十二項：供養無量諸佛、深植善本、得無生忍、辯才無礙、遊戲神通、逮諸總持、獲無所畏、降魔勞怨、入深法門、善於智度、通達方便、大願成就、明了眾生心趣、分別諸根利鈍、久於佛道、心已純淑、決定大乘、所作善能思量、住佛威儀、心大如海、諸佛咨嗟，以及弟子、釋、梵、世主所敬。這些德目緊接『欲度人故』，成為後文行方便的前提。
二、六攝把自身所行轉成攝受
六項各有對象：以資財攝貧民，以清淨戒攝毀禁，以忍攝恚怒，以精進攝懈怠，以禪寂攝亂意，以決定慧攝無智。經文不是只列六度名稱，而是每一行都同一類有待攝受的眾生相接。
三、城中方便遍及生活、公共場域與各類人眾
居家與世俗場景有十二項：白衣而持沙門律行，居家而不著三界，示有妻子而修梵行，現有眷屬而樂遠離，服寶飾而以相好嚴身，飲食而以禪悅為味；至博弈處度人，受異道而不毀正信，明世典而樂佛法，見敬而為供養中最，執持正法而攝長幼，治生得利而不以喜悅。
公共場域有六處：四衢、治政、講論、學堂、婬舍、酒肆。隨後十一類眾依次為長者、居士、剎利、婆羅門、大臣、王子、內官、庶民、梵天、帝釋、護世；所施教法分別為勝法、斷貪、忍辱、除慢、正法、忠孝、化正宮女、興福、勝慧、無常與護生。經文在此不是說所有場域都相同，而是每到一處，依其所需而行饒益。
四、現疾之後，身被逐層照見
維摩詰先總說身無常、無強、無力、無堅、速朽、不可信，是苦、是惱、眾病所集。接著十喻依次是聚沫、泡、炎、芭蕉、幻、夢、影、響、浮雲、電；四大又分別顯無主、無我、無壽、無人。其後直說身由四大假合，離我我所，無知、無作、不淨、虛偽、必歸磨滅，為百一病惱、為老所逼、終必死亡，又如毒蛇、怨賊、空聚，由陰、界、諸入共合而成。這些判語與譬喻各有自己的受詞，不可把十喻壓成一個籠統的『如幻』。
五、佛身所從生一項不省
佛身即法身，經列其從無量功德智慧而生，從戒、定、慧、解脫、解脫知見而生，從慈、悲、喜、捨而生，從布施、持戒、忍辱、柔和、勤行精進、禪定、解脫、三昧、多聞、智慧諸波羅蜜而生；又從方便、六通、三明、三十七道品、止觀、十力、四無所畏、十八不共法、斷一切不善法、集一切善法、真實與不放逸而生。經以『無量清淨法』總收，最後將欲得佛身與斷眾生病同繫於發菩提心。
五、諸家異釋（雙鏡並錄）
本目嚴守兩個隨本：T1775 所集什曰、肇曰、生曰依羅什 T475，經主為維摩詰；T1782 窺基依玄奘 T476，經主為無垢稱。兩鏡並列，同一鏡內也不把三位注者合稱一人。
一、品中何以先序其德
什曰（依羅什本）：
「什曰：此品序淨名德者，非集經者之意。其方便辯才，世尊常所稱歎，故集經者承其所聞以序德耳。」（T38n1775 0338c13）
什曰先辨序德之由，沒有把本品德目看作無所依據的編者增飾。
肇曰（依羅什本）：
「肇曰：樹德先聖，故善本深殖也。此經之作起于淨名，其微言幽唱亦備之後文。出經者欲遠存其人以弘其道教，故此一品全序其德也。」（T38n1775 0338c19）
肇曰把全品序德與存人弘道相接，仍依羅什本『淨名』之稱。
窺基（依玄奘本）：
「出品體者，用後得智為體。諸教云：十度之中，後五皆以擇法為性。品下亦言「善於智度，通達方便。」相以身語而為自體，為大居士現身有疾，是身方便；因說妙法，勸彼發心，是語方便。下文自顯，故不引之。發身語本，即是方便，意相難彰，故經不說。」（T38n1782 1034b25）
此鏡以後得智出品體，又分身方便與語方便。這是窺基依玄奘本的判釋，不回寫成羅什本自列之科。
二、六攝與未疾以前之權行
肇曰就六攝說：「肇曰：至人不現行；現行六度者，為攝六弊耳。」（T38n1775 0339b22）到了博弈處，他又說：「肇曰：因戲止戲。」（T38n1775 0339c07）對受諸異道，什曰只說：「什曰：現受外道法也。」（T38n1775 0339c08）肇曰再補明同異之意。三條各有署名，不歸併為僧肇一人之說。
窺基依玄奘本把未疾以前分作三類：「初以有攝無權」「同類益流權」「為尊誘下權」。（T38n1782 1035b14、1037c16、1038b07）他在六攝段說，以自身六度妙行攝他六障；在白衣居家段說處俗持真軌、居家不染塵；在各類眾中為尊段說為尊而誘下。這套三分只屬慈恩鏡，羅什本的讀者仍先依經文自身次序讀。
三、何以現疾，又何以先說身患
什曰把現疾與先前攝受連起：「什曰：上諸方便以施戒攝人，施戒攝人則人感其惠，聞其有疾問疾者眾，問疾者眾則功化弘矣。是以廣現方便，然後處疾也。」（T38n1775 0340c27）肇曰則從同類易信著眼：「肇曰：同我者易信、異我者難順，故因其身疾，廣明有身之患。」（T38n1775 0341a08）兩說並存，不改寫成經文自列的唯一動機。
窺基另設問答，列現疾十意；又把今權分成現身權與現語權：「贊曰：此下第二顯其今權。於中復二：一現身權，身有疾故。二現語權，語說法故。此身權也。」（T38n1782 1038c09）十意與身語二權都依玄奘本疏文傳錄，不當作 T475 自列十項。
四、身喻如何成觀
什曰從無常、空無我、不淨與苦分讀身段；肇曰在聚沫下說：「肇曰：撮摩聚沫之無實，以喻觀身之虛偽。自此下至電喻，明空義也。」（T38n1775 0341b01）但什曰在浮雲下又說由聚沫至電盡喻無常。兩位對十喻所著眼處並不完全相同，只宜並錄。
窺基依玄奘本把厭離段判成五觀：「初文有五，教生五種厭壞觀故。」（T38n1782 1038c28）其五為無常、苦、空、無我、不淨；又說《攝大乘》八喻、《般若》九喻、本經十喻各據一門，不可和會。五觀與依他不實是慈恩鏡的組織法，不倒灌成羅什本明列的五個小節。
五、丘井與身之危迫
什曰明釋：「什曰：丘井，丘墟、枯井也。」（T38n1775 0342b02）並以罪人避醉象、投枯井、執腐草、下有惡龍、旁有五蛇、二鼠嚙草、上有蜜滴的譬喻詳說生死危迫與五欲迷著。肇曰只說危人處井而為龍蛇所逼，並明其緣在他經。窺基依玄奘本相應詞為水隧級，末說：「舊云「丘井」，乃意難知。」（T38n1782 1040a24）兩鏡保存不同讀法，本編不判優劣。
六、佛身即法身的異釋
肇曰說：「肇曰：經云法身者，虛空身也。」（T38n1775 0343a02）生曰同一牒句下卻以另一入口開說：「生曰：夫佛身者，丈六體也。」（T38n1775 0343a13）生曰隨即說丈六體從法身出，以所從出名為即法身；二說都在 T1775 中實署，不能只取一說作什門定義。
窺基依玄奘本則先分法身相，再分報化二身功德：「贊曰：下顯示相。有二：初示法身相、後示報化相。此初文也。」（T38n1782 1040b07）此為慈恩鏡的身分科，不用來改寫肇、生之異釋。
七、發心所攝的兩端
肇曰說：「肇曰：發無上心豈唯自除病，亦濟群生病。」（T38n1775 0343c09）窺基依玄奘本則以「正等覺心，二利因故。」（T38n1782 1040c23）收束，並把得佛身列為自利、斷他病列為利他。兩鏡都看見發心不止於自身，組織語彙則各自保留。
六、術語與譬喻
一、本品自有術語在先
方便。 經文先說『通達方便』，再說為度人故以善方便居城，最後明說以方便現疾。它既見於所具之德，也見於居處、行動與示疾；不只等於說話技巧。
無生忍。 維摩詰出場時已『得無生忍』。什曰與肇曰都以菩薩悟無生而能忍受說明『忍』名，窺基則依玄奘本列作三無生忍德；不同階位組織不合成一條定判。
智度。 本品將『善於智度』與『通達方便』連說。肇曰以到實智彼岸釋智度、運用無方釋方便；窺基依玄奘本以第十智波羅蜜多與方便善巧波羅蜜多分說。兩鏡各還其本。
心大如海。 羅什本以此讚維摩詰之心。什曰列海深廣、清淨、藏寶三德；肇曰列澄淨、出寶、受雨不溢、風日不竭、淵深難測五德。這兩組數目並存，不擇一刪一。
三界。 經作『雖處居家，不著三界』。肇曰以三界為室宅；窺基依玄奘本明列欲界、色界、無色界。白衣與居家是所現形態，不著三界是經文同句所顯。
陰、界、諸入。 T475 結身患段說身由陰、界、諸入共合而成。肇曰明陰為五陰、界為十八界、入為十二入，三法假合成身，如空聚無可寄。
百一病。 羅什本只寫『百一病惱』。肇曰以一大增損生百一病說明；玄奘本及窺基相應段作四百四病，後者只留在玄奘本欄，不回改底本。
佛身、法身、如來身。 羅什本說『佛身者即法身也』，又在清淨法總結處作『如來身』。什門內肇、生已有異釋，慈恩鏡另分法身與報化；本編不把三種分法抹成單一術語表。
二、本品十喻與後續譬喻
| 譬喻 | 經文所繫之義 |
|---|---|
| 聚沫 | 不可撮摩 |
| 泡 | 不得久立 |
| 炎 | 從渴愛生 |
| 芭蕉 | 中無有堅 |
| 幻 | 從顛倒起 |
| 夢 | 為虛妄見 |
| 影 | 從業緣現 |
| 響 | 屬諸因緣 |
| 浮雲 | 須臾變滅 |
| 電 | 念念不住 |
十喻之後，地、火、風、水分別與無主、無我、無壽、無人相配；草木瓦礫顯無知，風力所轉顯無作，丘井顯為老所逼，毒蛇、怨賊、空聚則與四大、五陰及六入的古注承衍相接。讀者不可只取一個熟悉的『夢幻泡影』口號，抹去本品每一譬喻所帶的不同句尾。
七、徵引承衍
本品的實德、身喻與佛身段，在兩部古疏中各自接出經論之網。
什曰於總持下說：「什曰：智慧能持實相亦名持。餘持如《大智度論》中說也。」（T38n1775 0339a13）肇曰在毒蛇與空聚段引《涅槃經》身喻，明說：「是故《涅槃經》云：觀身如四大毒蛇。」（T38n1775 0342c07）這些引法都由什、肇各自署名，不改作羅什本經文。
窺基以《菩薩地》所學處安置諸品，明說：「二利行處，〈方便品〉、〈聲聞品〉、〈菩薩品〉、〈問疾品〉是，利他行故。」（T38n1782 1033b26）又在十喻下說：「然《攝大乘》八喻依他，《般若》九喻，此中十喻，依他不實，所以成空。依義異故，各據一門，不可和會。」（T38n1782 1039c08）在佛身功德段，他再牒《金剛般若》：「一切諸佛從此經出，一切如來從此經生，法身顯故。」（T38n1782 1040b12）
於是，本品有兩條可見的古代承衍：什門沿無生忍、四大無我、他經身喻、法身與發心展開；慈恩沿利他行處、後得智、五種厭壞觀、依他不實、法報化與二利展開。兩條路都接本品實文，各守所隨漢本；本編並錄而不合流，也不以一鏡判另一鏡高下。
八、校本定位
一、底本與疏本座標
- 羅什本 T14n0475：品題 0539a07，品身至 0539c13；下一品題 0539c14。
- 支謙本 T14n0474：品題 0520c23，品身至 0521b27；下一品題 0521b28。
- 玄奘本 T14n0476：品題 0560b05，品身至 0561b04；下一品題 0561b05。
- 什、肇、生注 T38n1775：本品 0338c13–0343c12；下一品題 0343c13。經句依 T475。
- 窺基疏 T38n1782：本品 1033b07–1040c26；下一品題 1040c27。經句依 T476。
二、本品十四條校勘記
見證代碼：【大】大正本，【CB】CBETA 定讀，【宋】宋本，【元】元本，【明】明本，【聖】聖語藏本，【磧乙-CB】磧砂乙本之 CBETA 校訂。十四條中有一條為內層校記；下表只傳定讀、異讀與見證，不在本層裁定。
| 索引 | 層次 | 出處 | 定讀及見證 | 異讀及見證 | 注記 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 外 | 0539a07 | 所說【大】 | 闕【宋】 | — |
| 30 | 外 | 0539a07 | 維摩詰所說經【大】 | 闕【明】【聖】 | 〔所說〕－【宋】＊；所說【大】＊，〔－〕【宋】＊ |
| 31 | 內 | 0539a07 | 所說【大】 | 闕【宋】 | — |
| 32 | 外 | 0539a09 | 植【大】 | 殖【宋】【元】【明】【聖】 | — |
| 33 | 外 | 0539a18 | 禪寂【大】 | 禪定【聖】 | — |
| 34 | 外 | 0539a22 | 復【大】 | 服【聖】 | — |
| 35 | 外 | 0539a23 | 弈【CB】 | 奕【大】 | — |
| 36 | 外 | 0539a25 | 幼【大】 | 幻【明】 | — |
| 37 | 外 | 0539a27 | 政【大】 | 正【元】【明】【聖】 | — |
| 38 | 外 | 0539a28 | 蒙【大】 | 矇【聖】 | — |
| 39 | 外 | 0539b05 | 政【大】 | 正【元】【明】【聖】 | — |
| 40 | 外 | 0539c02 | 慧【大】 | 智慧【聖】 | — |
| 41 | 外 | 0539c06 | 止【大】 | 正【聖】 | — |
| 42 | 外 | 0539c11 | 疾【大】 | 病【聖】 | — |
由真德而權行，由入城而現疾，由厭身而欣求佛身，本品把方便顯成一條不離眾生、不離身患、也不止於身患的路。三譯保存不同詞系，什、肇、生與窺基保存不同古鏡；校本又留下字句傳承的層次。只有各守本句、各還其名、並錄不判，方便之義才不會被後來的整齊抹平。
Chapter location. This chapter stands in the Upper Scroll. Following the Dharma assembly of Chapter 01, “Buddha-Lands,” it turns to Vimalakīrti’s manifestations in the city of Vaiśālī. The sūtra first lists the elder’s real virtues, then describes how he gathers in sentient beings through the six perfections, enters household life and the many places of the city, and becomes the most revered among eleven classes of beings. He then manifests illness through skillful means and, when people come to inquire, teaches the impermanence, suffering, emptiness, selflessness, and impurity of the body. Finally, he turns from revulsion toward this afflicted body to delight in seeking the Buddha-body and urges the assembly to arouse the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening. In this chapter, skillful means is not an abstract category. The virtues he possesses, the places he enters, the illness he manifests, and the mind he urges others to arouse form one continuous path of benefiting sentient beings.
1. Structural Location
| Node | Location |
|---|---|
| Scroll and chapter | Upper Scroll · Chapter 02, “Skillful Means” |
| Chapter title | T14n0475 0539a07 |
| Chapter body | 0539a07–0539c13 |
| The elder’s appearance and real virtues | 0539a08–0539a15 |
| Six ways of gathering in sentient beings | 0539a16–0539a18 |
| Skillful means in household and worldly settings | 0539a19–0539a29 |
| Most revered among eleven classes of beings | 0539a29–0539b08 |
| Manifesting illness and the gathering of visitors | 0539b10–0539b12 |
| Bodily affliction, bodily similes, and selflessness of the four great elements | 0539b13–0539b28 |
| Becoming weary of this body and delighting in the Buddha-body | 0539b29–0539c09 |
| Urging the mind of awakening and the benefit attained | 0539c09–0539c13 |
| Title of the next chapter | Chapter 03, “The Disciples,” 0539c14 |
In the source text, this chapter consists of four prose sections and contains neither verse nor mantra. The first section runs from the elder’s appearance through his benefiting sentient beings by immeasurable skillful means. The second runs from his manifestation of bodily illness through the body’s being compounded by the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields. The third turns from revulsion toward this body to the sources from which the Buddha-body arises. The fourth records that countless thousands of people arouse the mind of awakening. The whole chapter may be read in six movements: real virtue, earlier skillful means, present skillful means, revulsion toward the body, delight in the Buddha-body, and arousing the mind. The distinction between earlier and present is a narrative sequence; it does not rewrite an ancient master’s structural analysis as headings originally stated by the sūtra.
2. Comparison of Alternative Translations
Each of the three translations retains its own names. The Zhi Qian and Kumārajīva recensions use Vimalakīrti and Vaiśālī; the Xuanzang recension uses Stainless Renown and the City of Vast Adornment. T474 titles the chapter “Skillful Expedients,” T475 titles it “Skillful Means,” and T476 titles it “Revealing Inconceivable Skillfulness in Means.” The loci below present only the actual wording of this chapter in parallel and do not move wording added in one translation into another.
1. Chapter Title and Appearance of the Principal Figure
| Translation | Verbatim Text | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zhi Qian T474 | 「維摩詰所說經善權品第二」 — “The Vimalakīrti Sūtra, Chapter Two: Skillful Expedients.” | T14n0474 0520c23 |
| Kumārajīva T475 | 「維摩詰所說經方便品第二」 — “The Vimalakīrti Sūtra, Chapter Two: Skillful Means.” | T14n0475 0539a07 |
| Xuanzang T476 | 「說無垢稱經顯不思議方便善巧品第二」 — “The Sūtra Spoken by Stainless Renown, Chapter Two: Revealing Inconceivable Skillfulness in Means.” | T14n0476 0560b05 |
| Translation | Verbatim Text | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zhi Qian T474 · Vimalakīrti | 「是時，維耶離大城中有長者名曰維摩詰，」 — “At that time, in the great city of Vaiśālī, there was an elder named Vimalakīrti.” | T14n0474 0520c24 |
| Kumārajīva T475 · Vimalakīrti | 「爾時毘耶離大城中有長者，名維摩詰，」 — “At that time, in the great city of Vaiśālī, there was an elder named Vimalakīrti.” | T14n0475 0539a08 |
| Xuanzang T476 · Stainless Renown | 「爾時，廣嚴城中有大菩薩，離呫毘種，名無垢稱，」 — “At that time, in the City of Vast Adornment, there was a great bodhisattva of the Licchavi clan named Stainless Renown.” | T14n0476 0560b06 |
2. Dwelling in the City to Liberate or Mature Sentient Beings
| Translation | Verbatim Text | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zhi Qian T474 | 「欲度人故，居維耶離，矜行權道。」 — “Wishing to liberate people, he dwelt in Vaiśālī and carefully practiced the path of expedient means.” | T14n0474 0521a01 |
| Kumārajīva T475 | 「欲度人故，以善方便居毘耶離；」 — “To liberate people, he dwelt in Vaiśālī through skillful means.” | T14n0475 0539a15 |
| Xuanzang T476 | 「為欲成熟諸有情故，以善方便居廣嚴城。」 — “To mature sentient beings, he dwelt in the City of Vast Adornment through skillful means.” | T14n0476 0560b14 |
3. Opening of the Six Ways of Gathering In
| Translation | Verbatim Text | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zhi Qian T474 | 「資財無量，救攝貧民；以善方便，攝諸惡戒；以忍調行，攝諸恚怒；」 — “With immeasurable resources he aided and gathered in the poor; through skillful means he gathered in those of bad discipline; through patience he tamed his conduct and gathered in those prone to anger.” | T14n0474 0521a02 |
| Kumārajīva T475 | 「資財無量，攝諸貧民；奉戒清淨，攝諸毀禁；以忍調行，攝諸恚怒；」 — “With immeasurable resources he gathered in the poor; keeping ethical discipline pure, he gathered in those who violated the precepts; through patience he tamed his conduct and gathered in those prone to anger.” | T14n0475 0539a16 |
| Xuanzang T476 | 「具無盡財，攝益貧窮、無依、無怙；具清淨戒，攝益一切有犯有越；以調順忍攝益瞋恨、暴嫉、楚毒；」 — “Possessing inexhaustible wealth, he gathered in and benefited the poor, the unsupported, and the unprotected; possessing pure discipline, he gathered in and benefited all who had offended or transgressed; through gentle patience he gathered in and benefited those filled with anger, violence, jealousy, and cruelty.” | T14n0476 0560b15 |
All three recensions begin their lists with wealth, discipline, and patience. Zhi Qian says “aided and gathered in” and “through skillful means”; Kumārajīva says “gathered in” and “keeping ethical discipline pure”; Xuanzang expands the objects to “the poor, the unsupported, and the unprotected” and “all who had offended or transgressed.” The greater or lesser detail of each list remains in its own column.
4. White Robes, Household Life, and Wife
| Translation | Verbatim Text | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zhi Qian T474 | 「雖為白衣，奉持沙門至賢之行；居家為行，不止無色；有妻子婦，自隨所樂常修梵行；」 — “Although white-robed, he upheld the supremely worthy conduct of a renunciant; living at home, he practiced without remaining in the formless; having wife and children, he constantly cultivated brahmacarya according to what he delighted in.” | T14n0474 0521a05 |
| Kumārajīva T475 | 「雖為白衣，奉持沙門清淨律行；雖處居家，不著三界；示有妻子，常修梵行；」 — “Although white-robed, he upheld the pure discipline of a renunciant; although living at home, he was not attached to the three realms; he manifested having a wife, yet constantly cultivated brahmacarya.” | T14n0475 0539a19 |
| Xuanzang T476 | 「雖為白衣而具沙門威儀功德，雖處居家不著三界，示有妻子常修梵行，」 — “Although white-robed, he possessed the dignified conduct and virtues of a renunciant; although living at home, he was not attached to the three realms; he manifested having a wife, yet constantly cultivated brahmacarya.” | T14n0476 0560b20 |
5. Brothels and Drinking Gatherings, Wine Shops, or Entertainments
| Translation | Verbatim Text | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zhi Qian T474 | 「入諸婬種，除其欲怒；入諸酒會，能立其志。」 — “Entering places of sexual desire, he removed desire and anger; entering drinking gatherings, he enabled people to establish their resolve.” | T14n0474 0521a14 |
| Kumārajīva T475 | 「入諸婬舍，示欲之過；入諸酒肆，能立其志；」 — “Entering brothels, he showed the faults of desire; entering wine shops, he enabled people to establish their resolve.” | T14n0475 0539a28 |
| Xuanzang T476 | 「入諸婬舍示欲之過，為令建立正念正知遊諸伎樂。」 — “Entering brothels, he showed the faults of desire; to establish right mindfulness and right comprehension in others, he frequented the various entertainments.” | T14n0476 0560c03 |
At the corresponding position, Xuanzang has entertainments rather than replacing them with the “wine shops” of Kumārajīva; Zhi Qian separately has “drinking gatherings.” All three preserve the pattern of entering places of sensual defilement in order to teach, but their specific wording is not fused into a shared original.
6. Manifesting Illness and the Visit of Those Who Inquire
| Translation | Verbatim Text | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zhi Qian T474 | 「其以權道，現身有疾。以其疾故，國王、大臣、長者、居士、群臣、太子并餘眾輩，從而問疾者無數千人。」 — “Through the path of expedient means, he manifested bodily illness. Because of his illness, kings, ministers, elders, householders, groups of officials, princes, and the remaining multitudes followed one another to inquire about his illness, countless thousands of people.” | T14n0474 0521a26 |
| Kumārajīva T475 | 「其以方便，現身有疾。以其疾故，國王、大臣、長者、居士、婆羅門等，及諸王子并餘官屬，無數千人，皆往問疾。」 — “Through skillful means, he manifested bodily illness. Because of his illness, kings, ministers, elders, householders, brahmins, princes, and the remaining officials and attendants—countless thousands of people—all went to inquire about his illness.” | T14n0475 0539b10 |
| Xuanzang T476 | 「其以方便現身有疾。以其疾故，國王、大臣、長者、居士、婆羅門等，及諸王子并餘官屬無數千人，皆往問疾。」 — “Through skillful means, he manifested bodily illness. Because of his illness, kings, ministers, elders, householders, brahmins, princes, and the remaining officials and attendants—countless thousands of people—all went to inquire about his illness.” | T14n0476 0560c15 |
7. General Judgment on the Body
| Translation | Verbatim Text | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zhi Qian T474 | 「諸仁者！是身無常，為無強，為無力，為無堅，為苦，為老，為病，為多痛畏。」 — “Good sirs! This body is impermanent; it has no strength, no power, and no firmness. It is suffering, aging, illness, and much pain and fear.” | T14n0474 0521a29 |
| Kumārajīva T475 | 「諸仁者！是身無常、無強、無力、無堅、速朽之法，不可信也！為苦、為惱，眾病所集。」 — “Good sirs! This body is impermanent, without strength, power, or firmness, a dharma that swiftly decays and cannot be trusted. It is suffering, it is affliction, and it is where the many diseases gather.” | T14n0475 0539b13 |
| Xuanzang T476 | 「諸仁者！是四大種所合成身，無常、無強、無堅、無力。朽故迅速，不可保信，為苦、為惱、眾病之器，多諸過患、變壞之法。」 — “Good sirs! This body compounded from the four great elements is impermanent and without strength, firmness, or power. Because it decays rapidly, it cannot be relied upon. It is suffering, affliction, a vessel for the many diseases, full of faults, and subject to change and destruction.” | T14n0476 0560c18 |
8. The Four Great Elements and the Terms for Person and Self
| Translation | Verbatim Text | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zhi Qian T474 | 「是身無主，為如地；是身非身，為如火；是身非命，為如風；是身非人，為如水；」 — “This body has no master and is like earth; this body is not a body and is like fire; this body is not a life and is like wind; this body is not a person and is like water.” | T14n0474 0521b07 |
| Kumārajīva T475 | 「是身無主，為如地；是身無我，為如火；是身無壽，為如風；是身無人，為如水；」 — “This body has no master and is like earth; this body has no self and is like fire; this body has no lifespan and is like wind; this body has no person and is like water.” | T14n0475 0539b21 |
| Xuanzang T476 | 「是身無主為如地、是身無我為如水、是身無有情為如火、是身無命者為如風、」 — “This body has no master and is like earth; this body has no self and is like water; this body has no sentient being and is like fire; this body has no living agent and is like wind.” | T14n0476 0560c28 |
Xuanzang arranges earth, water, fire, and wind differently in relation to no master, no self, no sentient being, and no living agent. The later translation’s order must not be moved back into Kumārajīva’s recension.
9. Presence or Absence in the Chapter and the Number of Diseases
| Point Checked | Zhi Qian T474 | Kumārajīva T475 | Xuanzang T476 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Combined sentence on venomous snakes, hostile bandits, and an empty village | Not found in this chapter | 「是身如毒蛇、如怨賊、如空聚，陰、界、諸入所共合成。」 — “This body is like venomous snakes, like hostile bandits, and like an empty village; it is jointly compounded by the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields.” (0539b28) | 「是身如怨害周遍毒蛇之所充滿、是身如空聚諸蘊界處所共合成。」 — “This body is like a hostile menace filled throughout with venomous snakes; this body is like an empty village jointly compounded by the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields.” (0561a07) |
| The single expression “pudgala” | Not found in this chapter | Not found in this chapter | 「是身無有補特伽羅與虛空等、」 — “This body has no pudgala and is equal to space.” (0561a01) |
| Expression for the number of bodily diseases | 「是身為災，一增百病；」 — “This body is a calamity; one gives rise to one hundred diseases.” (0521b12) | 「是身為災，百一病惱；」 — “This body is a calamity, afflicted by one hundred and one diseases.” (0539b26) | 「是身多患四百四病之所集成、」 — “This body has many afflictions and is formed from a gathering of four hundred and four diseases.” (0561a05) |
“Not found in this chapter” records only the actual state of that chapter in the corresponding translation. It does not backfill the two later translations into Zhi Qian, nor does it overwrite Kumārajīva’s “one hundred and one diseases” with Xuanzang’s “four hundred and four diseases.”
10. From Revulsion toward the Body to Arousing the Mind
| Node | Zhi Qian T474 | Kumārajīva T475 | Xuanzang T476 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revulsion toward this body and delight in the Buddha-body | 「此可患厭，當發清淨不婬之行，如佛法身，吾等當學。」 — “This should be regarded with revulsion; one should undertake pure conduct free of sexual desire. We should train so as to be like the Buddha’s dharma-body.” (0521b14) | 「諸仁者！此可患厭，當樂佛身。」 — “Good sirs! This should be regarded with revulsion; you should delight in the Buddha-body.” (0539b29) | 「諸仁者！於如是身應生厭離，於如來身應起欣樂。」 — “Good sirs! Toward such a body you should give rise to revulsion and separation; toward the body of the Tathāgata you should give rise to delight.” (0561a09) |
| That from which the Buddha-body arises | 「佛法身者，從福祐生，佛身者，從智生，從戒品、定品、慧品、解品、度知見品生，」 — “The Buddha’s dharma-body is born of meritorious blessings. The Buddha-body is born of wisdom and of the categories of ethical discipline, meditation, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation.” (0521b15) | 「佛身者即法身也！從無量功德智慧生，從戒、定、慧、解脫、解脫知見生，」 — “The Buddha-body is precisely the dharma-body. It is born of immeasurable merit and wisdom and of ethical discipline, meditation, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation.” (0539c01) | 「如來身者，無量善法共所集成，從修無量殊勝福德智慧所生，從修無量勝戒定慧解脫解脫知見所生，」 — “The body of the Tathāgata is jointly formed from immeasurable wholesome dharmas. It is born from cultivating immeasurable, supreme merit and wisdom, and from cultivating immeasurable, supreme ethical discipline, meditation, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation.” (0561a10) |
| Urging the mind of awakening | 「欲除一切病者，當發行大道。」 — “Those who wish to remove every illness should arouse themselves to practice the Great Way.” (0521b25) | 「欲得佛身、斷一切眾生病者，當發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」 — “Those who wish to attain the Buddha-body and eliminate the illnesses of all sentient beings should arouse the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening.” (0539c09) | 「汝等欲得如是之身、息除一切有情病者，當發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」 — “If you wish to attain a body such as this and bring the illnesses of all sentient beings to rest, you should arouse the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening.” (0561a21) |
| Benefit attained through the teaching | 「令無數千人發無上正真道意。」 — “He caused countless thousands of people to arouse the intention for the unsurpassed, true, and correct Way.” (0521b26) | 「令無數千人皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」 — “He caused countless thousands of people all to arouse the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening.” (0539c12) | 「令無數千人皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。」 — “He caused countless thousands of people all to arouse the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening.” (0561a24) |
All three translations turn from bodily affliction toward the Buddha-body or the body of the Tathāgata and then culminate in arousing the mind. Yet “pure conduct free of sexual desire,” “the Buddha-body is precisely the dharma-body,” and “jointly formed from immeasurable wholesome dharmas” each belong to their own recension and are not used to complete one another.
3. Canonical and Treatise Foundations (The Eye)
The eye of this chapter lies first in Kumārajīva’s recension itself. It does not first establish a theory of skillful means and then take Vimalakīrti as an example. Instead, it writes skillful means as four successive movements.
1. From real virtue, skillful means begins. The sūtra first lists making offerings to buddhas, roots of goodness, acceptance of non-arising, eloquence, supernormal powers, dhāraṇīs, fearlessness, the perfection of wisdom, great vows, knowledge of faculties, and the Buddha’s dignified conduct. Only then does it say, 「欲度人故，以善方便居毘耶離；」 — “To liberate people, he dwelt in Vaiśālī through skillful means.” (T14n0475 0539a15) Skillful means is rooted in virtues already possessed and directed toward liberating people.
2. Skillful means is practiced wherever he is. After the six ways of gathering in sentient beings, the sūtra unfolds through a sequence of “although,” “when he went to,” “he encountered,” “he entered,” and “when among.” White robes, household life, wife, retinue, precious ornaments, food, gambling, non-Buddhist paths, worldly writings, crossroads, government, debate, schools, brothels, wine shops, and eleven classes of human and heavenly beings: no place is excluded from benefit. The sūtra concludes, 「長者維摩詰，以如是等無量方便饒益眾生。」 — “The elder Vimalakīrti benefited sentient beings through immeasurable skillful means such as these.” (T14n0475 0539b08)
3. Bodily illness opens the gate of Dharma teaching. 「其以方便，現身有疾。」 — “Through skillful means, he manifested bodily illness.” (T14n0475 0539b10) His illness brings countless thousands of people to inquire. Beginning from the body on which they all depend, Vimalakīrti gradually reveals its impermanence, suffering and affliction, emptiness, lack of master, lack of self, impurity, and inevitable destruction. Illness is not an isolated event in the sūtra, but the beginning of his present skillful means.
4. Revulsion toward the body turns into arousing the mind. The sūtra does not stop with the body’s decay. It immediately says, 「諸仁者！此可患厭，當樂佛身。」 — “Good sirs! This should be regarded with revulsion; you should delight in the Buddha-body.” (T14n0475 0539b29) The Buddha-body is precisely the dharma-body and is born of immeasurable pure dharmas. Those who wish to attain the Buddha-body and eliminate the illnesses of sentient beings should arouse the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening. The chapter’s culmination is not retreat because the body is impermanent, but a turn from bodily affliction toward the vow to attain buddhahood and aid sentient beings.
These four movements are all visible in the actual text of this chapter. The ancient masters’ analyses of the chapter’s structure, five contemplations, dharma-body, and enjoyment and transformation bodies are transmitted only in section 5. They are not recast as the sūtra’s sole explanation of itself.
4. Explanation of This Chapter
1. Real Virtues Are Not Ornamental Praise
The sūtra lists twenty-two items: making offerings to immeasurable buddhas; deeply planting roots of goodness; attaining acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas; unobstructed eloquence; free play in supernormal powers; attaining the various dhāraṇīs; attaining fearlessness; subduing Māras and harassing adversaries; entering profound Dharma-gates; skill in the perfection of wisdom; mastery of skillful means; fulfillment of great vows; understanding the inclinations of the minds of sentient beings; discerning the sharpness or dullness of their faculties; long cultivation of the Buddha-way; a mind already pure and mature; firm establishment in the Great Vehicle; careful consideration of every action; abiding in the Buddha’s dignified conduct; a mind as vast as the ocean; the praise of all buddhas; and the reverence of disciples, Śakra, Brahmā, and the lords of the world. These virtues immediately precede “to liberate people” and become the foundation for the skillful means that follow.
2. The Six Ways of Gathering Turn One’s Own Practice toward Others
Each of the six has its object: with wealth he gathers in the poor; with pure ethical discipline, those who violate the precepts; with patience, those prone to anger; with diligent effort, the indolent; with meditative stillness, those whose minds are distracted; with decisive wisdom, those without wisdom. The text does not merely list the names of the six perfections. Each practice is connected with one class of sentient beings who need to be gathered in.
3. Skillful Means throughout the City Extends across Life, Public Places, and Every Class of Being
There are twelve household and worldly settings: white-robed yet upholding the pure discipline of a renunciant; living at home yet not attached to the three realms; manifesting a wife yet cultivating brahmacarya; appearing to have a retinue yet delighting in seclusion; wearing precious ornaments yet adorning the body with marks and excellences; eating food yet taking meditative joy as its taste; going to places of games and gambling to guide people; encountering non-Buddhist paths without impairing right faith; understanding worldly writings while delighting in the Buddha-Dharma; being revered by all and foremost among recipients of offerings; upholding the true Dharma and gathering in old and young; and successfully conducting livelihoods without delighting in the profit gained.
There are six public settings: crossroads, government, halls of debate, schools, brothels, and wine shops. These are followed by eleven classes of beings: elders, householders, kṣatriyas, brahmins, ministers, princes, palace officials, ordinary people, Brahmā gods, Śakra gods, and world-protecting heavenly kings. The teachings given to them are, respectively, the supreme Dharma, relinquishment of attachment, patience, removal of pride, the true Dharma, loyalty and filial devotion, correction of the palace women, cultivation of merit, supreme wisdom, impermanence, and protection of sentient beings. The sūtra does not say that all settings are the same. Wherever he goes, he benefits those present according to what they need.
4. After Illness Is Manifested, the Body Is Seen Layer by Layer
Vimalakīrti first states generally that the body is impermanent, without strength, power, or firmness, quick to decay and untrustworthy, suffering and affliction, and the gathering place of the many diseases. The ten similes then proceed in order: a mass of foam, a bubble, a mirage, a plantain tree, an illusion, a dream, a shadow, an echo, a drifting cloud, and lightning. The four great elements, in turn, reveal no master, no self, no lifespan, and no person. The text then states directly that the body is provisionally compounded from the four great elements, apart from self and what belongs to self, without awareness or an independent maker, impure and false, bound for wear and destruction, afflicted by one hundred and one diseases, oppressed by age, and certain to die. It is also like venomous snakes, hostile bandits, and an empty village and is jointly compounded by the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields. Each judgment and simile has its own object; the ten similes cannot be flattened into the general statement “like an illusion.”
5. Not One Cause from Which the Buddha-Body Arises Is Omitted
The Buddha-body is precisely the dharma-body. The sūtra says that it is born of immeasurable merit and wisdom; of ethical discipline, meditation, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation; of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; of giving, ethical discipline, patience, gentleness, diligent effort, meditation, liberation, samādhi, great learning, wisdom, and all the perfections. It is further born of skillful means; the six superknowledges; the three knowledges; the thirty-seven factors conducive to the path; calm and insight; the ten powers; the four fearlessnesses; the eighteen unique qualities; abandoning every unwholesome dharma; gathering every wholesome dharma; truth; and heedfulness. The sūtra gathers them under “immeasurable pure dharmas” and finally joins the wish to attain the Buddha-body and eliminate the illnesses of sentient beings to arousing the mind of awakening.
5. Divergent Interpretations of the Ancient Masters (Two Mirrors Presented Side by Side)
This section strictly maintains two recension-specific mirrors. T1775 collects the comments of Kumārajīva, Sengzhao, and Daosheng on Kumārajīva’s T475, whose principal figure is Vimalakīrti. Kuiji’s T1782 follows Xuanzang’s T476, whose principal figure is Stainless Renown. The two mirrors are presented side by side, and the three commentators within the first mirror are not collapsed into a single voice.
1. Why Are His Virtues Presented First in This Chapter?
Kumārajīva says (following Kumārajīva’s recension):
「什曰：此品序淨名德者，非集經者之意。其方便辯才，世尊常所稱歎，故集經者承其所聞以序德耳。」 — “Kumārajīva says: That this chapter presents the virtues of Pure Renown is not merely the compiler’s own intention. The World-Honored One constantly praised his skillful means and eloquence, so the compiler, relying on what he had heard, presented these virtues.” (T38n1775 0338c13)
Kumārajīva first distinguishes why the virtues are presented and does not regard the list of virtues in this chapter as an unsupported embellishment by the compiler.
Sengzhao says (following Kumārajīva’s recension):
「肇曰：樹德先聖，故善本深殖也。此經之作起于淨名，其微言幽唱亦備之後文。出經者欲遠存其人以弘其道教，故此一品全序其德也。」 — “Sengzhao says: He established virtue before the sages, and therefore his roots of goodness were deeply planted. The composition of this sūtra begins from Pure Renown, and his subtle words and profound expressions are also fully present later in the text. The one who produced the sūtra wished to preserve this person for the distant future in order to propagate his teaching of the Way; therefore this entire chapter presents his virtues.” (T38n1775 0338c19)
Sengzhao connects the chapter’s full presentation of virtue with preserving the person and propagating the Way, while still using “Pure Renown,” the name of Kumārajīva’s recension.
Kuiji (following Xuanzang’s recension):
「出品體者，用後得智為體。諸教云：十度之中，後五皆以擇法為性。品下亦言「善於智度，通達方便。」相以身語而為自體，為大居士現身有疾，是身方便；因說妙法，勸彼發心，是語方便。下文自顯，故不引之。發身語本，即是方便，意相難彰，故經不說。」 — “As for identifying the chapter’s essence, it takes subsequently attained wisdom as its essence. The teachings say that, among the ten perfections, the latter five all have discernment of dharmas as their nature. Later in the chapter it also says, ‘Skilled in the perfection of wisdom and master of skillful means.’ As to its manifest form, body and speech are its own essence. The great householder manifests bodily illness: this is bodily skillful means. On that basis he teaches the wondrous Dharma and urges others to arouse the mind: this is verbal skillful means. The text below reveals this directly, so it is not quoted here. That from which body and speech arise is precisely skillful means. Its mental form is difficult to display, so the sūtra does not state it.” (T38n1782 1034b25)
This mirror takes subsequently attained wisdom as the chapter’s essence and further distinguishes bodily skillful means from verbal skillful means. This is Kuiji’s interpretation following Xuanzang’s recension; it is not written back as a division explicitly listed by Kumārajīva’s recension.
2. The Six Ways of Gathering and Expedient Conduct before the Illness
On the six ways of gathering, Sengzhao says, 「肇曰：至人不現行；現行六度者，為攝六弊耳。」 — “Sengzhao says: The consummate person does not manifest practices; he manifests the six perfections only to gather in the six defects.” (T38n1775 0339b22) At the place of games and gambling, he further says, 「肇曰：因戲止戲。」 — “Sengzhao says: By means of play, he brings play to a stop.” (T38n1775 0339c07) On encountering the various non-Buddhist paths, Kumārajīva says only, 「什曰：現受外道法也。」 — “Kumārajīva says: He manifests receiving the teachings of the non-Buddhist paths.” (T38n1775 0339c08) Sengzhao then further clarifies the meaning of sameness and difference. Each of these three comments retains its own attribution and is not assigned collectively to Sengzhao alone.
Following Xuanzang’s recension, Kuiji divides the period before the illness into three classes: 「初以有攝無權」 — “first, the expedient means of using what one has to gather in those who lack it”; 「同類益流權」 — “the expedient means of benefiting those of the same class”; and 「為尊誘下權」 — “the expedient means of becoming revered in order to guide those below.” (T38n1782 1035b14, 1037c16, 1038b07) In the section on the six ways of gathering, he says that one gathers in the six obstructions of others through one’s own wondrous practices of the six perfections. In the white-robed household section, he says that one dwells among the worldly while upholding the true rule and lives at home without being defiled by the dust. In the section on becoming the most revered among every class, he says that one becomes revered in order to guide those below. This threefold division belongs only to the Ci’en mirror; readers of Kumārajīva’s recension still first follow the sūtra’s own sequence.
3. Why Manifest Illness, and Why Speak First of Bodily Affliction?
Kumārajīva connects the manifestation of illness with the previous gathering of beings: 「什曰：上諸方便以施戒攝人，施戒攝人則人感其惠，聞其有疾問疾者眾，問疾者眾則功化弘矣。是以廣現方便，然後處疾也。」 — “Kumārajīva says: Through the skillful means above, he gathered people in by giving and ethical discipline. When giving and ethical discipline gather people in, they feel his kindness. On hearing that he was ill, many came to inquire; because many came to inquire, the work of transformation spread widely. He therefore manifested skillful means extensively before dwelling in illness.” (T38n1775 0340c27) Sengzhao instead focuses on the ease of trusting one who shares the same condition: 「肇曰：同我者易信、異我者難順，故因其身疾，廣明有身之患。」 — “Sengzhao says: One who is like me is easy to trust; one who differs from me is difficult to follow. Therefore, using his bodily illness, he broadly clarifies the affliction of having a body.” (T38n1775 0341a08) The two explanations coexist and are not rewritten as the sūtra’s sole stated motive.
Kuiji separately establishes a question and answer that lists ten intentions for manifesting illness. He also divides present skillful means into bodily and verbal forms: 「贊曰：此下第二顯其今權。於中復二：一現身權，身有疾故。二現語權，語說法故。此身權也。」 — “The Commentary says: From here, the second part reveals his present expedient means. Within it there are again two: first, manifest bodily expedient means, because his body is ill; second, manifest verbal expedient means, because his speech teaches the Dharma. This is bodily expedient means.” (T38n1782 1038c09) Both the ten intentions and the two forms of bodily and verbal means are transmitted from the commentary following Xuanzang’s recension; they are not treated as ten items explicitly listed by T475.
4. How the Bodily Similes Become Contemplation
Kumārajīva reads the passage on the body through impermanence, emptiness and selflessness, impurity, and suffering. Under the mass of foam, Sengzhao says, 「肇曰：撮摩聚沫之無實，以喻觀身之虛偽。自此下至電喻，明空義也。」 — “Sengzhao says: Rubbing together a mass of foam reveals its lack of reality and serves as a simile for contemplating the falsity of the body. From here through the simile of lightning, the text clarifies the meaning of emptiness.” (T38n1775 0341b01) Yet under the drifting cloud, Kumārajīva also says that every simile from the mass of foam through lightning illustrates impermanence. The two commentators do not focus on precisely the same point in every one of the ten similes; their readings should only be presented side by side.
Following Xuanzang’s recension, Kuiji divides the section on revulsion into five contemplations: 「初文有五，教生五種厭壞觀故。」 — “The opening text has five parts, because it teaches the arising of five contemplations of revulsion toward decay.” (T38n1782 1038c28) These five are impermanence, suffering, emptiness, selflessness, and impurity. He also says that the eight similes in the Summary of the Great Vehicle, the nine in the Prajñā text, and the ten in this sūtra are each based on one approach and cannot be harmonized. The five contemplations and the unreality of the other-dependent are the Ci’en mirror’s organizing method and are not poured back into Kumārajīva’s recension as five explicitly listed subsections.
5. The Abandoned Well and the Body’s Peril
Kumārajīva explains directly, 「什曰：丘井，丘墟、枯井也。」 — “Kumārajīva says: ‘Abandoned well’ means a ruined mound and a dry well.” (T38n1775 0342b02) He then tells in detail the simile of a condemned person who flees a drunken elephant, falls into a dry well, grasps a decaying plant, and is menaced by a vicious dragon below, five snakes beside him, two mice gnawing the plant, and drops of honey above. Through it he explains the peril of saṃsāra and bewilderment through the five desires. Sengzhao says only that a person in danger is trapped in a well and oppressed by dragons and snakes, and explains that its source lies in another sūtra. In the corresponding passage of Xuanzang’s recension, Kuiji reads the term as a stepped water-channel and concludes, 「舊云「丘井」，乃意難知。」 — “The old translation says ‘abandoned well,’ but its meaning is difficult to understand.” (T38n1782 1040a24) The two mirrors preserve different readings, and this edition does not adjudicate between them.
6. Divergent Interpretations of “The Buddha-Body Is Precisely the Dharma-Body”
Sengzhao says, 「肇曰：經云法身者，虛空身也。」 — “Sengzhao says: When the sūtra speaks of the dharma-body, it means a body like space.” (T38n1775 0343a02) Under the same cited phrase, Daosheng opens from another point: 「生曰：夫佛身者，丈六體也。」 — “Daosheng says: The Buddha-body is the sixteen-foot body.” (T38n1775 0343a13) Daosheng immediately continues that the sixteen-foot body issues from the dharma-body and is called “precisely the dharma-body” from that from which it issues. Both interpretations are explicitly attributed within T1775, and neither may be selected alone as the definitive interpretation of the Kumārajīva line.
Following Xuanzang’s recension, Kuiji first distinguishes the mark of the dharma-body and then the virtues of the enjoyment and transformation bodies: 「贊曰：下顯示相。有二：初示法身相、後示報化相。此初文也。」 — “The Commentary says: The following reveals their marks. There are two parts: first, revealing the mark of the dharma-body; second, revealing the marks of the enjoyment and transformation bodies. This is the first passage.” (T38n1782 1040b07) This division of bodies belongs to the Ci’en mirror and is not used to rewrite the divergent interpretations of Sengzhao and Daosheng.
7. The Two Ends Gathered into Arousing the Mind
Sengzhao says, 「肇曰：發無上心豈唯自除病，亦濟群生病。」 — “Sengzhao says: How could arousing the unsurpassed mind mean only eliminating one’s own illness? It also relieves the illnesses of the many sentient beings.” (T38n1775 0343c09) Following Xuanzang’s recension, Kuiji concludes with 「正等覺心，二利因故。」 — “The mind of perfect awakening is the cause of the two benefits.” (T38n1782 1040c23) He classifies attaining the Buddha-body as benefit for oneself and eliminating the illnesses of others as benefit for others. Both mirrors see that arousing the mind does not stop with oneself, while each retains its own organizing vocabulary.
6. Terms and Similes
1. Terms Native to This Chapter Come First
Skillful means. The sūtra first says that Vimalakīrti had mastered skillful means, then says that to liberate people he dwelt in the city through skillful means, and finally explicitly says that he manifested illness through skillful means. Skillful means appears both among the virtues he possesses and in his dwelling place, actions, and manifestation of illness; it does not mean verbal technique alone.
Acceptance of non-arising. At his first appearance, Vimalakīrti has already attained acceptance of non-arising. Kumārajīva and Sengzhao both explain the name “acceptance” through a bodhisattva’s awakening to non-arising and capacity to accept it; Kuiji, following Xuanzang’s recension, organizes it as the virtues of three forms of acceptance of non-arising. These distinct arrangements of stages are not fused into one definitive judgment.
Perfection of wisdom. The chapter joins “skilled in the perfection of wisdom” with “master of skillful means.” Sengzhao explains the perfection of wisdom as reaching the other shore of real wisdom and skillful means as functioning without a fixed method. Kuiji, following Xuanzang’s recension, distinguishes the tenth perfection of wisdom from the perfection of skillfulness in means. Each mirror is returned to its own recension.
A mind as vast as the ocean. Kumārajīva’s recension praises Vimalakīrti’s mind with this expression. Kumārajīva lists three qualities of the ocean: deep and vast, pure, and a treasury of jewels. Sengzhao lists five: clear and pure, producing jewels, receiving rain without overflowing, not being exhausted by wind or sun, and a depth difficult to fathom. Both enumerations are retained; neither is selected while the other is deleted.
The three realms. The sūtra says that although living at home, he was not attached to the three realms. Sengzhao takes the three realms as a house; Kuiji, following Xuanzang’s recension, explicitly lists the desire realm, form realm, and formless realm. White robes and household life are the forms he manifests; nonattachment to the three realms is what the same sentence in the sūtra reveals.
Aggregates, elements, and sense-fields. At the end of the passage on bodily affliction, T475 says that the body is jointly compounded by the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields. Sengzhao explains the aggregates as the five aggregates, the elements as the eighteen elements, and the sense-fields as the twelve sense-fields. These three groups provisionally compound the body, like an empty village in which nothing can be lodged.
One hundred and one diseases. Kumārajīva’s recension writes only “one hundred and one diseases.” Sengzhao explains that an increase or decrease in one great element gives rise to one hundred and one diseases. The corresponding passage in Xuanzang’s recension and Kuiji has four hundred and four diseases; the latter number remains only in the Xuanzang column and does not revise the base text.
Buddha-body, dharma-body, and body of the Tathāgata. Kumārajīva’s recension says that the Buddha-body is precisely the dharma-body and, when summarizing the pure dharmas, speaks of the body of the Tathāgata. Sengzhao and Daosheng already offer different interpretations within the Kumārajīva line, while the Ci’en mirror separately distinguishes the dharma-body from the enjoyment and transformation bodies. This edition does not erase these three analyses by flattening them into a single terminology chart.
2. The Ten Similes of This Chapter and the Similes That Follow
| Simile | Meaning Attached to It by the Sūtra |
|---|---|
| Mass of foam | Cannot be grasped in the hand |
| Bubble | Cannot remain for long |
| Mirage | Arises from thirst and craving |
| Plantain tree | Has no solid core within |
| Illusion | Arises from inverted apprehension |
| Dream | Seen through false discrimination |
| Shadow | Appears through karma and conditions |
| Echo | Belongs to various causes and conditions |
| Drifting cloud | Changes and vanishes in a moment |
| Lightning | Does not remain for even a thought-moment |
After the ten similes, earth, fire, wind, and water are respectively paired with no master, no self, no lifespan, and no person. Grass, trees, tiles, and stones reveal the absence of awareness; turning under the force of the wind reveals the absence of an independent maker; the abandoned well reveals oppression by age; and venomous snakes, hostile bandits, and the empty village connect with the ancient commentaries’ subsequent explanations of the four great elements, five aggregates, and six sense-fields. A reader must not seize only the familiar slogan “dream, illusion, bubble, and shadow” and erase the distinct ending carried by each simile in this chapter.
7. Citations and Transmission
The passages on real virtue, bodily similes, and the Buddha-body in this chapter each extend into a network of sūtras and treatises within the two ancient commentaries.
Under dhāraṇī, Kumārajīva says, 「什曰：智慧能持實相亦名持。餘持如《大智度論》中說也。」 — “Kumārajīva says: Wisdom that can retain the true mark is also called retention. The other forms of retention are as explained in the Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom.” (T38n1775 0339a13) In the passage on venomous snakes and the empty village, Sengzhao cites the bodily simile from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra and explicitly says, 「是故《涅槃經》云：觀身如四大毒蛇。」 — “Therefore, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: Contemplate the body as like four great venomous snakes.” (T38n1775 0342c07) Each citation remains attributed to Kumārajīva or Sengzhao and is not turned into the wording of Kumārajīva’s sūtra.
Kuiji locates the chapters within the bodhisattva training taught in the Bodhisattva Grounds: 「二利行處，〈方便品〉、〈聲聞品〉、〈菩薩品〉、〈問疾品〉是，利他行故。」 — “The places for practices of the two benefits are ‘Skillful Means,’ ‘The Śrāvakas,’ ‘The Bodhisattvas,’ and ‘Inquiring about the Illness,’ because they are practices that benefit others.” (T38n1782 1033b26) Under the ten similes, he further says, 「然《攝大乘》八喻依他，《般若》九喻，此中十喻，依他不實，所以成空。依義異故，各據一門，不可和會。」 — “The eight similes in the Summary of the Great Vehicle concern the other-dependent; the Prajñā text has nine similes, and this text has ten. Because the other-dependent is unreal, it is therefore empty. Since their meanings differ, each is based on one approach and they cannot be harmonized.” (T38n1782 1039c08) In the passage on the virtues of the Buddha-body, he again cites the Vajracchedikā Prajñā: 「一切諸佛從此經出，一切如來從此經生，法身顯故。」 — “All buddhas issue from this sūtra, and all tathāgatas are born from this sūtra, because the dharma-body is revealed.” (T38n1782 1040b12)
This chapter therefore has two visible lines of ancient transmission. The Kumārajīva line unfolds through acceptance of non-arising, the selflessness of the four great elements, bodily similes from other sūtras, the dharma-body, and arousing the mind. The Ci’en line unfolds through practices benefiting others, subsequently attained wisdom, five contemplations of revulsion toward decay, the unreality of the other-dependent, the dharma-body and enjoyment and transformation bodies, and the two benefits. Both paths connect with the actual words of the chapter and each retains its own Chinese recension. This edition presents them side by side without merging them or using one mirror to judge the other as higher or lower.
8. Textual Positioning
1. Coordinates of the Base Text and Commentaries
- Kumārajīva’s T14n0475: chapter title at 0539a07, chapter body through 0539c13; next chapter title at 0539c14.
- Zhi Qian’s T14n0474: chapter title at 0520c23, chapter body through 0521b27; next chapter title at 0521b28.
- Xuanzang’s T14n0476: chapter title at 0560b05, chapter body through 0561b04; next chapter title at 0561b05.
- Commentary of Kumārajīva, Sengzhao, and Daosheng, T38n1775: this chapter at 0338c13–0343c12; next chapter title at 0343c13. Its scriptural wording follows T475.
- Kuiji’s commentary, T38n1782: this chapter at 1033b07–1040c26; next chapter title at 1040c27. Its scriptural wording follows T476.
2. Fourteen Textual Notes in This Chapter
Witness codes: 【大】 is the Taishō base, 【CB】 the CBETA adopted reading, 【宋】 the Song edition, 【元】 the Yuan edition, 【明】 the Ming edition, 【聖】 the Shōgozō manuscript, and 【磧乙-CB】 CBETA’s correction from the Qisha second edition. One of the fourteen notes is nested. The table transmits only the adopted reading, variant reading, and witnesses and makes no adjudication in this layer.
| Index | Level | Location | Adopted Reading and Witnesses | Variant Reading and Witnesses | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | Outer | 0539a07 | 所說【大】 — “spoken,” 【Taishō】 | 闕【宋】 — omitted in 【Song】 | — |
| 30 | Outer | 0539a07 | 維摩詰所說經【大】 — “The Vimalakīrti Sūtra,” 【Taishō】 | 闕【明】【聖】 — omitted in 【Ming】【Shōgozō】 | 〔所說〕－【宋】＊；所說【大】＊，〔－〕【宋】＊ — “spoken” is absent in 【Song】; “spoken” appears in 【Taishō】; the omission is marked in 【Song】 |
| 31 | Inner | 0539a07 | 所說【大】 — “spoken,” 【Taishō】 | 闕【宋】 — omitted in 【Song】 | — |
| 32 | Outer | 0539a09 | 植【大】 — “planted,” 【Taishō】 | 殖【宋】【元】【明】【聖】 — “cultivated,” 【Song】【Yuan】【Ming】【Shōgozō】 | — |
| 33 | Outer | 0539a18 | 禪寂【大】 — “meditative stillness,” 【Taishō】 | 禪定【聖】 — “meditation,” 【Shōgozō】 | — |
| 34 | Outer | 0539a22 | 復【大】 — “again,” 【Taishō】 | 服【聖】 — “wore,” 【Shōgozō】 | — |
| 35 | Outer | 0539a23 | 弈【CB】 — “games,” 【CBETA】 | 奕【大】 — variant character, 【Taishō】 | — |
| 36 | Outer | 0539a25 | 幼【大】 — “young,” 【Taishō】 | 幻【明】 — “illusory,” 【Ming】 | — |
| 37 | Outer | 0539a27 | 政【大】 — “government,” 【Taishō】 | 正【元】【明】【聖】 — “correct,” 【Yuan】【Ming】【Shōgozō】 | — |
| 38 | Outer | 0539a28 | 蒙【大】 — “the unlearned,” 【Taishō】 | 矇【聖】 — variant character, 【Shōgozō】 | — |
| 39 | Outer | 0539b05 | 政【大】 — “government,” 【Taishō】 | 正【元】【明】【聖】 — “correct,” 【Yuan】【Ming】【Shōgozō】 | — |
| 40 | Outer | 0539c02 | 慧【大】 — “wisdom,” 【Taishō】 | 智慧【聖】 — “wisdom,” 【Shōgozō】 | — |
| 41 | Outer | 0539c06 | 止【大】 — “calm,” 【Taishō】 | 正【聖】 — “right,” 【Shōgozō】 | — |
| 42 | Outer | 0539c11 | 疾【大】 — “illness,” 【Taishō】 | 病【聖】 — “disease,” 【Shōgozō】 | — |
From real virtue to expedient conduct, from entering the city to manifesting illness, and from revulsion toward the body to delight in seeking the Buddha-body, this chapter reveals skillful means as a path that neither leaves sentient beings nor leaves bodily affliction behind, yet does not stop with bodily affliction. The three translations preserve different terminological systems; Kumārajīva, Sengzhao, Daosheng, and Kuiji preserve different ancient mirrors; and the textual notes preserve layers of the transmission of individual words. Only by keeping each sentence with its recension, returning every name to its source, and presenting the mirrors side by side without adjudication can the meaning of skillful means avoid being flattened by later uniformity.