瑜伽師地論 思所成地 · 體義伽他 · 第五段「怖」

The Body-Meaning Verses, Section Five · three-and-a-half verses (a verse and a half of asking · one verse of answering · one verse of praise). A deva asks, "The world has fear — where is there no fear?"; the World-Honored One answers.

In one line: The "Fear" section shines through the truth that "the pleasure of the world that has pleasure is not fixed and certain (even the fortunate ever harbor terror)"; by the contrast of ill-spoken and well-spoken it makes plain that only the well-spoken true Dharma definitely has a "final limit to the mass of suffering," while the outsiders' teacher and disciples alike suffer decline and loss; and it closes with the four unsurpassed merits in praise of the Buddha.

Three Points of the Eye

1. The pleasure of the world that has pleasure is not fixed and certain. The world = the satkāya from the desire realm up to the summit of existence; the world that has pleasure (gathered up and nourished by the ten requisites of the body) ever harbors terror (wealth seized by the king · wind and heat · harm by men or non-humans), while the world that has suffering is pressed and harried by the mass of suffering. Few have pleasure, many have suffering → the deva asks after "the place of certain pleasure, free of fear."
2. The ill-spoken / well-spoken contrast · only the sacred teaching has a final limit to the mass of suffering. Two classes of outsider — (i) receiving precepts without wisdom, not guarding the gates of the faculties (cannot cut off even present-life desire); (ii) coarsely knowing the peril of desire yet raising the notion of liberation toward what is not liberation (relinquishing the lower self-body, loving the higher — not liberated from the lower, much less the higher); "even the outsiders' teacher does not see or know this place — how then could he expound it at length for his disciples" → the outsiders' treatises have no final limit to the mass of suffering. Only the well-spoken true Dharma possesses every benefit and boon · definitely has a final limit to the mass of suffering. The Buddha's hidden intent: liberation is not apart from knowledge · vigor · restraint of the faculties · all-relinquishment.
3. The four unsurpassed merits in praise of the Buddha. Hard to appear (the brahmin's parinirvāṇa after so exceedingly long a time) · the deeds that benefit others (he has passed beyond all foes) · the merit of benefiting himself (he has passed beyond all terrors) · freedom from a defiled mind (he transcends the world's craving). Three distinctions: hard to appear · hard to behold · establishing the benefit of himself and others; one who beholds him accomplishes the great goal · throughout all births is without the mass of faults.

Appended · Pointers

The ill-spoken / well-spoken and the final limit to the mass of suffering → the three trainings of the Intent-Purport Verses (11-02); the outsiders who lose the road → Section One, "leaving behind the extreme of self-mortifying practice" (11-03-01). For the doctrinal exposition, see the Exposition.

The 漢 root text (Xuanzang, T30n1579) is kept as a de-emphasized visual anchor for bilingual readers; the English below renders every word of it in plain, continuous prose.

The Verses (in today's language · three-and-a-half verses)

〔A deva asks:〕 "The world is ever beset by fear; sentient beings are forever wearied by it — in the mass of suffering not yet arisen, or in that already arisen, 〔they dread it〕. If there is 〔any place〕 with even a little freedom from fear, I now ask you to tell it to me." 〔The World-Honored One answers:〕 "Deva! I behold liberation: not apart from knowledge and vigor, not apart from the restraint of all the faculties, not apart from all-relinquishment." 〔The deva praises:〕 "I behold — after so exceedingly long a time — a brahmin 〔now〕 come to parinirvāṇa; he has passed beyond all terrors, transcended the world's craving and clinging."

Prose Exposition (in today's language)

In this verse, everything from the realm of desire up to the summit of existence — all the "satkāya" (the existing bodies) — is named "the world." The point intended here fixes on the sentient-being world of the desire realm, where there is both pleasure and suffering.

If sentient beings are gathered up and nourished by the "ten requisites of the body," lacking nothing, sound and free of illness, their years not yet declined into age, they are named "the sentient-being world that has pleasure"; the opposite of this, one should know, is "the sentient-being world that has suffering." Among the world's beings, few have pleasure and many have suffering.

Those "sentient-being worlds that have pleasure" ever harbor terror: they fear that "my wealth and treasure will be seized and plundered by the king," and so on down to fearing that "through this cause I shall meet with various calamities"; they fear that "wind or heat may break out within me," and on down to fearing that "men or non-humans and the like may harm and injure me" — thus fretting over the future suffering of wealth and treasure decaying and spoiling, and the suffering of the body breaking up, their minds are ever in dread. Those "sentient-being worlds that have suffering" are, right before us, pressed and harried in body and mind by the mass of suffering; they have suffering, have sorrow, have grief, have the arrow, have all manner of vexation and distress, and abide with no rest at all. Therefore it is said: "The world is ever beset by fear; sentient beings are forever wearied by it; in the mass of suffering not yet arisen, or in that already arisen."

By reason of this, that deva, beholding directly that the pleasure of the "sentient-being worlds that have pleasure" is not fixed and certain, then puts a question to the Tathāgata: is there any place of "certain pleasure, free of fear"? At that time the World-Honored One, by skillful means, displayed to him that only within the sacred teaching is there such a place, not among the various outsiders.

That is: suppose there be some śramaṇa or brahmin dwelling outside the true Dharma who, regarding the perils of the desires in the present life and in lives to come, does not know them as they really are; and because he does not know, he longs for the distinctions of desires yet future, relinquishes the desires of the present life, seeks the desires of a later life, and with diligent effort receives and trains in whatever precepts and restraints. Though he abides in such precepts, yet he is without wisdom, does not guard the gates of the faculties, does not keep right mindfulness, has no constant and careful mindfulness … Because he does not tame and restrain the gates of the faculties, over even the small gains and honors others bestow on him he still gives rise to a savoring relish and thereupon to fond attachment — how much more over vast ones? Such a one who diligently receives precepts and restraints, being far from wisdom and not tightly guarding the gates of the faculties, cannot even cut off the desires of the present life — how much less the desires of a later life.

Again, among those very ones, suppose there be some śramaṇa or brahmin who, coarsely knowing the perils of desire, is able to pass beyond the desires of both the present and later life, yet again longs for "the higher ground free of desire"; he raises the notion of "liberation" toward what is "not liberation," and, having cut off and cast away the desires, thereby draws near to seclusion. Because he diligently and repeatedly cultivates right thinking, he becomes free of the desire of the desire realm, on up to being free of desire at the sphere of nothing-whatever. By reason of this he relinquishes the lower-ground self-body and loves the higher-ground self-body; and because he loves that 〔higher ground〕, in lives to come he is not liberated even from the lower-ground self-body — how much less the higher ground. Thus one who has cast away wealth-and-treasure and self-body and lost the road, though he abides in fierce and valorous diligence, cannot attain the "place of unbroken happiness, free of fear." Why? Because that outsiders' teacher does not himself so much as see or know this place — how then could he expound it at length for his disciples and the like? Therefore, in the treatises composed by outsiders' teachers and their disciples, there is definitely no final limit to the mass of suffering. The opposite of this: within the well-spoken true Dharma and Vinaya, one should know, there is full possession of every benefit and boon, and, further, there is definitely a final limit to the mass of suffering. On this hidden intent the Buddha said to that deva: "Deva! I behold liberation: not apart from knowledge and vigor, not apart from the restraint of all the faculties, not apart from all-relinquishment."

The Condensed Meaning (in today's language)

Next, one should briefly discern the meaning of what was said above: it shows that, within the ill-spoken false-Dharma and Vinaya, both teacher and disciples suffer decline and loss; whereas within the well-spoken true Dharma and Vinaya, all possess auspiciousness, and with respect to all suffering are able to realize its final limit.

At that time, that deva, hearing the Buddha answer what he had asked, rejoiced and leapt for joy, and with four kinds of unsurpassed merit praised the Tathāgata: namely, because a buddha, a World-Honored One, is hard to appear; because, having appeared, he can accomplish the deeds that benefit others; because he can also establish the merit of benefiting himself; and because, with respect to the benefit of himself and others, he is free of a defiled mind —

• "I behold — after so exceedingly long a time — a brahmin come to parinirvāṇa": this praises the World-Honored One's merit of being "hard to appear";
• "He has passed beyond all foes": this praises the World-Honored One's merit of the "deeds that benefit others";
• "He has passed beyond all terrors": this praises the World-Honored One's merit of "establishing the benefit of himself";
• "He transcends the world's craving": this praises the World-Honored One's merit of "being free of a defiled mind with respect to the benefit of himself and others."

Of these four distinctions of merit, one should know there are further three distinctions: namely, because he is hard to appear, because he is hard to behold, and because he establishes the deeds of benefiting himself and benefiting others; one who beholds him is then able to accomplish the great goal, and one who accomplishes the great goal, because he is free of a defiled mind, throughout all births is likewise without the mass of faults. Such merits as these the buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, possess most surpassingly; and so, with these marks, the deva praises the Tathāgata.

Section Five, three-and-a-half verses: a deva comes bearing fear to question the Buddha. The hard points are all put in words the treatise itself already has.

First, One Question: Even a Deva "Ever Harbors Terror"?

Yes. The deva's question is thoroughly down-to-earth: "The world is ever beset by fear; sentient beings are forever wearied by it" — whether the suffering has not yet come (suffering not yet arisen) or is already upon the body (already arisen), it is all fear. The treatise takes "the world" at its widest (all the satkāya, from the desire realm up to the summit of existence), but fixes its eye on the two kinds of sentient being in the desire realm — those with pleasure and those with suffering.

The most piercing thing is the treatise's dismantling of "the world that has pleasure." You would think the person of good fortune has nothing to fear? Just the opposite — "the sentient-being world that has pleasure ever harbors terror": fearing that wealth and treasure will be seized by the king, fearing that wind or heat may break out within, fearing men or non-humans may harm and injure … the ones with pleasure spend every day with their hearts in their mouths, guarding that little pleasure; the ones with suffering are already pressed and harried by the mass of suffering. The treatise passes one settling verdict: "In the world, few have pleasure and many have suffering." And so the deva sees clean through it: the pleasure of the world that has pleasure is "not fixed and certain" (not to be relied on), and so he comes to ask the Buddha — is there, after all, a place of "certain pleasure, free of fear"?

The Buddha's Answer: There Is — but Only within the Sacred Teaching; the Outsiders' Road Cannot Reach It

The Buddha's reply is crisp: such a place is "only within the sacred teaching, not among the various outsiders." The treatise then, with two classes of outsider, makes thoroughly plain "why the outsiders cannot arrive":

• The first class: he receives precepts and restraints yet is "without wisdom, does not guard the gates of the faculties" — he cannot cut off even the desires of the present life (a little gain and honor and he gives rise to a savoring relish), let alone the desires of a later life. Precept without wisdom, the gates of the faculties unguarded: the precepts are received in vain.
• The second class is more of a pity: he coarsely knows the peril of desire and has even passed beyond the desires of present and later life, and longs for "the higher ground free of desire," even becoming free of the desire of the desire realm all the way to the sphere of nothing-whatever — yet he "raises the notion of liberation toward what is not liberation," taking the concentrations of the higher realms for liberation, and so "relinquishes the lower self-body and loves the higher self-body." The treatise's verdict is icily cool: loving and clinging to the higher ground, the upshot is that "in lives to come he is not liberated even from the lower-ground self-body — how much less the higher ground."

Both classes "lose the road" — for all their fierce and valorous diligence, they cannot attain the "place of unbroken happiness, free of fear." The root cause the treatise points to with great precision: "that outsiders' teacher does not himself so much as see or know this place — how then could he expound it at length for his disciples and the like?" — the teacher has never himself seen that place, so how is he to lead his disciples there? Therefore, in the outsiders' treatises, "there is definitely no final limit to the mass of suffering." Only the well-spoken true Dharma and Vinaya "possesses every benefit and boon, and definitely has a final limit to the mass of suffering." On this hidden intent the Buddha says: liberation is not apart from knowledge, vigor, the restraint of the faculties, and all-relinquishment.

The Deva's Four Lines of Praise: Speaking the Buddha's Rarity to the Full

Having heard the Buddha's answer, the deva rejoices and leaps for joy, and with "four kinds of unsurpassed merit" praises the Buddha, the treatise matching them one by one: "I behold — after so exceedingly long a time — a brahmin come to parinirvāṇa" praises the Buddha's being hard to appear (rare to meet across so long an age); "he has passed beyond all foes" praises the deeds that benefit others; "he has passed beyond all terrors" praises the merit of benefiting himself; "he transcends the world's craving" praises the freedom from a defiled mind. The treatise adds one further layer: the Buddha is one who is "hard to appear, hard to behold, and establishes the deeds of benefiting himself and benefiting others"; the one who beholds the Buddha is able to accomplish the great goal, and one who accomplishes the great goal, "because he is free of a defiled mind, throughout all births is likewise without the mass of faults." A question that began in fear lands, in the end, upon praise of the Buddha — for it is the Buddha alone who can truly point out that road away from fear.

The Point of This Section

The "Fear" section enters through the deva's own dread, and shines through the truth that "the pleasure of the world that has pleasure is not fixed and certain (even the fortunate are afraid)"; then, by the contrast of ill-spoken and well-spoken, it makes clear that only the well-spoken true Dharma definitely has a "final limit to the mass of suffering," while the outsiders' teacher and disciples alike suffer decline and loss (the teacher himself has not seen it, and cannot lead others there); and it closes with the four unsurpassed merits in praise of the Buddha. "The one with pleasure ever harbors terror" — this is the section's most head-on blow to worldly people.

Carrying Forward

The ill-spoken / well-spoken contrast and the final limit to the mass of suffering → the three trainings of the well-spoken true Dharma in the Intent-Purport Verses (11-02); the outsiders who seek the desires of a later life and lose the road → the first section's "leaving behind the extreme of self-mortifying practice" (11-03-01); the pleasure of the world that has pleasure being not fixed and certain → the later treatises' discourse on contemplating the truth of suffering.