解脫道論 四大語言與名義

The passage first gives common and distinctive designations: “the four great elements” is common, while “earth element, water element, fire element, and wind element” are distinctive. The division of the opening phrase 二界語言同 remains unresolved.

Three accounts of “great” are juxtaposed: great arising, not-real-meaning making real meaning manifest, and shapes of ghosts and the like. The first cites a verse giving quantities for earth, water, and wind and 七日 in the fire section. The second places neither male nor female, neither long nor short, and neither tree nor mountain beside corresponding visibility clauses, whose attachment is unresolved. The third states four activities but gives three groups, while its introduction names only fire and the following list names all four elements. Every mismatch remains.

The meanings of earth, water, fire, and wind are vastness, drinkable and protective, giving light, and going and coming. “Element” means “holding its own characteristic.” The lists then contain six earth natures, eight water natures, six fire natures, and six wind natures. Joy and binding remain source names in the water list and receive no psychological explanation; “holding its own characteristic” does not add everlastingness, fixity, or invariability. The close is “contemplate the elements through linguistic meaning.”

Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Four Great Elements: Language and Meaning · Doorway · Summer 2026

Common and Distinctive Designations

Question: How does one distinguish the elements through language?

Answer: The source first says 二界語言同, followed by “namely, common designation and distinctive designation.” How the first clause should be divided is not explained, so no decision is supplied. What can be established from this answer is that “the four great elements” is the common designation, while “earth element, water element, fire element, and wind element” are the distinctive designations.

Three Meanings of “Great”

Question: What is the meaning of “great” in the four great elements?

Answer: The source gives three accounts in succession. First, “great arising is called great.” Second, 有大非實義令現實義, therefore it is called great. Third, “shapes of ghosts and the like are called great.” The inner syntax of the second phrase is unclear and remains in its source form without being made into a settled definition.

How is “great arising” called great? The answer says the elements arise greatly and cites verses spoken by the Blessed One:

In brief, the earth characteristic has two hundred thousand and four 那由他; water has four hundred thousand and eight 那由他; wind abides in space and reaches nine hundred thousand and six 那由他. The world’s support is also formed by fire. Within the world are flames reaching upward to the Brahmā world, at most 七日. Such is great arising; therefore it is called great. The verse’s “hundred thousand,” 那由他, and 七日 are each kept as the source has them. This passage supplies no conversion and does not state whether the three quantities and 七日 are one kind of measure.

“Not a Real Meaning, Making a Real Meaning Manifest”

Question: How is it “great—not a real meaning, making a real meaning manifest”?

Answer: What is called a great element is neither male nor female; the source continues, “visible through male and female form.” An element is neither long nor short; then “visible through long and short form.” An element is neither tree nor mountain; then “visible through the forms of trees and mountains.” Each sentence places a negation beside “visible through,” but the source does not determine whether the element is seen through those forms or those forms become visible through the element. The answer concludes only with the received wording “thus, great—not a real meaning, making a real meaning manifest” and says that it is therefore called great.

Different Shapes of Ghosts and the Like

How are the different shapes of ghosts and the like understood? The source gives the example of a ghost entering a person’s body and forming that body. It says four activities arise from the ghost’s shape, but the Taishō text then gives only three groups: “the body becomes strong,” “urine becomes hot,” and “light movement.” Whether 尿熱 should be read together or as two items differs among witnesses; the stated four activities cannot be completed on the authority of this passage alone.

The source next says “in the body, through combination with the fire element, four activities arise,” naming only the fire element in the introductory sentence. The four following clauses instead give all four: combination with earth produces hardness, water produces flow, fire produces heat, and wind produces light movement. The introduction and the four clauses do not correspond, so both remain without replacing “fire element” by “four elements.” The answer closes by saying that shapes of ghosts and the like are thus called great, and this is the linguistic meaning of “great.”

Meanings of the Four Element Names

Question: What are the meanings of earth element, water element, fire element, and wind element?

Answer: “Earth” is explained through vastness; “water” through being drinkable and protective; “fire” through giving light; and “wind” through going and coming.

What does “element” mean? The answer says “holding its own characteristic.” This passage gives only that short phrase and does not explain how far “holding” extends.

Again, the own-nature of earth is the earth element; the own-nature of water the water element; the own-nature of fire the fire element; and the own-nature of wind the wind element.

Self-Natures of the Four Elements

What is the own-nature of earth? The source lists hardness, strength, thickness, immobility, stability, and holding, calling these the nature of earth.

What is the nature of water? It lists moisture, luster, flow, issuing forth, fullness, increase, joy, and binding. “Joy” and “binding” are only names within the water list here and receive no psychological explanation.

What is the nature of fire? It lists heat, warmth, steaming, maturation, burning, and taking.

What is the nature of wind? It lists holding, cold, going and coming, light movement, low, and taking. “Holding” also appears under earth, and “taking” under fire. The source neither merges the elements because of the repeated names nor explains different uses of the same term.

These are the linguistic meanings of the elements. The elements should be contemplated through these linguistic meanings.

Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Four Great Elements: Language and Meaning · Vernacular · Summer 2026

The passage begins with “How does one distinguish the elements through language?” and first gives common and distinctive designations. It then asks what “great” means in “four great elements” and lists great arising, not-real-meaning making real meaning manifest, and shapes of ghosts and the like. Finally it asks the meanings of earth, water, fire, wind, and “element,” lists the four self-natures, and closes “the meanings of the elements are thus; contemplate the elements through linguistic meaning” 〔T32 439a09–439b11〕. The reading below follows that question-and-answer order. It does not expand the short phrases into an ontology or convert the lists of natures into a separate practice prescription.

Common and Distinctive Designations: Preserving the First Clause

The first answer reads: “二界語言同, namely, common designation and distinctive designation” 〔T32 439a09–10〕. The first clause admits different divisions, and the treatise does not explain it further, so the later sentences cannot decide a unique punctuation. They do clearly divide the names into two groups: “Here, ‘the four great elements’ is the common designation. Earth element, water element, fire element, and wind element are the distinctive designations” 〔T32 439a10–11〕. The collective name and the four separate names are expressly assigned.

The wording must also be retained: first the collective “four great elements,” then earth, water, fire, and wind, each with “element.” The conclusion says only “these are distinctive designations.” It does not say common designation is coarse and distinctive designation fine or arrange them as two stages of cultivation. Only the two classes of name and their express assignment can be established.

Three Accounts of “Great” and the Verse Cited for the First

The next question is “What is the meaning of the four great elements?” The answer gives: “Great arising is called great. 有大非實義令現實義, therefore it is called great. Great means that shapes of ghosts and the like are called great” 〔T32 439a12–13〕. The source does not state “three meanings” as a number, but three accounts are visibly juxtaposed, and their constructions are uneven. The first is simply “great arising is called great,” the second includes “therefore it is called great,” and the third says “shapes of ghosts and the like are called great.” They can be listed as three accounts without making them a uniform set or assigning categories such as quantity, function, and simile.

The first is immediately questioned and answered: “How is great arising called great? The elements arise greatly, as in the verses spoken by the Blessed One” 〔T32 439a13–14〕. The six lines list, in order, earth as “two hundred thousand, four 那由他,” water as “four hundred thousand, eight 那由他,” and wind abiding in space as “nine hundred thousand, six 那由他” 〔T32 439a17〕. They then turn to the world’s support being formed by fire, flames within the world, the Brahmā world, and at most 七日, closing “such is great arising; therefore it is called great” 〔T32 439a17–20〕. Earth, water, and wind each have “hundred thousand” and 那由他; the fire passage has 七日. The forms of measure differ. The source neither converts 那由他 nor explains how 七日 compares with the preceding quantities, so every item remains in its order and form.

The verse’s checkable structure is earth, water, and wind each with a numerical group; the fire section begins “the world’s support is also formed by fire,” continues through flames, Brahmā world, and 七日, and the final two clauses remain within the verse. These features support the answer “the elements arise greatly.” They do not say that bodily elements and the world have the same material or that the numbers are only rhetoric. No purpose beyond the source is assigned to the verse.

“Not a Real Meaning, Making a Real Meaning Manifest”: Three Negations and Visibility

The second account receives a separate question: “How is it great—not a real meaning, making a real meaning manifest?” 〔T32 439a21〕. The answer says a great element is “neither male nor female; visible through male and female form,” then “neither long nor short; visible through long and short form,” then “neither tree nor mountain; visible through tree and mountain form” 〔T32 439a23〕. The whole question and answer stands at 〔T32 439a21–23〕. Each group first negates two terms and then adds “visible through” a form. The conclusion is “thus, great—not a real meaning, making a real meaning manifest—is called great” 〔T32 439a24〕.

The difficulty is not the order of the three groups but the attachment of “visible through…form.” The source does not say whether the element is seen by means of male/female, long/short, and tree/mountain forms, or those forms become visible through the element. It also does not separately analyze the syntax of the central phrase. Only the three negations and three visibility clauses can be placed side by side. They do not establish that all appearances are one substrate, that all names are mere surface, or an unstated classification of emptiness.

Different Ghostly Shapes: Introduction and Following List Do Not Correspond

The third account asks about “different shapes of ghosts and the like” and first gives “a ghost enters a person’s body and forms that body.” It then says the ghost’s shape gives rise to four activities, but the Taishō text gives only three groups: “the body becomes strong, urine becomes hot, light movement” 〔T32 439a24–26〕. 尿熱 runs together in the Taishō; other witnesses differ. The body of this unit cannot split it into two simply to meet the number four or delete the stated number.

The next sentence begins: “Thus in the body, through combination with the fire element, four activities arise” 〔T32 439a26–27〕, naming fire alone. Four clauses immediately follow: combination with earth produces hardness, water produces flow, fire produces heat, wind produces light movement 〔T32 439a27–29〕. The introduction and the list do not correspond and both must remain. The passage expressly gives combination of the elements and hardness, flow, heat, and light movement; it does not turn an element into an agent operating within the body or philosophically substitute ghost, element, and person for one another. The close remains: “Thus shapes of ghosts and the like are called great; this is the linguistic meaning of great” 〔T32 439a29〕.

Meanings of the Four Elements and “Holding Its Own Characteristic”

The question “What are the meanings of earth element, water element, fire element, and wind element?” is answered in order: “Vastness is the meaning of earth; drinkable and protective is the meaning of water; giving light is the meaning of fire; going and coming is the meaning of wind” 〔T32 439b01–02〕. The earth phrase has two Chinese graphs, water four, fire three, wind two. The forms differ but are explicit. How “drinkable and protective” divides is not explained.

The next question, “What is the meaning of element?” receives only: “Holding its own characteristic is its meaning” 〔T32 439b03〕. The complete phrase “holding its own characteristic” must remain. The source adds no qualifications such as everlasting, fixed, unchanging, substantial, or reliable, and says nothing here about how a nature persists when the elements combine. No universal rule of fixed own-nature follows from this short answer.

The Four Self-Natures: Preserving Each List

The passage first states: “The own-nature of earth is the earth element, the own-nature of water the water element, the own-nature of fire the fire element, and the own-nature of wind the wind element” 〔T32 439b03–05〕. Four questions then list their natures. Earth has six: hardness, strength, thickness, immobility, stability, holding 〔T32 439b05–06〕. Water has eight: moisture, luster, flow, issuing forth, fullness, increase, joy, binding 〔T32 439b06–07〕. Fire has six: heat, warmth, steaming, maturation, burning, taking 〔T32 439b08–09〕. Wind has six: holding, cold, going and coming, light movement, low, taking 〔T32 439b09–10〕. The source does not state the numbers; six, eight, six, six are counts of the received lists.

“Holding” appears under both earth and wind, and “taking” under both fire and wind. The source does not distinguish the repeated terms’ meanings or merge the elements because of them. “Joy” and “binding” occur among the eight water terms alongside moisture, luster, flow, and the others; no subgroup or item-by-item explanation follows. The exact names, order, and repetitions can be established without assigning modern mental or bodily categories.

The conclusion “the meanings of the elements are thus; contemplate the elements through linguistic meaning” 〔T32 439b10–11〕 returns to the opening question about language. It says to contemplate through linguistic meaning but does not say the listed natures are interchangeable or prescribe switching terms when recognition fails. The common and distinctive designations, the three accounts of “great,” the four element-name meanings, “holding its own characteristic,” and the four lists may be gathered; every unresolved syntax and mismatch remains.

Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · The Four Great Elements: Language and Meaning · Exposition · Summer 2026