(Selected from Wan Jinchuan's "Lectures on Madhyamaka")

The fifth verse──

The elimination of karma and troubles is called liberation

The karma and troubles are not real and will disappear

Practice emptiness and get rid of the drama

Verse 5:

The karma and troubles will be eliminated Therefore, it is called liberation of karma and troubles, which are not real and empty.

Liberation can be obtained when karma and troubles completely disappear. Karma refers to the three activities of body, speech, and mind, and troubles refer to greed and anger. The three poisons of addiction, ignorance, etc., and the interdependence of karma and troubles make sentient beings trapped in the sea of ??suffering of reincarnation. Once their effects disappear, life can be pulled out of the sea of ??life and death and gain liberation.

"The troubles of karma are not real, and they will be destroyed in the empty drama." Karma and troubles are not the real existence in the first sense. They exist based on causes and conditions. When the causes and conditions change, they will change accordingly. If Without giving them causes and conditions, these things will not be reborn. If karma and afflictions are the real existence in the first sense, they have their own nature and cannot be changed or eliminated. However, when we realize that "all dharmas are empty" , then all kinds of drama about regarding karma and afflictions as having their own real nature will cease. In the tradition of Chinese translation, the meaning structure of the fifth poem is generally viewed along the above understanding.

However, if we follow the original Sanskrit text to look at the fifth verse, we can find that the fifth verse actually has a more rigorous meaning structure. First of all, in terms of syntax, the first three sentences among the four sentences in this poem have the same structure. They are all in the nominative case with the subordinate case expressing the meaning of the reason. The three sentences are respectively: liberation is due to karma and The cessation of troubles, karma and troubles come from the separation of thoughts, and the separation of thoughts comes from the theory of drama.

From this syntactic feature, we can see that through the first three sentences of this poem, Nagarjuna aims to trace the path that leads to reincarnation and liberation, that is, reincarnation and liberation are based on The emergence or cessation of karma and troubles, karma and troubles are due to the distinction of thoughts, and the distinction of thoughts originates from the theory of drama. On the one hand, these three sentences explain that the reason for reincarnation is based on the theory of drama, and at the same time, they also point out the possibility of liberation. It lies in the elimination of drama theory. Therefore, the real focus of the fifth ode lies on the fourth sentence of the ode.

This fourth sentence is: In the state of emptiness, drama can be eliminated. If we look at the fifth poem from the perspective of dependent origination of circulation and cessation, we can see that the pursuit of the path of reincarnation and liberation actually has a rather strict structure, and the key to it can be said It converges on the two concepts of "emptiness" and "drama" in the fourth sentence.

In the annotation of the fourth poem, Qingmu believes that the philosophical structure of this poem expresses the meaning of "nirvana without remainder", while Qingbian believes that the liberation of "the body is destroyed when the feeling is destroyed", It is the liberation of the two-vehicle people, such as the Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas, in the form of "no self." Jizang also believes that what is described from the first verse to the fourth verse is the liberation of the Sravakas. As for the fifth poem that praises the so-called liberation of "entering the void play to discuss annihilation", Qingmu believes that this expresses the meaning of residual nirvana, while Qingbian believes that this is the unique path to liberation of Mahayana's "dharma without self". Jizang He also believes that the eleventh verse from this verse expresses the liberation of the Bodhisattva, while the twelfth verse is considered by him to describe the liberation of Pratyekabuddha. Chandrakirti strongly criticized the clarity of discernment, and believed that the liberation of the "Enter the void play on annihilation" is accessible to the three vehicles.

In addition, what is even more interesting is that the content of the sentences in "Qingmu Shi" and "On Fearlessness" can be said to be quite similar, but in "On Fearlessness", the fourth and fifth poems are The interpretation of the verse is exactly the opposite of what the "Qing Mu Shi" says - the fourth verse describes nirvana with remainder, while the fifth verse describes nirvana without remainder. Is it an error in Kumarajiva's translation, or an unintentional mistake by the Tibetan translator of the "Avatar", or is it because the "Qingmu Shi" and "Avatar" have different classification criteria for nirvana with remainder and nirvana without remainder? This is quite worth exploring.

In short, in the exegetical tradition of "Zhonglun", there have been many different opinions on the interpretation of the fifth poem since ancient times, and it is in this poem that we can see the best , different interpretation situations will lead to different understandings of praise. Therefore, when it comes to understanding the meaning of praise, only sticking to one family's words sometimes makes us miss other ways to penetrate into the vast ocean of Madhyamaka principles.

The translation of Kumarajiva's sentence "Enter the emptiness of the drama to annihilate" is translated in the Tibetan text as "The drama is annihilated through emptiness." The key to this lies in the Chinese The translation interprets the "locative case" in the original text in a literal translation manner, while the Tibetan translation interprets the "locative case" in the original text in an "instrumental case" manner. Shi Gong retains the locative form of the word "emptiness" in the original text. This way of interpretation can be fully supported in the long commentary of Qingbian's "Prajna Lamp". Qingbian interprets what Nagarjuna calls this poem. "Emptiness" is understood as "the wisdom of emptiness", and the fourth sentence of the poem is believed to mean: "When the wisdom of emptiness is clearly revealed, drama can be dismissed."

Chingbian's interpretation is quite unique. Although he does not interpret the concept of "emptiness" from the ontological side like Chandrakirti, it highlights the role of this concept in The practical significance of meditation.

In the Buddhist practice tradition of virtue, concentration, and wisdom, wisdom is born from the practice of meditation, and the so-called "wisdom of emptiness" in clear discernment is the wisdom cultivated by meditation. .

Three Doors of Liberation──The Door of Emptiness Liberation, the Door of Formless Liberation and the Door of Wishless Liberation

This kind of practice of emptiness is often mentioned in the Prajna Sutra. It is the "empty samadhi" or "empty liberation door" among the "three samadhis" or "three liberation doors", and the other two samadhis are the formless samadhi and the wishless samadhi.

"Empty Samadhi" means to visualize that "all dharmas are empty" or "all dharmas have no intrinsic nature". The so-called "empty" or "no intrinsic nature" here means "the existence of things is It means "depending on the cause and condition without its substantial nature". This kind of Samadhi practice can be said to focus on understanding the ontological significance of the concept of "emptiness".

"Formless Samadhi" is the visualization of "the self-appearance of all dharmas is unattainable", where "self-appearance" refers to "the existence characteristics or characteristics of things", and "unattainable" ” means “cannot recognize”. This kind of samadhi practice can be said to be an effort to realize the epistemological significance of the concept of "emptiness", that is, to visualize "the reality is one phase, and the so-called phaselessness is the phase of emptiness and cessation."

As for "Wishless Samadhi", it is to visualize that "all dharmas are objects that cannot be expected or desired." The practice of this Samadhi can be said to be concentrating on the reflection of "emptiness" "The meaning of the concept in psychology.

In the Prajna Sutra, the practice of these three kinds of samadhi aims to cultivate the non-attachment spirit that is indispensable in the practice of the Mahayana Bodhisattva path, which is the so-called "selfless Prajna practice" or "Empty line".

In this work, from the first poem to the fourth poem, Nagarjuna proceeds from the ontological and epistemological investigation of "I" and "I am" to the philosophy of consciousness. Reflecting on the origin of "self-grasping" and "self-grasping", we finally concluded that: with the cessation of "internal or external intentionality of consciousness" on the psychological level (that is, all grasping activities on the psychological level) , and liberate life from attachment. At this point, it can be said to be a very specific and appropriate description of the practice process of "the door to liberation without wishes" or "samadhi without wishes".

As for the fifth poem, Nagarjuna said, "The cessation of karma and afflictions is liberation, and karma and afflictions come from separation of thoughts, and separation of thoughts is performed in the guise of complex words. "But the complex language stops when the wisdom of emptiness emerges." The narrative seems to be intended to describe the "door to liberation of emptiness" or the scenery of "empty samadhi". As a result of practicing emptiness, we discover that our understanding and explanation of the "reality of all dharmas" actually have nothing to do with the "reality" itself, and these understandings and explanations are just differences in thinking and complicated words. That’s all.

The wrong behavior of "falling in love with someone you shouldn't love", as well as psychological troubles such as love and hatred, actually originate from the thoughts of like and dislike, and like and dislike. The thoughts we don’t like are basically due to our calculations and distinctions, and these calculations and distinctions are often carried out by relying on the accumulation of complex famous sayings or meanings in the inner world.

In short, "drama theory" refers to complex language. We use words to remember personal and vivid experiences at the moment, use words to recall things that have passed, and use words to speculate on the scenery that has yet to come. These thinking activities such as remembering, recalling, and guessing are all based on complex famous quotes. The concept can be carried out.

Seventh Verse──

The reality of all dharmas is determined by the thoughts, actions, and words

There is neither birth nor destruction, and cessation is like nirvana

< p> "Speech cessation" is based on the "heart conduct cessation" as its prerequisite

The seventh verse:

The reality of all dharmas is that the heart conduct and speech cessation has neither birth nor death. Cessation is like nirvana

Here, the original Sanskrit word of the phrase "the reality of all dharmas" is "dharmata", which means the true appearance of the existence of things, so whether it is There is no difference in meaning when saying "Dharma nature" or "the reality of all dharmas". The reason why Kumarajiva used the term "the reality of all dharmas" to translate the word "Dharma nature" may be based on his personal A special preference for the word "reality" (In the translation of this work, Shi Gong uses the word "reality" a lot, but in fact in the original Sanskrit text, the only place where this word is actually used is in the ninth poem It is just a hymn. Whether this preference in translation directly affected the later reality philosophy of the Tiantai Sect is worthy of further study). On the other hand, it may be based on the translation example of a five-character sentence.

In addition, the word "annihilation" in the translation of "Nirvana" is not found in the original poem. If we follow Kumarajiva's translation example in the ninth poem, See (the word "nirvana" here means the stability or peace of the mind), it is possible that Shi Gongji added this word to express the reality of the dharma observed by practitioners of "empty samadhi". The form, or nature, is the peace and tranquility like Nirvana.

Judging from Kumarajiva's translation form of this poem, "the reality of all dharmas" is the subject of the whole sentence, while the following three phrases "judgement of mental actions and words" are grammatically Predicate, according to this syntactic form, we can understand this poem like this: The reality of all dharmas is neither birth nor death. It is stable and silent like Nirvana. It does not belong to the functions of thinking, differentiation and speech. range.

However, if this poem is understood in this way, it may make sense in theory, but the method of understanding is obviously not consistent with the original Sanskrit poem, because in terms of syntax, The second stanza of the original Sanskrit poem adopts an independent "locative" (absolute locative) expressing the concept of "condition", and Kumarajiva translated the first and second stanzas as "Heart Action Speech Judgment" ”, which not only fails to allow people to see the key grammatical role of this independent figure in the entire poem, but also makes people mistakenly think that it is the predicate component of “the reality of all dharmas”.

According to the grammatical structure of the original Sanskrit hymn, the meaning of this hymn is: "When the activities of the mind cease, the object that can be interpreted ceases, and the nature of the dharma is like Nirvana." It is the same, and it is indeed neither born nor destroyed.” This means that “speech judgment” presupposes “heart conduct judgment”; however, in the Chinese translation of the sentence “heart conduct speech judgment”, the word “heart conduct” is obviously not found. This logical relationship with "speech".

The scenery of the language world is not a reflection of the real world

From "the heart is broken" to "the speech is broken", this means that the consciousness of the practitioner is stable and peaceful at this time The state of "nirvana", and this state is the field where the wisdom of emptiness appears. From the emergence of the wisdom of emptiness, the reality can be illuminated and the nature of dharma can be observed. It is said that "the nature of Dharma is like Nirvana, it is neither born nor destroyed." This means that we cannot use famous concepts such as "birth, cessation, eternity, and cessation" to grasp the reality, and "the words of the mind" "Beginning" points out that in the face of reality, the activities of thinking and speech have no place at all. However, we often think that we have entered the real situation even though we are only wandering in the world of language.

For example, when you hear someone else’s words, you will often hate them to death or feel happy to death, as if that sentence can kill you immediately or make you ascend to heaven. In fact, it is just a bunch of deliberate combinations. It’s just a sound, a scenery in the language world, which often does not correspond to the real world. When you are happy, you say to people: "You look so strong!" When you are unhappy, you say: "Look at you, you are so bloated." !" What is "bloated"? And what is the definition of "strong"? Those are just "differences" based on our emotional activities.

Human language is a complex system that incorporates elements such as knowledge, emotion, intention, etc., and it is inherently prone to karma and troubles. Trying to find reality in this language world is like reading the travel guide to a scenic spot in detail and thinking that we have experienced the real landscape; no matter how detailed the recipe is, we will not understand it after reading it. It won't make you feel full. Language and reality are two different worlds. The problem is that we often regard the world of language as a faithful reflection of the real world, resulting in many "drama theories" that have nothing to do with reality.

In the seventh poem, Nagarjuna uses "the cessation of mental actions" and "the cessation of speech", thus expressing the observer's state of consciousness of "nil" at this time, and this state of consciousness. In order to make the wisdom of emptiness emerge and reveal the nature of dharma that is neither born nor destroyed like Nirvana, this method is actually the same as the fifth poem, which is to describe the practice process of "empty samadhi" and The scenery he saw.

As for the ninth verse to be introduced below, it can be seen as a reflection on the "no-form samadhi" that contemplates "one phase of reality. The so-called phaseless is the phase of emptiness and cessation." 's description.

The Ninth Verse──

Knowing that oneself does not perish along with others has no drama

There is no difference or distinction, and this is the true form

The truth must be personally verified

Verse 9:

Knowing oneself, not perishing with others, no drama, no difference, no distinction, this is called reality

The sentence "Know oneself and not follow others" means that the only way to observe "reality" is through our personal experience. This means that knowledge about reality has an intransferable nature.

Generally speaking, one of the components of the so-called "knowledge" in the world is that it must be transmissible, and language is the most widely used transmission medium. But once we face When experiencing some personal experiences, we can often immediately discover the powerlessness of language. For example, people often say: "Toothache is not a disease, it hurts really badly." Perhaps people who have experienced toothache can use Shenghua's wonderful pen to explain it in detail. It describes how you feel when you have a toothache, but no matter how carefully you read it, I don’t think you will empathize with the feeling of toothache! However, one day when I have a toothache, I think that at this time, others don’t need to say a word, you also know what a toothache is. In fact, the same is true for grasping the truth. It requires personal experience, rather than some secrets that can make people know the scene immediately.

The above is our explanation based on Kumarajiva’s interpretation.

If we look at it according to the Sanskrit text, the Sanskrit equivalent of the sentence "Knowing yourself and not following others" actually literally only means "not following others" but not "knowing yourself". However, "Kumarashi" added " To explain the meaning of "not following others" with the term "self-knowledge", we can see that his intention is to understand the meaning of "not following others" from an epistemological level (the Tibetan translation uses "not knowing from others" "To translate this word, the idea is the same as Shi Gong's translation), but the original Sanskrit word of "not following him" can also have "not relying on other conditions" (the Tang translation is "no other conditions") meaning, so conceptually, this word can also have an ontological meaning, and is used to refer to an independent and independent reality (in this regard, it is somewhat similar to Kant's concept of "things in themselves") .

Following this, this reality is different from those conditional existences that depend on causes and conditions in terms of ontological character. Through this approximation to what Kant calls "phenomena" The ontological distinction from "things in themselves" formed the so-called "absolutist interpretation of Madhyamaka" that was once popular. According to this interpretation point of view, Nagarjuna's concept of "emptiness" was considered by them It is a desperate and independent reality. Regardless of whether this "absolutist interpretation of the Middle Way" is appropriate, at least in the interpretation tradition of this hymn, the meaning of "not following others" obviously does not fall on the ontological level. Rather, it is placed at the epistemological level.

"Formless Samadhi" - practicing the world of reality

The word "Nirvana" has been mentioned before when explaining the seventh poem. This word The meaning of subjectively refers to the stability and peace of the mind, while objectively it is used to describe the silent state of reality. The translation of Shi Gong's "Wuxi Lun" is "Drama Theory Can't Be Said" in the Tang version. As for the two translations, the latter is closer to the literal meaning of the Sanskrit text. It follows the "Wu Drama Theory" just mentioned. Comparing the translations of "others" and "knowing oneself and not following others" (the former focuses on describing the observed reality, while the latter prefers to describe the mental state that can be observed), we can see that the difference between The interpretation of this poem focuses more on the description of the spiritual state of the practitioner. Therefore, the meaning of Shi Gong's sentence "Nirvana without drama" should mean that the practitioner of meditation is in a stable and peaceful state mentally, and his speech activities have also ceased. This meaning is basically the same as what is said in the seventh poem: "When the activity of the heart stops, the object of interpretation ceases." They both express that the mind of the meditator is in emptiness. state. If we follow the interpretation of "no other connection" and "the theory of drama cannot be explained" in the Tang translation, then it will focus more on the description of the scene observed.

As for the sentence "no difference, no difference", it can also have two meanings: ability and ability. "No difference" here means that from the perspective of the observer, it means that there are no distracting intentions in the mind; and from the perspective of the observed environment, this concept refers to the oneness of reality, that is to say, the reality It is pure in nature and has no complex nature. From the perspective of the observer, "non-discrimination" means that the mind is separated from thinking and calculation; from the perspective of the observed environment, it means that the reality is not the object of thinking, and therefore it will not be as seen by the conscious mind. Showing various characteristics (according to Nagarjuna's point of view, these characteristics are false and false).

In the tradition of the Prajna Sutra, "Reality Samadhi" is the visualization of "one phase of reality. The so-called phaselessness is the phase of emptiness and cessation." From this standpoint, Nagarjuna The description in the ninth poem can be said to be quite focused on describing the scenery of "formless samadhi".