菩薩瓔珞本業經 1.94

1.94

"O Son of the Buddha! The former three worthy ranks subdue the avidyā of the three realms, yet they employ coarse karma. Why is this? When they are to receive birth, good [karma] acts as the condition and seed, while craving acts as the moisture for karma; thus they receive future retributions. Therefore it is said that their function is stilled, yet the function of craving is not severed. Furthermore, the eleven [stages of noble] persons also subdue the karmic fruits of the three realms within the dharmadhātu. From the first ground to the seventh ground, the karmic fruits of the three realms are all subdued completely without remainder; only on the eighth ground are they exhausted. From here upward, they manifest attaining buddhahood: taking birth in a royal palace, leaving home and realizing the Way, turning the wheel of the Dharma, and passing into extinction; they also manifest all Buddha-realms, so they have no retributions of the three realms [driven by] seed-craving. Only the habitual propensities of avidyā remain, and through the power of great vows they take birth through transformation. Thus in the past, among the devas, I taught the meaning of arising and non-arising, of birth through karma and birth through transformation. O Son of the Buddha! Within the noble stages there are two kinds of karma: first, karma of wisdom. With the wisdom of signlessness and non-arising, thought after thought conditions the dharma-nature, giving rise to illuminating non-illumination—this is called the karma of wisdom. Second, karma of merit. Real wisdom emerges into the truth of existence, where conditioned and undefiled [dharmas] accumulate one million asaṃkhyeyas of merits—this is called the karma of merit. From the first noble stage upward, they manifest receiving birth; because of mutation, having completed the old, they do not produce the new; through the power of vows, they remain alive for hundreds of kalpas or thousands of kalpas, transforming and giving birth to all."