菩薩瓔珞本業經 2.62

2.62

"Buddha sons! Further from this abode, one cultivates and practices the hundred gates of contemplation, namely: the ten faiths, ten progresses, ten aspirations, ten vehicles, ten vajras, ten rejoicings, ten precepts, ten vows, ten protections, and ten dedications. Through this contemplation of the hundred dharmas, one thoroughly penetrates the emptiness of the three realms; provisional names are entirely empty; all dharmas are devoid of self and devoid of person, devoid of recipient and devoid of cause, all lacking fixed nature. Thereupon one extinguishes the thirteen fetters, namely the seven views and the six attachments, entering the stage of the first practice in accord with the true mark. Buddha sons! Further from this practice, one contemplates and cultivates the gates of illumination of the thousand dharmas, namely, from the ten faiths up to the ten dedications, successively entering the Dharma. Dharma is without self; the accumulation of dharmas, arising of dharmas, path of dharmas, and cessation of dharmas are all without any person who receives the Dharma; dharmas are like empty space, like illusions, like cities [of the gandharvas], like mirages. All dharmas are signless; hundreds of thousands of arisings and cessations are entirely unattainable; thus one enters the stage of the first dedication. Buddha sons! Further from this dedication, shining ever more clearly, the illuminating wisdom learns the contemplation of resemblance-equality. The contemplation is named 'unattainable', and the unattainable is provisionally attained. For example, when a lamp is lit with a wick, it is not the first flame [alone that burns the wick], nor is it that the first flame at any point burns it; yet it is not apart from the first flame, nor is it that when the first flame is absent there is burning. The subsequent ones are also like this: solely because conditioned dharmas and the two truths all alternate and change, it is by provisional designation that there is burning; hence one knows that the initial flame is not the present [flame], and the present scorching is not the initial. Because the present scorching is not the initial, only in the present does it exist; because the initial flame is not the present, in the present there is no burning. With no burning in the present, the present burning is a provisional burning. Attaining the contemplation of equality is also like this: it is not that in the initial mind there is attainment, nor is it that when the initial mind is absent there is attainment; the subsequent minds are also like this. Therefore the initial mind is not the present mind, and the present arising is not the initial arising. Because the present arising is not the initial arising, only in the present does it exist; because the initial mind is not the present mind, in the present there is no attainment. With no attainment in the present, the present attainment is a provisional attainment. The mind of the middle way, the supreme truth, ceases thought after thought, entering the gates of illumination of the myriad dharmas; from the ten faiths up to the ten dedications, it spontaneously flows into the path of equality. With the true contemplation of the one sign that is unattainable, by a single illuminating sign one enters the path of the first ground.