大方便佛報恩經 6.22

6.22

Answer: "The three fruits were attained previously, hence there is retrogression; the lowest fruit was never previously attained, hence there is no retrogression. Just as when a hungry person obtains delicious food and long afterward does not forget it, this principle is also like that. Again it is said: 'In the lowest fruit, patience serves as the unhindered path and knowledge serves as the path of liberation; in the three fruits, knowledge serves as the unhindered path and knowledge serves as the path of liberation, hence there is retrogression.' Again it is said: 'In the path of seeing the truth there is no retrogression; in the path of cultivation there is retrogression, because notions of pure and impure sever the fetters. In the path of cultivation there is oppression, while in seeing the truth there is no oppression. When seeing the truth there is no oppression, the fetters of seeing the truth discern the principle; in cultivation [defilements] subtly arise, so through oppression one does not retrogress.' Again it is said: 'The power of knowledge in seeing the truth is strong, like a great beam weighing things down; the knowledge of cultivation is weak, hence there is retrogression.' Again it is said: 'In seeing the truth, the two minds of patience and knowledge of the desire realm can sever nine grades; the two minds of patience and knowledge of the higher realms sever seventy-two grades of fetters, exhausting the formless realm, and therefore there is no retrogression.' For these reasons he alone is named the World-Honoured One. Furthermore, the Buddha has severed latent impressions, whereas the two vehicles have not exhausted latent impressions. For example, the bhikṣu Gavāṃpati always engaged in chewing the cud like an ox, because life after life he had come from among cattle; like another bhikṣu who, though he had attained the destruction of outflows, constantly looked at himself in a mirror, because life after life he had come from among courtesans; like another bhikṣu who leaped over fences and hurled himself from towers, because life after life he had come from among monkeys. Therefore they cannot be named the World-Honoured One."