金剛經纂要刊定記 3.149

3.149

然諸教中所說地位，或有或無。如《楞伽經》云：「十地即為初，二地即為八，乃至無所有何地」，此明無也。《仁王》、《纓絡》等經，即具說地位，是明有也。然此有無皆隨機說也。若《華嚴》行布萬差、圓融一際，有無無閡，斯則稱性之說也。然依《華嚴》有無無閡方為了義，以約法即無，約人即有，人法既不相離，有無故合均齊。然其行人，念念須冥佛境反窮果海，自然階降不同。若預等級用心，畢竟障於證入。故《華嚴疏》云：「修則頓修，位分因果。」況此經宗無相，豈合列位淺深？但約情惑漸薄而位地轉高，義相稍同，故略配攝也。

Now, the stages and grounds taught across the various teachings are sometimes affirmed and sometimes negated. As the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says: "The tenth ground is just the first, the second ground is just the eighth, up to having no ground whatsoever"—this clarifies negation. Sūtras such as the Benevolent Kings and Yingluo fully expound stages and grounds; this clarifies affirmation. Yet these affirmations and negations are all expounded according to capacity. If, as in the Avataṃsaka, the gradual gradations are ten-thousandfold diverse yet perfectly fused as one single boundary, then affirmation and negation are without obstruction, and this is an exposition in accord with the true nature. Yet relying on the Avataṃsaka's non-obstruction of affirmation and negation is truly the definitive meaning: from the standpoint of phenomena, they are negated; from the standpoint of persons, they are affirmed. Since person and phenomena are not divorced from one another, affirmation and negation ought to be held in balance. Furthermore, as the practitioner must at every thought-moment merge with the realm of the Buddha and trace back to exhaust the ocean of fruition, the gradual gradations will naturally differ. If one applies one's mind in anticipation of hierarchical ranks, this will ultimately obstruct realisational entry. Hence the Avataṃsaka Commentary states: "Practice is sudden practice; stages divide cause and effect." How much less so does the central theme of this sūtra, which is marklessness, admit an enumeration of shallow and deep stages! It is merely in terms of emotional afflictions gradually thinning and the grounds of stages progressively ascending that the signified meanings slightly correspond; hence they are cursorily correlated and subsumed.