金剛經纂要刊定記 1.74

1.74

"Secretly reveals the stages and gradations": This means secretly and implicitly manifesting the characteristics of the gradations and distinctions in the positions entered through cultivation by practitioners. Because the sūtra completely lacks the names of the eighteen abodes but contains the meanings of the eighteen abodes, since it does not explicitly assign them, it is called "secretly reveals." Because the preceding and following [stages] differ in being shallow or deep, it is called "stages and gradations." Now, the characteristics of these stages and gradations are fully explained below in the commentary prior to the main body of the text.