妙法蓮華經玄義 4.203

4.203

Now, the reason why the classification of the names and enumerations of stages relies on the *Yingluo* and *Benevolent Kings* is that the sudden teaching of the *Avataṃsaka* mostly clarifies the perfect severance of the forty-one stages and does not present the names of the ten faiths; the various Mahāyāna sūtras mostly clarify the various dharma-gates and do not properly discern the stages; and the Prajñā teachings of the preceding four periods mostly clarify the intent of the bodhisattvas' contemplation practices and dharma-gates, and likewise do not properly discern the stages. Here we consider that the fifty-two stages of the *Yingluo* are complete and orderly in name and meaning, and are likely a summary of the distinctive and perfect stages of the various Mahāyāna Vaipulya scriptures. The fifty-one stages clarified in the *Benevolent Kings Prajñā* are likely a summary of the distinctive and perfect stages of the Prajñā teachings of the preceding four periods. The *Lotus Sūtra* merely opens the provisional to reveal the real, revealing a single, perfect stage. The general meaning of the *Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra* also clarifies both the distinctive and perfect stages, yet does not single out their designations (and so forth).