妙法蓮華經玄義 5.16

5.16

First, to explain the stages of the ten faiths: initially, through hearing the perfect [teaching], one can arouse perfect faith and cultivate perfect practice; with skillful increase, this perfect practice becomes fivefold deeply clear, and by virtue of this perfect practice, one enters the perfect stages. By skillfully cultivating the impartial dharma realm, one enters the mind of faith. By skillfully cultivating compassion, one enters the mind of mindfulness. By skillfully cultivating quiescence and illumination, one enters the mind of vigor. By skillfully cultivating the dismantling of dharmas, one enters the mind of wisdom. By skillfully cultivating the unobstructed and obstructed, one enters the mind of concentration. By skillfully cultivating the aids to the path, one enters the mind of non-retrogression. By skillfully cultivating the primary and auxiliary, one enters the mind of dedication. By skillfully cultivating the ordinary and noble stages, one enters the mind of protecting the Dharma. By skillfully cultivating non-movement, one enters the mind of precepts. By skillfully cultivating non-attachment, one enters the mind of vows. This is called entering the stages of the ten faiths. The *Yingluo jing* says: 'A single faith has ten; ten faiths have one hundred. The one hundred dharmas are the foundation of all dharmas.' These are called the iron-wheel stages of the ten faiths in the perfect teaching, which are precisely the purification of the six sense faculties, the approximate understanding of the perfect teaching, and the warmth, summit, patience, and supreme mundane dharmas. The *Samantabhadra-dhyāna-sūtra* explains that there are ten realms prior to the patience of non-arising, which are precisely these stages.