妙法蓮華經玄義 5.29

5.29

The Dapin clarifies the forty-two letter gates, with equality of words and equality of letters. Master Nanyue said: 'These are the secret words of all buddhas; why should they not indicate the forty-two stages?' Scholars cling to the Treatise, saying there is no such explanation, and are mostly doubtful and do not accept it. But the original text of the Treatise had a thousand fascicles, and Master Jīva abridged it tenfold; why must it lack this explanation? I now say: this explanation deeply and invisibly tallies. Why? The sūtra says: 'A is first and ha is last, with forty in between. The first letter gate, A, possesses the forty-one letters; the last, ha, is also like this.' The Huayan says: 'From the first ground, one completely possesses all the merits of all grounds.' This meaning is identical. The sūtra says: 'If one hears the letter gate A, then one understands all meanings, because all dharmas are unproduced from the very beginning.' Is this not the first abode of the perfect teaching, first attaining the endurance of non-arising dharmas? Beyond ha there are no letters to speak of; is this not wondrous enlightenment, which is unsurpassed and without superior? In the 'Chapter on the Vast Vehicle', after clarifying that all dharmas are the Mahāyāna, the forty-two letter gates are immediately spoken; does this not mean that bodhisattvas of the perfect teaching, from their first bringing forth of the mind, attain the true reality of all dharmas and possess all buddhadharmas, and hence it is called the letter A; and upon reaching the ground of wondrous enlightenment, exhaust the bottom of all dharmas, and hence it is called the letter ha? This meaning, in its number and the stages of the perfect teaching, is exceedingly clear. Furthermore, after the forty-two letters, the ten bodhisattva grounds are immediately spoken; this reveals the sequence of expedient stages of the distinctive teaching. Furthermore, after the ten grounds, the ten grounds shared by the three vehicles are spoken; this reveals the expedient stages of the shared teaching. As the scriptural passages follow in sequence, the three meanings are fully apparent. We now take the forty-two letters to verify the stages of the perfect teaching.