法華文句記 2.59

2.59

Next, as for "listing the assembly of bodhisattvas": Fascicle 4 of the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra* first asks: What is called a bodhisattva? It answers: All the dharmas of the buddhas, precepts, concentration, and wisdom, able to benefit all—this is called *bodhi*; their minds cannot be moved, able to endure the matters of attaining the path, neither broken nor severed—this is called *sattva*. One should interpret the answering text in terms of the three teachings; contrasted with the Small, they become four. As for "bodhisattvas being renunciants," and so forth: the *Śāstra* has two questions. The first question: There are the four assemblies in the śrāvaka sūtras; why are there no bodhisattvas? It answers: There are two kinds of paths, namely śrāvaka and bodhisattva; the four assemblies belong to the śrāvaka path, hence the śrāvaka sūtras lack a bodhisattva assembly. The next question is fully as in the present text; the answer says: Although in general it is like this, specifically it is not so, fully as in the present text. The *Śāstra* asks: If so, why do the Mahāyāna sūtras not exclusively list bodhisattvas? The intent of this question is: in the Hīnayāna teaching, bodhisattvas are not primary, so they merely list the śrāvakas and the four assemblies, with bodhisattvas subsumed within the four assemblies; in the Mahāyāna, śrāvakas are not primary, so should they also merely list bodhisattvas, with the four assemblies subsumed within the bodhisattvas? The *Śāstra* answers, saying: This vehicle is vast and all vehicles enter it, just as the Ganges does not receive the great ocean, but the great ocean is able to receive the Ganges. The intent of the *Śāstra*'s answer is: it is truly as asked, but merely to gather them in and gradually cause them to return to the Great, like the Ganges entering the ocean, it preserved skillful means there. If one relies on the present text, one must first recognize the presence or absence of the shared and distinct among the various divisions; only then will one recognize the intent of listing the assembly in the present sūtra. It is not that whether the listed assembly is separated or combined can distinguish great from small, or one-sided from perfect. For example, the *Diamond Sūtra* lists only a small number, and the *Suvarṇaprabhāsa* has neither great nor small; how could one judge the distinction of great and small [by this]? Therefore know that one first determines by the teaching; distinguishing the persons by the teaching, not one out of a hundred will err. As for "therefore now," and so forth: the words are general but the intent is specific. As for "if fully preserved," and so forth: this first distinguishes retention and omission. Below "bodhi," it correctly explains the name: first in terms of seeking above; and "further accomplished" below is in terms of transforming others. Compared to before, *mahā* also has the three of great and so forth, possessing the three of path, knowledge, and function across the four teachings; hence it says "many kinds," fully as in the *Mystic Principle* and so forth and in *Śamatha-vipaśyanā*. Each of the four universal vows is their beginning; each benefiting of sentient beings is their function; each path-factor is their practice; each dharma gate is what is known. If the four universal vows are distinct, the four and three must be different; and only when winnowing through the five flavors is one the perfect and wondrous bodhisattva of the present sūtra.