法華文句記 8.38

8.38

Next, citing the two passages from the Dàzhìdù lù: these prove that birth and death are only two. “Physical body” generally designates [the state] where the four entrenchments are not yet exhausted. “Dharma body” provisionally applies to both lands beyond the realm; both being designated as inconceivable transformation and the dharmatā-body is precisely this. This proves the two kinds of birth and death, not discussing the eternal body; this is the direct text of the Dàzhìdù lù. Among the Great Vehicle masters of our era, who surpasses Nāgārjuna? He says an arhat must abandon fragmented [birth and death] before entering inconceivable transformation. Below, “someone says”: what this master posits resembles the meaning of the shared teaching, hence he says “the interval between the two lands is hard to cross,” because the sixth ground is equal to the two vehicles, and upon reaching this point, many fall into the stage of the two vehicles. Below, “the objector”: this is another person objecting to the position just established. You use four hundred to symbolize the seventh ground, so the sixth ground must correspond to three hundred; three hundred again has equal efficacy with the two vehicles. Since they practice together with the two vehicles up to three hundred, and upon reaching here their departing and staying differ, how can it be called practicing together? Thus the objection below says “they should not be equal.” Regarding “sixty kalpas,” etc.: for a śrāvaka the maximum duration is sixty kalpas; for a pratyekabuddha the maximum duration is a hundred kalpas. “The two vehicles are circuitous toward the buddha-path”: this clarifies that persons of the two vehicles differ from those practicing the bodhisattva path, in that they provisionally grasp realization. Below, “We now state,” refuting: “It is neither shared nor specific”: refuting that objector, because of twenty-two great asaṃkhyeyas it is not shared, and because the sixth ground is equal to the two vehicles it is not specific. For the twenty-two asaṃkhyeyas, please consult the Dàzhìdù lù; this also resembles the specific connecting to the shared. Below, “someone says”: the specific meaning is not established; one should not take from the seventh abode onward as the five hundred, as in the Great Sūtra where eighty thousand kalpas reach it, etc., fully as in the commentary on the seventh fascicle of the Zhiguan. It fully cites three passages from the Great Sūtra; this master’s intent is that the place where the bodhi-mind is generated is from the seventh abode onward. Regarding “as with the three faculties,” etc.: this master’s intent is that receiving predictions in the three rounds refers to persons of the three faculties, because they collectively reach the place where the bodhi-mind is generated in the Great Sūtra. “The five kinds of people”: this points to the aforementioned four fruitions and pratyekabuddhas in the Great Sūtra; these five kinds of people generate the mind together with the people of the three rounds and cross the five hundred. Below, “this adopts,” refuting what was cited previously: clarifying that eighty thousand is different from the three rounds, one should know that this master is completely deluded about stages, completely ignorant of the words “eighty thousand,” does not understand the stage where the two vehicles receive prediction, and is also oblivious to the teachings inside and outside the realms; their intents in suppressing or drawing forward are each distinct, so one must recognize them properly.