法華文句記 8.44

8.44

From “Second, speaking to the guide” to “the guide of forming affinities”: of these four guides, the first is common to cause and fruit, the second is solely in the cause, and the third and fourth are solely in the fruit. As for “general,” it is because it is shared with other persons. As for “forming affinities,” it is restricted to our teacher. As for “provisional wisdom,” it takes the time of bestowing the small [vehicle]. As for “real wisdom,” it takes the time of opening the provisional. The four differ according to time, but the person is only one, all being the prince, from the beginning to the present. As for “speaking [to the guide] of forming affinities,” after first regressing, the capacity for the small is about to arise, which is called “speaking.” On the day of showing the citadel, it extends to the past and the present; although there are the other three, they must always follow the general path. As for “having a stimulus with the dharmakāya,” the capacity for the great has already perished and the capacity for the small is about to arise; hence, not yet seeing the nirmāṇabuddha, they invisibly stimulate the dharmakāya, an response that is neither invisible nor manifest. As for “performing the transformation and speaking the transformation,” although it was previously said that he conjured up a citadel, that is the wheel of the mind; hence we know that speaking the transformation is precisely the wheel of speech. Without the mind, there is no way to speak; speaking must involve the wheel of the body; the wheel of the body merely refers to showing the sixteen-foot body, but first the wheel of the mind must operate without contrivance; hence we know that the three wheels are never separated for a moment. As for “Do not be afraid,” and so forth: the meaning contains the three turnings [of the wheel of Dharma], though the text is not in sequential order; it merely clarifies that the transformed citadel possesses the meaning of the three turnings, why must it be in sequential order? As for “Advancing to the treasure land”: first, the present text's correct explanation has its meaning in the Mahāyāna gate, concerning the shared bodhisattva. Next, from “One explanation says” onward is another person’s divergent interpretation. From “If so” onward, the present text judges that among these three vehicles, it still takes the bodhisattva, seemingly resembling the Distinct teaching's entering emptiness from provisionality. If one cites the Śrīmālā, it is merely discussing those who regress from the Mahāyāna in a general way; hence it should also be said that the distinct meaning is not established and is only preliminary. Why? In the Distinct [teaching], there is no text on becoming the two vehicles. However, in the Great Sūtra, it also borrows the two vehicles to distinguish the distinct stages; hence it speaks of it tentatively. From “Another explanation says” onward is another person’s explanation. From “The Pañcaviṃśati” onward, our master cites the Pañcaviṃśati and the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa to judge the former master. As for “merely being the Distinct taking up the Shared”: “merely entering the transformed citadel and finishing” is the Shared; “and thereafter advancing forward” is the Distinct taking up [the Shared]. In the Pañcaviṃśati, it clarifies three kinds of bodhisattvas, all saying that the initial aspiration is already being taken up; as for the people of the two vehicles, explicitly there is no such thing; the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa is also like this; speaking concessively, it seems to be the Distinct taking up the Shared. Furthermore, when people of the two vehicles heard the bodhisattvas' inconceivable dharma, they still attained the small fruit, and right on this seat they were rebuked and spurred to speak the Great; hence we know that from this they were secretly taken up. If based on the text of the Profound Meaning, upon reaching the Prajñā [teachings] they secretly become persons of the Distinct [teaching]; hence explicit taking up belongs solely to bodhisattvas, while secret attainment by the two vehicles penetrates everywhere. If it is said that upon reaching the Prajñā [teachings] they become persons of the Distinct [teaching], this is still the secret of the gradual, not of the non-gradual; the secret of the non-gradual reveals the real everywhere, how could it merely be the Distinct?