法華玄論 7.121

7.121

答：他見其積行既久又崇仰之，而不見得記；今聞得記，則他聞發心也。第四現前授記，即是無生忍也。南方舊云：第三人位從初地至六地，第四人位七地也。以兩義證之：一者《首楞嚴經》明第三人行六度，六度即六地；第四人得無生忍，故知是七地也。二者諸經及《釋論》云儒童菩薩得七地無生忍，值燃燈佛方與授記，未值燃燈佛之前猶未得記，故知第四人是七地。北方論師云：第一人是外凡前人，即十信之前也。第二人是外凡，即十信菩薩也。第三人三賢菩薩，即恐聞記生謗，故不現前授記。第四位登初地，聞不生謗，現前授記也。評曰：皆有二義。取六地未得無生忍，故未得無生記；作佛則如前釋也。取登地得無生，則如後判。《釋論》云「初地無生，七地無生」故也。

Answer: Others see that this person has accumulated practice for a long time and they also revere them, yet they do not see them receive a prophecy; now, hearing that they have received a prophecy, those others, upon hearing it, generate the aspiration. Fourth, 'prophecy face-to-face' is precisely the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas. The old masters of the South said: The stage of the third person is from the first bhūmi to the sixth bhūmi; the stage of the fourth person is the seventh bhūmi. This is proven by two points: First, the Śūraṅgama-sūtra explains that the third person practices the six perfections, and the six perfections are the six bhūmis; the fourth person attains the forbearance of non-arising, hence one knows this is the seventh bhūmi. Second, various sūtras and the Treatise [on the Great Perfection of Wisdom] state that the bodhisattva Māṇava attained the forbearance of non-arising on the seventh bhūmi and, encountering Dīpaṅkara Buddha, only then was given a prophecy; before encountering Dīpaṅkara Buddha, he had not yet received a prophecy. Hence one knows the fourth person is on the seventh bhūmi. The treatise masters of the North said: The first person is someone prior to an external ordinary person, namely prior to the ten faiths. The second person is an external ordinary person, namely a bodhisattva of the ten faiths. The third person is a bodhisattva of the three stages of worthiness; fearing that hearing the prophecy would cause them to give rise to slander, it is therefore a prophecy not face-to-face. For the fourth, their stage ascends to the first bhūmi; hearing it, they do not give rise to slander, so it is a prophecy face-to-face. Evaluation: Both have two points of justification. If one takes the sixth bhūmi as not yet having attained the forbearance of non-arising and therefore not yet having attained the prophecy of non-arising, their becoming a buddha is as explained in the former interpretation. If one takes ascending to the bhūmis as attaining non-arising, then it is as determined in the latter. This is because the Treatise [on the Great Perfection of Wisdom] states that 'the first bhūmi has non-arising, and the seventh bhūmi has non-arising.'