法華玄論 4.6

4.6

Answer: The sūtra states: "The Buddha, through the power of skillful means, indicated the teaching of the three vehicles." Since he took the three as skillful means, he took the one as the real, which means converging the past three vehicles into the present one reality. It also says: "May you bestow upon us the three kinds of precious carriages." Since they sought three in the past and are now bestowed one, what was sought was not given, and what was given was not sought; thus we know there is distinctively a great carriage different from the three lesser ones of the past. Deducing from text and principle, there are then four carriages. Assessment: The dispute over the three carriages has been tangled and contentious for a long time. If one understands it, the entire work is unobstructed; if one is confused by it, all seven scrolls are blocked. Now, examining it through eight textual passages, one only then sees that this interpretation is erroneous. The first passage states: "The Tathāgata preaches the Dharma to sentient beings solely through the single Buddha vehicle; there are no other vehicles, neither a second nor a third." This passage lists the three vehicles in sequence. "Solely through the single Buddha vehicle" means the Buddha vehicle is the first. "There are no other vehicles, neither a second nor a third" means there is no pratyekabuddha as the second, nor śrāvaka as the third. Examining it by this passage, there are solely three carriages, and clinging to four is erroneous. Question: The sūtras usually enumerate the three vehicles without adopting this sequence. Why does it speak of three here? It next says that "only this one is real; the other two are not true"; there is solely the one Buddha vehicle, and wishing to guide sentient beings, he expediently spoke of three. Investigating reality, only the one Buddha vehicle is real, and the other two are not true; therefore, speaking of three and speaking of two still share a single intention. Let us provide a proximate analogy to illustrate this distant purport. Just as a father has only a single fruit in his hand, and wishing to attract his sons, speaks of the single fruit as three fruits; investigating reality, there is only a single fruit and no two fruits. Therefore, the two textual passages do not contradict each other. Since the three and two are clarified, the meaning of convergence can be understood. Later, seeing that the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkopadeśa explains that in the Buddha lands of the ten directions there are not even two vehicles, let alone three, it agrees with our present view. The treatise states: "This is the meaning of exclusion." As for exclusion, it clarifies that there is no nirvāṇa of the two vehicles, and that only the Buddha's ultimate unsurpassed bodhi has great nirvāṇa. This merely clarifies that there are no two vehicles and solely the Buddha vehicle; it does not say that there is no bodhisattva vehicle that partially practices the six perfections. Therefore, [Master] Guangzhai missed the point.