法華玄論 7.57

7.57

Answer: Since the Treatise says 'The first bhūmi attains the supreme,' and this sūtra says 'Moreover, all sons of the Buddha are decisive and free of doubt'—free of doubt is precisely the path of severance, for before the bhūmis defilements are not yet severed and one cannot be called free of doubt. Furthermore, a person of the first fruit corresponds to the bodhisattva's first bhūmi; since the first fruit severs doubt, so now does the first bhūmi. In addition, the Daśabhūmika-śāstra says: 'The first bhūmi is called the decisive stage.' These four passages all support one another. Next, the meaning of the sequence of the stages of the three grasses and two trees is discussed. Humans and devas are mundane, and so are compared to the small grass. The two vehicles are supramundane, and so are compared to the medium grass; this is proceeding from the mundane to the supramundane. From the ten faiths upward to the dedications downward, these forty minds are the Great Vehicle, called the great grass; this is entering the great from the small. Ascending the bhūmis upward to the sixth bhūmi downward is called the small tree; this is proceeding from the ordinary person to the noble. The seventh bhūmi upward to the tenth bhūmi downward is called the great tree; this is proceeding from the shallow to the profound. Thus it completely subsumes the ordinary and the noble, and encompasses the great and the small; hence there is the parable of the three grasses and two trees.