妙法蓮華經玄贊 2.161

2.161

贊曰：下三十一頌半頌行菩薩道，分三：初一頌頌種種因緣，次十七頌頌種種相貌，後十三頌半頌種種信解。前長行中以外緣內行說凡至聖階降先後，今頌先依外緣、後明自行，自行以勝劣為前後，相貌者十地無漏有漏雜修，次第修六波羅蜜行，信解者唯有漏修，亂修非次第，勝劣既殊故前後別。然修六度略有三位，見道以前，初劫之中，於一行中唯修一行，亂修有漏即此信解。初地至七地，滿第二劫中，於一行中修一切行，有漏無漏二皆雜修。八地至十地，滿第三劫中，一切行中修一切行，純無漏修，後二劫修即此相貌。《十地經》言：「初地行檀乃至十地而修智度，於餘度中隨力隨分非不修習」，故此相貌即十地修，有次第故、行廣大故。信解即是見道已前，行非勝故、說亂修故。此頌因緣。「恒沙菩薩」者，梵云殑伽，訛略云恒，河神之名，河從彼稱，殑音其矜反，去聲也。經中說恒河沙為喻，無熱惱池出四大河，此即一也。一由沙多；二由世人共為福水，入洗罪滅沒死生天；三雖經劫壞名字常定；四佛多近此宣說妙法；五眾人共委，故多為喻，仍取初出池口方四十里沙以為喻。

The Commentary says: The following thirty-one verses and a half eulogise practicing the bodhisattva path, divided into three: the first verse eulogises various causes and conditions; the next seventeen verses eulogise various forms and aspects; and the following thirteen verses and a half eulogise various faiths and understandings. In the preceding prose, external conditions and internal practice were used to explain the hierarchical sequence from ordinary beings to sages; here in the verses, it first relies on external conditions and then clarifies one's own practice. In one's own practice, the sequence is based on superior and inferior: the "forms and aspects" are the mixed cultivation of uncontaminated and contaminated [practices] across the ten stages, cultivating the practices of the six pāramitās in sequence; "faiths and understandings" are exclusively contaminated cultivation, practiced chaotically and not in sequence. Since superior and inferior are distinct, their sequence differs. However, the cultivation of the six pāramitās has, in brief, three stages: prior to the path of seeing, during the first kalpa, within one practice only one practice is cultivated—chaotic, contaminated cultivation is precisely these "faiths and understandings." From the first stage up to the seventh stage, completing the second kalpa, within one practice all practices are cultivated, both contaminated and uncontaminated being cultivated in combination. From the eighth stage up to the tenth stage, completing the third kalpa, within all practices all practices are cultivated, purely uncontaminated cultivation; the cultivation of the latter two kalpas is precisely these "forms and aspects." The Daśabhūmika-sūtra says: "On the first stage one practices the perfection of giving and so forth, up to on the tenth stage one cultivates the perfection of wisdom, yet across the remaining perfections, according to one's power and measure, it is not that one does not practice them"; therefore these forms and aspects are the cultivation of the ten stages, because they possess sequentiality and because the practices are vast. "Faith and understanding" is prior to the path of seeing, because the practices are not superior and because they are described as chaotic cultivation. This [verse] eulogises the causes and conditions. As for "bodhisattvas like the sands of the Gaṅgā," in Sanskrit it is called Gaṅgā, corrupted and abbreviated as Héng. It is the name of a river deity, and the river is named after her; jǐng (殑) has the pronunciation of the fanqie of 其 (qí) and 矜 (jīn), in the falling tone. The sūtras speak of the sands of the Ganges as an analogy: the Anavatapta Lake sends forth four great rivers, and this is one of them. First, because its sands are numerous; second, because worldly people collectively regard it as meritorious water, entering to bathe in which cleanses sins, and drowning to death in it leads to rebirth in heaven; third, because though passing through kalpas of destruction, its name remains constant; fourth, because the Buddha frequently stayed near it to preach the subtle Dharma; fifth, because it is familiar to all people, it is often taken as an analogy; moreover, it takes the sands of an area forty li square where it first issues from the mouth of the lake as the analogy.