妙法蓮華經玄贊 4.54

4.54

Regarding their subsumption of one another: the Satyakanirgrantha-sūtra establishes twelve turbidities: (1) manifestation of the turbidity of the kalpa; (2) manifestation of the turbidity of time; (3) manifestation of the turbidity of sentient beings; (4) manifestation of the turbidity of afflictions; (5) manifestation of the turbidity of lifespan; (6) manifestation of the turbidity of distinctions among the three vehicles; (7) manifestation of the turbidity of impure lands; (8) manifestation of the turbidity of sentient beings difficult to transform; (9) manifestation of the turbidity of expounding diverse afflictions; (10) manifestation of the turbidity of confusion by non-Buddhists; (11) manifestation of the turbidity of Māra; and (12) manifestation of the turbidity of Māra's deeds. Good sons, the lands of all buddhas are adorned with supramundane virtues and fully purified, free of all turbidities; such faults are all expedient manifestations of the buddhas, spoken of only as manifestations for the benefit of sentient beings. Hence we know that karma and the like may also be established as turbidities. These twelve turbidities exist only in the Mahāyāna, established through manifestations according to the two qualities—superior and inferior—of the buddha's transformation lands, differing in their expansion and contraction. The five turbidities, being established only according to the aspect of increasing characteristics in an impure land, are common to both the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna. Among them, [the manifestations of] the kalpa and of time correspond to the turbidity of the kalpa; sentient beings and sentient beings difficult to transform correspond to the turbidity of sentient beings; afflictions and expounding diverse afflictions correspond to the turbidity of afflictions; lifespan corresponds to the turbidity of lifespan; and confusion by non-Buddhists corresponds to the turbidity of views. These eight turbidities are thus the five turbidities. The remaining four—namely, distinctions among the three vehicles, impure lands, Māra, and Māra's deeds—are not subsumed under the five turbidities. The five turbidities are based on predominance and are strictly actual defilements, whereas the twelve turbidities extend to both the transformers and the obstacles, because they are manifested by the Buddha. If we rely on the Vinayamātṛkā-sūtra, there is no turbidity of views among the five turbidities; instead, the turbidity of karma is established. If we rely on that sūtra, afflictions and karma are each combined into one, and within the fruition they are divided into three: first, the primary karmic retribution itself, which is the turbidity of lifespan; second, the internal karmic retribution itself, which is the turbidity of sentient beings; and third, the external fruition itself, which is the turbidity of the kalpa. Obstacles are grouped by kind, combined to establish the three obstacles, or together with the obstacle of phenomena. Turbidities are based on dregs and defilement; they are either combined or separated according to varying capacities to induce revulsion and fear, and should not be objected to. The first fascicle of the Daśabhūmika-śāstra states: "'Purity' means non-turbid. There are six kinds of turbidities, and being free of these turbidities is called purity: (1) the turbidity of non-desire; (2) the turbidity of deportment; (3) the turbidity of hindrances; (4) the turbidity of disparate notions, due to giving rise to a mind of envying the superior and a mind of destructiveness; (5) the turbidity of insufficient merit, where wholesome roots are slight and the mind takes no pleasure in abiding within that expounding; and (6) the turbidity of folly, referring to ignorance and the like." This is based solely on turbidities of practice and does not apply to all phenomena. Because there are six antidotes—because of freedom from laxity, because of adornment, because of purity, because of firmness, because of full endowment with merit, and because of full endowment with wisdom—the six turbidities are established as that which these six treat, and they do not need to be reconciled. The rest is as in a separate chapter; for fear of verbosity, I shall stop here for now. By nature, when a buddha appears, it must be in a time of the five turbidities; therefore it is said that all buddhas appear in the evil world of the five turbidities.