妙法蓮華經玄贊 9.72

9.72

The Commentary says: Mañjuśrī replies. She possesses sixteen virtues: first, being a dragon; second, female; third, young; fourth, keen wisdom; fifth, knowing the faculties; sixth, obtaining the dhāraṇī teachings, which is retention of what is heard; seventh, obtaining samādhi; eighth, comprehending phenomena; ninth, attaining non-retrogression; tenth, eloquence; eleventh, compassionate regard; twelfth, possessing virtues; thirteenth, swift eloquence; fourteenth, profound and far-reaching exposition; fifteenth, benevolence, compassion, and modesty; sixteenth, harmonious and gentle. Being as above, this girl swiftly arrives at bodhi. “In an instant (kṣaṇa)” is the smallest unit of time. The Abhidharmakośa-śāstra states: “One hundred and twenty kṣaṇas make a tatkṣaṇa; sixty of these make a lava; thirty of these make a muhūrta; thirty of these make a day and night; thirty days and nights make a month; twelve months make a year, among which nights decrease by half.” The Avataṃsaka-sūtra states: “Bodhisattvas of the ten faiths accomplish the path through the eight aspects”; now this may perhaps be expounded to exhort and instruct the multitude. The Gāyāśīrṣa-sūtra says: “The Devaputra Śuddhaprabha asked, ‘How many kinds of generating the [bodhi-]mind are there?’ Mañjuśrī replied, ‘There are four: first, generating the mind of realization, referring to entering the first bhūmi; second, generating the mind of practice, the next six bhūmis; third, generating the mind of non-retrogression, the eighth and ninth bhūmis; fourth, generating the mind of being bound to one more birth, referring to the tenth bhūmi.’” Now this dragon girl may perhaps be at the fourth generation of the mind, manifesting as a dragon girl, young yet able to study the Lotus Sūtra and swiftly attain bodhi. This is to exhort and encourage the multitude, not that it is truly so. The Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā-bodhi-sūtra states: “Among these four, the first surpasses the śrāvakas, the next surpasses the pratyekabuddhas, the next surpasses the indeterminate stages, and the last stably abides in the determinate stage.” Based on discussion of increasing superiority, this does not contradict the former sūtra. The Dharmamudrā-sūtra lists seven bodhicittas, the Bodhicittotpāda-śāstra lists ten generations of mind, and the Bodhisattvabhūmi lists four conditions and ten kinds of generation of the mind; fearing verbosity, we pause here.