法華宗要 1.4

1.4

Second, concerning the discernment of the central doctrine of the sūtra: this sūtra takes precisely the vast and profound dharmatā of the Ekayāna as the doctrine expounded. Although this is stated in general terms, when analyzing it in detail, the dharmatā of the Ekayāna is briefly explained as having two aspects: namely, the person who can ride [it] and the Dharma that is ridden. As for the persons of the Ekayāna spoken of in this sūtra, practitioners of the Triyāna, the four kinds of śrāvakas, and the sentient beings of the catur-yoni found throughout the traidhātuka are all persons capable of riding the one Buddha vehicle; they are all buddhaputras and are completely bodhisattvas, because they all have buddhadhātu and will succeed to the station of a Buddha. Even agotrastha sattvas will also all become Buddhas. For, as the Ratnamegha-sūtra states: "When a bodhisattva generates the mind [of awakening], he then has this thought: 'Sentient beings in all worlds who possess little wisdom, who are foolish and dumb, who lack any portion of nirvāṇa, and who do not give rise to faith, are abandoned by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. All such sentient beings I will tame, up to the point of sitting on the site of awakening and attaining anuttarā [samyak-saṃ]bodhi.' When this thought is generated, the palaces of Māra tremble." It also states: "When a bodhisattva achieves Buddhahood, all his vows are fulfilled." The Upāyakauśalya-parivarta says: "The Buddhas of the three periods of time teach and transform only bodhisattvas." The Aupamya-parivarta says: "Because all sentient beings are my children." It also states: "All dharmas from their origin / are always of the characteristic of quietude and cessation; / when buddhaputras have practiced the path, / in future worlds they will attain Buddhahood." Thus there is not a single sentient being who is not a buddhaputra; hence it is vast. This realm of sentient beings is itself the realm of nirvāṇa; therefore it is profound. As the treatise says: "The characteristics of the traidhātuka mean that the realm of sentient beings is itself the realm of nirvāṇa." Because the tathāgatagarbha is not apart from the realm of sentient beings, these are termed the persons who can ride the one Buddha vehicle.

The Dharma ridden by these persons of the Ekayāna is briefly spoken of as having four kinds: namely, the principle of the Ekayāna and the teaching of the Ekayāna, the cause of the Ekayāna and the fruit of the Ekayāna. As for the principle of the Ekayāna, it refers to the one dharmadhātu, which is also named the dharmakāya and named the tathāgatagarbha. As the Satyakanirgranthāvadhāna-sūtra states: "Mañjuśrī addressed the Buddha, saying: 'If there is no nature of differentiation among the three vehicles, for what reason does the Tathāgata teach the Dharma of the three vehicles?' The Buddha said: 'When the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach the three vehicles, they demonstrate differences of stages, not differences of vehicles; they teach differences of persons, not differences of vehicles. When the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach the three vehicles, they show small merit so that one recognizes much merit, yet within the Buddha-Dharma there are no differences of vehicles. Why is this? Because the Dharma of the dharmadhātu is without differentiation.'" The Suvarṇaprabhāsa-sūtra says: "The dharmadhātu is devoid of distinctions; / therefore there are no different vehicles. / For the sake of saving sentient beings, / the three vehicles are taught distinctively." Moreover, this sūtra says: "The Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, are able to know the ultimate dharmatā of those dharmas." The treatise explains this, saying: "Dharmatā refers to the tathāgatagarbha. This is because the substance of the dharmakāya does not change its characteristics." Furthermore, where the text below speaks of "sameness," it demonstrates that the nature of the dharmakāya of the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, is the same as that of all ordinary beings, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and so forth, because the dharmakāya is equal and without differentiation. Note: The Tathāgata's dharmakāya and the tathāgatagarbha nature are equally possessed by all sentient beings, and can convey all together to return to their fundamental source. By this principle there are no different vehicles; therefore, this Dharma is spoken of as the Ekayāna nature. Such is named the principle of the Ekayāna.

As for the teaching of the Ekayāna, from when they first achieve the path up until nirvāṇa, all the spoken teachings imparted during that time by all the Buddhas of the ten directions and the three periods of time never fail to lead [beings] to the stage of all-knowledge; therefore they are all named the teaching of the Ekayāna. As the Upāyakauśalya-parivarta says: "Those Buddhas also, through immeasurable and countless upāya, various causes, conditions, parables, and words, expound all dharmas for the sake of sentient beings, because these dharmas are all for the sake of the one Buddha vehicle. It is because those sentient beings, hearing the Dharma from the Buddhas, all ultimately attain the knowledge of all modes." This teaching thoroughly pervades the ten directions and the three periods of time, immeasurable and boundless; therefore it is vast. Thus every single word and single phrase is for the sake of the Buddha vehicle, of one characteristic and one flavor; therefore it is profound. Such is named the teaching of the Ekayāna.

As for the cause of the Ekayāna, generally speaking there are two: the first is the inborn cause, and the second is the active cause. With regard to the inborn cause, the buddhadhātu possessed by all sentient beings serves as the cause for the fruits of the three bodies. As the Sadāparibhūta-bodhisattva-parivarta says: "I do not disparage you, for you will all become Buddhas." The treatise explains this, saying: "Because it demonstrates that all sentient beings possess the buddhadhātu." It also says: "With respect to the two kinds of śrāvakas, namely those who are determined and those of excessive pride, because their faculties are not yet mature, the Buddha does not grant them vyākaraṇa, but bodhisattvas grant them vyākaraṇa. Bodhisattvas granting them vyākaraṇa is an upāya to cause them to generate the mind [for awakening]." One should know that, speaking according to the intention of this sūtra, the two vehicles oriented toward tranquility and agotrastha sattvas all have buddhadhātu and will completely become Buddhas. With regard to the active cause, whether noble or ordinary, Buddhist or non-Buddhist, pertaining to the path or pertaining to merit, all roots of goodness without exception together arrive at anuttarā bodhi. As the text below says: "If there is someone who makes obeisance, / or who merely joins their palms, / or even raises a single hand, / or slightly bows their head; / if a person with a scattered mind / enters into a stūpa or temple, / and calls out but once, 'Namo Buddhāya', / they have all already attained the Buddha path"—and so on at length. The Benye jing says: "All goods of ordinary beings and noble ones do not receive contaminated fruits; they receive only the fruit that is constantly abiding." The Mahākaruṇā-sūtra says: "The Buddha told Ānanda: 'If a person delights in clinging to the retributions of the three existences, and within the field of merit of the Buddha, practices giving or any other roots of goodness, wishing, "May I never enter nirvāṇa in lifetime after lifetime!"—for them not to enter nirvāṇa through this root of goodness is impossible. Although this person does not delight in seeking nirvāṇa, yet because they have planted roots of goodness with the Buddha, I say that this person must surely enter nirvāṇa.'" The Satyakanirgrantha-sūtra, "Chapter on the Ekayāna," says: "The Buddha addressed Mañjuśrī: 'All the saṅghas, Nirgranthas, and others in my Buddha-land are provisional manifestations through the power of the Tathāgata's sustaining presence. Although these good sons among the non-Buddhists practice various marks of divergent study, they all cross over by the one bridge of the Buddha-Dharma, for there is no other crossing.'" Note: Based on these texts, one should know that the various goods of the five vehicles within the Buddha-Dharma, along with the various divergent goods of non-Buddhists—all such things are entirely the Ekayāna, because they all rely on the buddhadhātu and have no different substance. As the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkopadeśa clarifies this meaning: "What does it mean that the Dharma is substantial? It means that the principle has no dual substance. Having no dual substance means that the immeasurable vehicles are all the one vehicle." As for what the text below says—"'What you are practicing is the bodhisattva path' means that for those who, having generated the bodhicitta, regress and then generate it again, the roots of goodness previously cultivated are not destroyed, and they attain the fruit together with what comes after"—in order to manifest the meaning of the seed being unsurpassed, this is said for the time being with respect to the root of goodness of generating the mind; it does not mean that other goods do not attain the Buddha fruit. Therefore it does [not] contradict the texts cited previously. Given this, all sentient beings, whether ordinary or noble, and all roots of goodness, whether Buddhist or non-Buddhist, all issue from the buddhadhātu and together return to the fundamental source; such [a state] from the beginning is fathomed only by a Buddha. By this meaning it is vast and profound. Such is named the cause of the Ekayāna.

As for the fruit of the Ekayāna, briefly speaking there are two kinds: namely, the innately existing fruit and the newly acquired fruit. As for the innately existing fruit, it refers to the bodhi of the Dharma-Buddha. As the Āyuṣpramāṇa-parivarta says: "The Tathāgata truly sees and knows the characteristics of the traidhātuka as having no birth and death, neither retiring nor emerging, and neither abiding in the world nor undergoing extinction; not real and not unreal, not as such and not otherwise." Note: This passage reveals the one fruit-substance in terms of the one dharmadhātu; because it is not an existent substance it is not real, because it is not a non-existent substance it is not unreal, because it is not ultimate truth it is not as such, and because it is not conventional truth it is not otherwise. As the Benye jing says: "The substance of the fruit is consummate; there is no virtue it does not possess, no principle it does not encompass; it is without name and without mark, not attainable as any dharma, neither an existent substance nor a non-existent substance"—and so on at length. It also says: "Outside the two substances, it stands alone without a second." Thus it explains the fruit-substance of the Dharma-Buddha's bodhi. As for the newly acquired fruit, it refers to the remaining two bodies. As the treatise says: "Regarding the bodhi of the reward-Buddha, because the practices of the ten stages are fulfilled, one attains the realization of eternal nirvāṇa." As the sūtra says: "Since I actually attained Buddhahood, immeasurable, boundless, hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas have passed." Responsive and transformation bodhi manifests according to what should be seen. This refers to leaving the Śākya palace, achieving the path under the tree, and the Buddhas who are emanations throughout the ten directions, as expounded at length in the Ratnastūpa-parivarta. To summarize, all sentient beings cultivate the myriad practices and together attain this […] fruit of bodhi; this is what is meant by the fruit of the Ekayāna. As the Upāyakauśalya-parivarta says: "Śāriputra, you should know / that I originally made a vow, / wishing to make all multitudes / equal to me without difference. / According to what I formerly vowed, / now it has already been fulfilled; / transforming all sentient beings, / I cause them all to enter the Buddha path." Note: This text clearly explains that what the Tathāgata vowed has been fulfilled. Why is this? Because he completely transforms all sentient beings of the three periods of time, causing them, as appropriate, all to attain the Buddha path. As the Ratnamegha-sūtra says: "Just like an oil basin: if it is already full and level, though one drops in another droplet, it will never receive it. When a bodhisattva achieves Buddhahood, all vows are fulfilled; it is also like this: there is not a single vow diminished even by a speck of dust." The Dayun mizang jing says: "The Bodhisattva Mahāmeghaguhya spoke, saying: 'World-Honoured One! We pray only that the Tathāgata, for the sake of sentient beings of meager merit in future worlds, will expound this Ocean Tide of Deep Advance Samādhi.' The Buddha said: 'Good son, do not speak this way. Why is this? The appearance of a Buddha in the world is rare, and those who hear this Mahāmegha-sūtra are also rare. Why [should I teach] only for future [beings]? I shall analyze it extensively for the sentient beings of the three periods of time.'" The Avataṃsaka-sūtra says: "When the Tathāgata turns the wheel of the Dharma, in the three periods of time there is nowhere it does not reach." Based on these texts, one should know that when the Buddhas first achieve correct awakening, in an instant of a single thought they completely transform all sentient beings of the three periods of time, and there is not one who does not achieve anuttarā bodhi, because what they formerly vowed has already been fulfilled; if there were even one person who did not achieve bodhi, what they formerly vowed would not be fulfilled. Although in reality all are delivered, there is no end to them; although in reality they are endless, there is none who is not delivered, because through limitless power of wisdom they deliver limitless sentient beings. However, the text below in this sūtra says: "The lifespan that I achieved formerly practicing the bodhisattva path is even now not yet exhausted, and moreover is twice the above number." The treatise explains this, saying: "'Formerly practicing the bodhisattva path, [it is] even now not yet fulfilled' means: because of the original vow, the realm of sentient beings is not yet exhausted, and the vow is not ultimate; therefore it says 'not yet fulfilled'; it does not mean that bodhi is not fulfilled. 'The lifespan that was achieved is moreover twice the above number' means: demonstrating the upāya of the Tathāgata's permanent life, showing that it exceeds the above amount by so much that it cannot be numbered and known." The meaning of this treatise is: this is to clarify that, in reference to sentient beings at present not being exhausted […] at such a time, the original vow is not fulfilled; it does not mean that bodhi is fulfilled while the original vow is not fulfilled, nor does it mean that when the original vow is not fulfilled, the Buddha-Dharma is said to be already complete. As the Avataṃsaka-sūtra says: "When all sentient beings have not achieved bodhi, the Buddha-Dharma is not complete and the original vow is not fulfilled." Therefore, one should know that regarding the vow and bodhi: either they are equally unfulfilled, or when fulfilled, they are equally fulfilled. Such is named the fruit of the Ekayāna.

Taking them together: these four dharmas—principle, teaching, cause, and fruit—mutually correspond and together convey a person to sarvajñatā; therefore these four are called the Dharma of the Ekayāna. Just as four horses mutually correspond and together effect a single conveyance, for which reason the four horses are called a single vehicle (ekayāna), one should know that the principle here is also like this.