大方廣佛華嚴經搜玄分齊通智方軌 3.31

3.31

Third, the contemplation of one's own cause: 'one's own' is a distinct name for excluding other; it excludes only heterodox causes, not correct causes. Now, this contemplation subsumes four kinds of causes: root condition (hetu-pratyaya), dominant condition (adhipati-pratyaya), objective condition (ālambana-pratyaya), and immediate condition (samanantara-pratyaya); it takes the principle of the four conditions as the essence of this contemplation. From here on down to the contemplation of cause and condition, all use the characteristics of the three natures as the essence of forward contemplation, and use the three gates of emptiness as the essence of reverse contemplation; merely distinguishing them by differing meanings, these various contemplations exist to exclude heterodox false imputations within the parikalpita nature. The three gates are the same as above.

What is eliminated: it eliminates the grasping at heterodoxly imputed causes and conditions. For instance, greed, anger, and delusion on the path of cultivation do not actually initiate karma, but imputing that they possess causes and conditions capable of generating karma is the view of attachment to rites and vows. Taking intrinsic nature, which is non-cause, as cause, as well as mental afflictions—such parts are similarly eliminated here.

Second, the contemplation gate relied upon: it clarifies that this one's own cause, possessing the four conditions and so forth, is capable of producing all phenomena. This possession of the two principles of intimate and distant causes and conditions is called the contemplation of conventional truth. When false imputation does not arise, a portion of the ultimate is established. This is explained from the sūtra text.

Third, explaining the text: now, saying that ignorance has two kinds of functions and so forth: 1. intimate cause and condition; 2. distant condition. Delusion within a single condition is the intimate cause; functioning as the cause for formations is the distant condition. Here, three conditions are subsumed; the rest of the text can be understood by analogy. Moreover, merely taking the distant cause—this is explained according to the treatise.