華嚴經探玄記 1.45

1.45

Third, in recounting the explanations from the Western Regions: Paramārtha's three wheels, Jñānagupta's four teachings, and Prabhākaramitra's five expositions are all as explained elsewhere. Furthermore, in the first year of the Wenming era, Fazang was fortunate to meet Tripiṭaka Master Divākara of Central India—translated into Chinese as Rīzhào—who was translating sūtras and śāstras at Taiyuan Temple west of the capital. I personally asked him at that time: "Did the various venerable masters of the Western Regions ever classify the provisional and real among the sacred teachings of the [Buddha's] lifetime?" The Tripiṭaka master replied: "In recent times, at Nālandā Monastery in India, there were simultaneously two great venerable treatise masters: one named Śīlabhadra and the other named Jñānaprabha. Both had divine comprehension transcending their peers, and their renown resounded throughout the Five Indias. Hosts of heterodox teachers bowed their heads before them, and different sects submitted in sincerity; students of the Mahāyāna looked up to them like the sun and the moon, each being a peerless figure striding alone in India. Because the lineages they inherited were distinct, the teachings they established were different. That is to say, Śīlabhadra, distantly inheriting Maitreya and Asaṅga, and recently following Dharmapāla and Nanda, established three kinds of teachings based on sūtras such as the Saṃdhinirmocana and treatises such as the Yogācārabhūmi: He maintained that when the Buddha first expounded the Hinayana Dharma in the Deer Park, although he taught the emptiness of the person, he had not yet taught the true principle of the emptiness of phenomena; therefore, it was not the definitive meaning—this refers to the four Āgamas and other sūtras. In the second period, although he taught that all phenomena are empty based on the nature of imagined conceptualization, he had not yet taught the doctrine of Vijñaptimātra regarding the other-dependent and fully accomplished natures; therefore, this was also not the definitive meaning—this refers to the various Prajñā teachings and others. In the third period, only then did he fully expound the three natures, the three non-natures, and other Vijñaptimātra doctrines of the two truths in accordance with the correct principles of the Mahāyāna, which only then was the definitive meaning—this refers to the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra and others. Moreover, these three stages are each explained in terms of three aspects: first, the capacities accommodated; second, the teachings expounded; third, the principles revealed. Specifically, the first stage accommodates only śrāvakas, expounds only the Hinayana, and reveals only the emptiness of the person. The second accommodates only bodhisattvas, expounds only the Mahāyāna, and reveals only the two emptinesses. The third universally accommodates all capacities, comprehensively expounds all vehicles, and fully reveals both emptiness and existence. Therefore, the first two each have deficiencies in their accommodated capacities, teachings, and principles, and thus are not the definitive meaning; the latter accommodates all capacities, lacks no teaching, and is complete in principle, and thus is the definitive meaning.