華嚴經探玄記 4.51

4.51

Four, determining the stages: this dharma of the ten faiths is itself a stage within the initial teaching, as the Liang Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: "Just as the four stages prior to the path of the srotāpanna are heat and so forth, the four stages of a bodhisattva prior to the bhūmis are also like this, namely the ten faiths, the ten understandings, the ten practices, and the ten dedications." Furthermore, that treatise, the Buddha-Nature Treatise, and others all say: prior to the bhūmis, one cultivates four practices, namely the ten faiths cultivate the practice of faithful aspiration for the Mahāyāna, the ten understandings cultivate the practice of prajñā, the ten practices cultivate the practice of samādhi, and the ten dedications cultivate the practice of great compassion. Furthermore, they serve to eliminate the active defilements of the four dark obstacles: the first eliminates the icchantika's obstacle of disbelief; the second eliminates the non-Buddhists' obstacle of grasping at a self; the third eliminates the śrāvakas' obstacle of fearing suffering; the fourth eliminates the pratyekabuddhas' obstacle of abandoning great compassion. Furthermore, faith accomplishes the causal seed of the pure virtue; understanding accomplishes the causal seed of the self virtue; practice accomplishes the causal seed of the bliss virtue; dedication accomplishes the causal seed of the permanence virtue. Furthermore, the Renwang jing allocates them to the retribution of the four cakravartins, namely iron, copper, silver, and gold. By these doctrinal meanings, we know that the ten faiths are also a stage. If in terms of the final teaching, this faith is merely a preliminary for the stages of the ten abodes and does not itself have a distinct stage; hence the Benye jing says: "Before ascending to the abodes, there are the names of these ten minds: first, the mind of faith; second, the mind of mindfulness; third, the mind of vigor; fourth, the mind of wisdom; fifth, the mind of concentration; sixth, the mind of non-retrogression; seventh, the mind of dedication; eighth, the mind of protection; ninth, the mind of precepts; tenth, the mind of vows. Increasingly cultivating these minds for one kalpa, two kalpas, or three kalpas, one then attains entry into the first abode. Each mind has ten [aspects], multiplying to become the illumination gates of the hundred dharmas, called entering into the lineage of practice." Thus we know there is no [independent] stage, but only preliminary practice. Furthermore, based on passages on the six lineages, the six patiences, the six wisdoms, and so forth, this is also confirmed. Furthermore, the Renwang jing only speaks of the three worthies and ten sages, not speaking of four. Furthermore, in this sūtra, the latter four stages all have entering into samādhi, and upon emerging they enumerate ten names and distinguish ten meanings, whereas only in faith is this absent; hence we know this. Furthermore, the Benye jing only has forty-two worthies and sages, not speaking of fifty-two; hence we know. Question: If so, why does the Renwang jing take the ten faiths as the lineage stage and still only establish the stages of the three worthies? Answer: Because they subsume one another, it is like this. How so? Deducing the meaning, there are four propositions: 1. Because the primary stages subsume the preliminaries, there are only the three worthies; the name of faith is suppressed, and only the stages of the abodes are discussed. Citing the text makes this clear. 2. Because the preliminaries subsume the primary stages, the ten abodes are called the ten faiths, suppressing the name of the ten abodes; hence the Renwang jing says: "the ten faiths, the ten halts, and the ten firm minds." It does not discuss the ten abodes, but calls them only the ten faiths. 3. Because opening the preliminaries distinguishes them from the primary stages, it is like having these ten minds prior to the abodes as preliminaries. 4. Provisionally stating a standard stage at the place of preliminaries, as in the previous initial teaching. If in terms of the round teaching, there are two meanings: if relying on Samantabhadra's own dharma, all are entirely without stages; if in terms of provisional teachings, it is identical to the final teaching. However, at the moment when faith is fulfilled and one enters the stages, it comprehensively subsumes all subsequent stages within this, lacking nothing; this is subsuming the stages according to practice. Question: Since faith in reality has no standard stage, why does the initial teaching state it as a stage? Answer: Because the faculties of the initial teaching are coarse and their wisdom shallow, practice and stages are not differentiated, mirroring the Hīnayāna teaching; therefore it speaks of four stages. In the final teaching, the faculties are subtle and the wisdom deep, precisely differentiating them.