大方廣佛華嚴經疏 16.8

16.8

Second, from "When a bodhisattva generates the resolve" onward directly clarifies the supreme virtues of generating the resolve and undertaking practice. The text is divided into five parts: first, five verses on the mental characteristics of generating the resolve; second, from "Faith is the source of the Path" onward briefly shows its supreme efficacy; third, from "If one constantly faithfully reveres" onward [shows] the stages of practice that are possessed; fourth, from "There are lands" onward [shows] its boundless great functioning; fifth, from "All Tathāgatas" onward uses metaphors to illustrate the profound meaning. However, among these five sections, the first reveals the true generation of the resolve, while the latter four concern the virtues of generating the resolve. The third also encompasses practice; both it and the subsequent two are virtues of practice. Now, as for the first, regarding the mental characteristics of generating the resolve: the initial verse is a general presentation, while the remaining text presents them distinctively. The *Bodhisattvabhūmi* in the *Yogācārabhūmi* explains five kinds of marks of generating the resolve: 1. essential nature; 2. mental characteristics; 3. cognitive objects; 4. virtues; 5. supreme excellence. The present text's five verses possess them completely. That is, "generating the resolve" is precisely the correct aspiration, which is the essential nature of generating the resolve. Seeking bodhi and, below, benefiting sentient beings are its mental characteristics. Bodhi, the Triratna, and sentient beings are all its cognitive objects. Being able to subsume all factors conducive to bodhi constitutes its virtues. Not seeking the five desires and so forth inversely reveals that what the bodhisattva seeks is supremely excellent. When speaking of "causes and conditions": what directly initiates the seeking of great bodhi is called the cause, while what serves as an auxiliary to prompt its generation is the condition. The cause is the power of the internal perfuming of the nature abiding in its own essence; the condition is the nature acquired through habituation. Furthermore, both of the above rely on good spiritual friends and external perfuming as conditions. The *Yogācāra* says: "Due to four causes, four conditions, and four powers, a bodhisattva generates the resolve. The four causes are: 1. completeness of lineage; 2. reliance on the supportive acceptance of the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and good spiritual friends; 3. frequent arising of compassion; 4. remaining fearless before long-enduring, intense, difficult, and ascetic practices. The four conditions are: 1. seeing and hearing of the Buddhas' power of spiritual transformations; 2. hearing the subtle and wondrous Dharma; 3. seeing the Dharma on the verge of extinction; 4. seeing sentient beings suffer the afflictions, karma, and misery. The four powers are: 1. self-power; 2. other-power; 3. causal power, due to past habituation; 4. power of applied effort, meaning drawing close to good friends, hearing the Dharma, and cultivating applied effort in the present life. If one possesses the above causes and conditions, along with the first and third powers, one should know that one will not regress. If it is based on the second and fourth powers, one's mind will not be steadfast." The present sūtra refers to the first and the third. Furthermore, the *Awakening of Faith* and the *Jñānamudrā-sūtra* have seven causes and conditions, which should be understood as detailed therein. Below, in the distinct exposition, three causes and four conditions subsume all of the above meanings. The three causes are faith, compassion, and wisdom. The four conditions are the Triratna and sentient beings. In the present text, the second half uses faith and wisdom as causes to take the realm of the Triratna as conditions. Faith means taking deep receptivity, joy, and aspiration toward true reality, virtue, and capability, with a purified mind, as its nature; hence it is called "pure faith." Here, "reality" refers to all phenomena and noumena. "Virtue" refers to the pure virtues of the Triratna. "Capability" refers to the mundane and supramundane wholesome having their effective power. Here, the Dharma-jewel already subsumes the first and the last; also, the Triratna completely possesses these three: their essence is true reality and possesses virtue, and their great function rescues sentient beings. "Great" means the mind of wisdom seeking great bodhi. "Vast" means the mind of compassion extensively rescuing sentient beings. This overturns the narrow minds of the two vehicles. In the specific exposition, the first half-verse sets aside what is biased and counterfeit, meaning that the fault of gathering a retinue cannot taint it, because the text specifies not seeking five things, since seeking them is an error: First, if one seeks human and divine five desires, this fosters greed and is largely the cause for ghosts. Second, seeking kingship fosters anger and is largely the cause for hells. Third, seeking wealth fosters delusion and is the cause for animals. In reality, they extend to all three lower realms, but are spoken of here according to what predominates. Fourth, seeking one's own pleasure is the cause for the two vehicles. Fifth, seeking great fame: if with a mind of competitiveness, it is the cause for asuras; if with an arrogant mind, it is the cause for non-Buddhists. Furthermore, rationally speaking, seeking pleasure is the cause for humans and gods; being a king to amass subjects is the cause for Māra. Having the mind of the two vehicles is deemed "biased"; having any other mind is called "counterfeit." The subsequent three and a half verses directly reveal what is genuine and correct, explaining the causes and conditions distinctly. Therein, in the first verse, under the cause of compassion, rescuing beings, adorning lands, and making offerings to the Buddhas are also for the sake of taming sentient beings. Eradicating suffering is compassion (karuṇā); conferring benefit and joy is loving-kindness (maitrī). The subsequent verse and a half concerns great wisdom making offerings to what is above. That the above two are non-dual is the genuinely correct generation of the resolve. The final verse concludes and establishes faith, also encompassing faith in the causal practice. Among these, the correspondence to the above four causes and four conditions can be understood intuitively. Furthermore, from "not seeking the five desires" down, it directly reveals the virtues of faithful mind; thus the *Yingluo jing* says: "Cultivating the ten faithful minds requires possessing the ten virtues." The present text possesses them all, though not in that order: 1. Being able to endure suffering when encountering it corresponds to the earlier inverse demonstration; 2. The first two lines of the direct revelation correspond to deep and thick loving-kindness and compassion; 3. The subsequent two lines and "adorning lands" correspond to cultivating roots of goodness, meaning the wholesome of benefiting others and the cause of a pure land; 4. The three words [on making offerings] correspond to making offerings to all Buddhas; 5. The line "upholding" corresponds to aspiring to seek the supreme Dharma; 6. "Realizing bodhi" corresponds to seeking the Buddha's wisdom; 7. One line corresponds to the profound mind being impartial; 8. The subsequent two lines correspond to drawing close to good spiritual friends; 9. The subsequent two lines correspond to the mind being constantly gentle and compliant, meaning making offerings with utmost sincerity and being gentle, compliant, and obedient toward the Buddhadharma; 10. Two lines correspond to loving and delighting in the Mahāyāna. The ten virtues are fully complete. Furthermore, these ten virtues are precisely the intention of seeking bodhi. Below in the sūtra, Xiu She says: "Desiring to teach, transform, and tame all sentient beings exhaustively without remainder, one therefore generates the bodhicitta," and so on. Furthermore, in the final verse: the first line is precisely the Buddha-nature abiding in its own nature, for it is true Dharma only because there is no distinction between faith, the Buddha, and sentient beings, which may be called deep faith; the second line is the emergent Buddha-nature; the latter line is the Buddha-nature of attained fruition. Furthermore, the text contains the four universal vows, which can be understood intuitively. Furthermore, what was stated above about "a profound mind of faith and understanding being constantly pure": only when in accord with noumenon is it called a profound mind. If it were defiled in the past and pure now, purity would have a beginning; having a beginning, it must have an end, and would not be constant purity. Faith that the afflictions are precisely bodhi is what constitutes constant purity, because the resolve is generated by conforming to the fundamental nature. Being fundamentally a Buddha, there is nothing further to advance toward; like being in empty space, where could one regress to? Lamenating that sentient beings are deluded about this, one gives rise to great compassion of identical substance, and sorrowful over past ignorance, vows and aspires to attain future realization. Having compassion, one is not pacified by the boundless; having wisdom, one is not moved by the realm of existence. Neither moved nor pacified, one enters directly into the middle way; this is called the genuinely correct generation of the bodhicitta.