大方廣佛華嚴經疏 26.15

26.15

Fourth, regarding determining the station: in terms of the five [stages], such as provisions, the various explanations are not uniform. One says: This station of pariṇāmanā is the end of the stage of provisions for cultivating the aids to liberation (mokṣabhāgīya) of the Great Vehicle; for from the ten faiths onwards all belong to provisions, and after the ten pariṇāmanās the preparatory applications (prayoga) are separately posited. The Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra says: Practice fulfills one asaṃkhyeya [kalpa] to nurture faith and make it supreme, and with supremacy one cultivates the aids to penetration (nirvedhabhāgīya) kuśala-mūlas. Furthermore, the ninth [fascicle] of the Cheng weishi lun says: "After the provisions of merit and wisdom aiding liberation during the first immeasurable eon are fulfilled, in order to enter the path of seeing and abide in the nature of consciousness-only, one further cultivates the preparatory applications." Fascicle eleven of the Samuccaya also shares this explanation. Some say: These ten pariṇāmanās are the stage of preparatory application. Here there are also two explanations. One says: Within the four aids to discernment, they comprise the latter two: namely, the ten understandings are warmth, the ten practices are summit, the first nine pariṇāmanās are forbearance, and the tenth pariṇāmanā is the worldly supreme dharma. The Cheng weishi lun says: "These four kuśala-mūlas are also subsumed under the stage of resolute conduct." Although this text is not explicit as evidence, the Tripiṭaka Master Xuanzang intended this interpretation. Another says: Among the four preparatory applications, they are subsumed under the worldly supreme [dharma]. Thus Paramārtha's translation of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: "Just as prior to the path of the srotāpanna there are four skillful means, so too for the bodhisattva there are four skillful means, namely the forty minds." If one relies on this interpretation, there are no five stations, because the forty minds prior to the stages are all preparatory applications. The rest, regarding the four stations, the thirteen abidings, and so forth, are fully explained as in the "Ten Abidings Chapter." The above mostly belong to the elementary gate of the Great Vehicle, leading and receiving the two vehicles and drafting the establishment of their four kuśala-mūlas. Some say: The three sages are collectively the skillful means for approaching the noble, not distinguishing near or far between provisions and preparatory applications. This relies on the definitive final teaching. Some say: All stations of practice are utterly inexpressible. This is said in terms of suddenly revealing the true nature. If one relies on our present text, in a single station all stations are suddenly subsumed without obstructing before and after; yet where a station is fulfilled, the cause is precisely rounded and complete. This is said in terms of the perfect teaching. However, when interpenetrated with the preceding teachings, it should form four propositions: 1. purely in terms of marks, like the preceding various teachings; 2. purely in terms of its own essence, like the preceding sudden teaching; 3. bringing the essence along with the marks; 4. using the nature to interpenetrate marks—these two precisely correspond to the present text. That is to say, because nature accords with marks, the nature is undifferentiated while the stations are clearly distinct; because nature interpenetrates marks, marks are not destroyed while remaining constantly identical. Below, within each and every station, all stations are contained; it does not merely interpenetrate the causes, but constantly interpenetrates the fruits as well. Only the cause that interpenetrates the fruits is the true cause.