大方廣佛華嚴經疏 3.9

3.9

Sixth is the general and specific overarching tenets and aims. What a discourse honors is called its tenet (zong); where the tenet converges is called its aim (qu). First the general is clarified, and then the specific is revealed. In the former, discussing broadly the Buddha's teachings of an entire lifetime, the different assertions of the various schools each constitute a tenet: because the eighteen [sub-schools] and the two root [schools] are each distinct, they are further combined according to the affinity of their doctrines. Now, Dharma Master Dayan of the Sui dynasty established four tenets in general: 1. the tenet of causes and conditions, which refers to the Sarvāstivāda; 2. the tenet of nominal designations, which refers to the Sautrāntika; 3. the tenet of untruth, which refers to the Prajñāpāramitā [sūtras]; 4. the tenet of ultimate reality, which refers to teachings such as the dharmatā, ultimate noumenon, and buddha-nature. Furthermore, among these four tenets, the first is called positing intrinsic nature; the second is called refuting intrinsic nature; the third is called refuting characteristics; the fourth is called revealing the real. The first two are Hīnayāna, and the latter two are Mahāyāna; in each case, the earlier is shallow and the later is deep. This also has reason, but its inclusion of doctrines is not exhaustive, since among the eighteen schools it only classifies two. Now, we comprehensively encompass the teachings of the entire lifetime into ten tenets: First is the tenet that both the self and phenomena exist, which refers to the Vātsīputrīya and others. They posit three aggregates: 1. conditioned; 2. unconditioned; 3. the aggregate that is neither of the two, which is the self. They also posit five dharma treasuries: the three times are three; the unconditioned is the fourth; the fifth is the ineffable treasury, in which the self resides, because it is ineffable as conditioned or unconditioned. However, the treatise masters of the various schools unanimously reject this school and do not accept it, calling them outsiders attached to the Buddha's Dharma, because although the views of various outsiders differ, they all posit a self. Second is the tenet that phenomena exist but the self is non-existent, which refers to the Sarvāstivāda and others. They posit that phenomena are not separate from form and mind, or posit the three times and the unconditioned, or distinguish five categories, all without a self. Because of selflessness, it differs from the views of outsiders. Furthermore, within conditioned phenomena they posit correct causes and conditions in order to refute the erroneous causality and absence of causality of outsiders. However, although there are ninety-five kinds of erroneous views in the Western Regions—such as positing that the twenty-five principles arise from primordial matter (prakṛti), positing that things arise from the combination of the six categories (padārtha), positing that they are produced by Īśvara, Brahmā, and so forth, or asserting that time, space, atoms (paramāṇu), space (ākāśa), or past actions are the origin of the world and of nirvāṇa—comprehensive summary shows that what they assert does not go beyond four views: the Sāṃkhya asserts oneness; the Vaiśeṣika asserts difference; Nirgrantha posits both oneness and difference; Jñātiputra posits neither oneness nor difference. If one posits oneness, one asserts that the effect exists in the cause; if one posits difference, one asserts that the effect does not exist in the cause; the third posits both existence and non-existence; the fourth posits neither existence nor non-existence. All other diverse views do not go beyond these. Although they are manifold and distinct, in terms of their concluding errors they do not go beyond two kinds: arising naturally from empty space is causelessness; all the rest are erroneous causes. The two teachings of Confucianism and Daoism in this land also do not go beyond this: Zhuangzi and Laozi both posit spontaneity (ziran), saying: "Humans emulate the Earth, the Earth emulates Heaven, Heaven emulates the Dao, and the Dao emulates spontaneity." If one takes spontaneity as the cause capable of producing the myriad things, this is an erroneous cause; if one says that the myriad things are produced spontaneously, just as a crane is white and a crow is black, this is causelessness. The Book of Changes says: "In Change there is the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji), which generates the Two Modes; the Two Modes generate the Four Images; the Four Images generate the Eight Trigrams; the Eight Trigrams determine good and bad fortune; good and bad fortune generate the great enterprises." Taking the Supreme Ultimate as the cause is an erroneous cause. If one says that "one yin and one yang are what is called the Dao," thus positing that the transformation of yin and yang can generate the myriad things, this is also an erroneous cause. If one posits that the One is emptiness, non-being, and spontaneity, then this is also causelessness. Now, causelessness and erroneous causes result in great errors: namely, that which arises from spontaneity, empty space, and so forth ought to arise constantly. Because they do not know that the three realms arise from one's own mind, and that from delusion arises craving which transmutes without limit, they are confused about correct causes and conditions, and thus their discordant views proliferate wildly; how could they know that causes and conditions are empty in nature and that tathatā is wondrous existence? As for statements that superficially resemble Buddhist teachings, they are mere remnants of the Buddha's Dharma, similar to the metaphor of the stolen cow in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra: although the color of the milk is the same, they cannot properly extract the ghee; how much less could churning donkey's milk yield butter and cheese? The extensive explanation of diverse views is as stated in Yogācārabhūmi fascicle six, Prakaraṇāryavācā fascicles nine and ten, Mahāvibhāṣā fascicles eleven and twelve, and the Sāṃkhya-kārikā (Suvarṇasaptati); treatises such as the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Śataśāstra also refute them extensively. Here, merely stating correct causes and conditions already completely refutes all these views. This shows how what is shallowest in the Buddha's Dharma already surpasses what is deepest among outsiders. Third is the tenet that phenomena have no past or future, which refers to the Mahāsāṃghika and others, who speak only of the existence of the present and the unconditioned. For them, past and future phenomena are devoid of both essence and function. Fourth is the tenet that the present is both conventional and real, which refers to the Prajñaptivāda: among the aforementioned present phenomena, they are real in the skandhas and conventional in the dhātus and āyatanas. The Sautrāntika masters of the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra belong to this category. Fifth is the tenet that the worldly is false and the supramundane is real, which refers to the Lokottaravāda and others, who say that the conventional world is nominal because it is false and deceptive, whereas the supramundane is the opposite. Sixth is the tenet that all phenomena are mere names, which refers to the Ekavyāvahārika and others, for whom all selves and phenomena are merely nominal designations without real essence. Seventh is the tenet of the emptiness and existence of the three natures, which says that the imagined nature (parikalpita) is empty, while the dependent (paratantra) and perfected (pariniṣpanna) natures exist. Eighth is the tenet of true emptiness which transcends characteristics, which says that both mind and object are obliterated, directly revealing the essence. Ninth is the tenet of the non-obstruction of emptiness and existence, which says that they mutually blend and are doubly negated without preventing both from coexisting, because tathatā accords with conditions while possessing virtues numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Tenth is the tenet of perfect interpenetration endowed with virtues, which refers to the non-obstruction among phenomena, the complete endowment of host and companion, and inexhaustible ease. Now, among these ten tenets, each subsequent one is deeper than the preceding one. The first four are exclusively Hīnayāna; the fifth and sixth pertain to both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna; the last four are exclusively Mahāyāna. The seventh is the Faxiang school; the eighth is the Wuxiang (Markless) school; the latter two are the Faxing school. Furthermore, the seventh is the initial teaching; the eighth is the sudden teaching; the ninth is the final teaching; the tenth is the perfect teaching. Furthermore, the seventh is also named the tenet that both two truths exist, because the ultimate truth is real and therefore does not lack the conventional world, and causes and effects are not lost and therefore exist, as in the Saṃdhinirmocana, Yogācāra, and so on. The eighth is also named the tenet of the dual negation of the two truths, because the ultimate truth transcends marks and therefore is not existent, while the conventional world arises from conditions and is like an illusion and therefore is non-existent. As the verse of the Karatalaratna says: "In true nature, conditioned things are empty, / Because they arise from conditions like an illusion. / The unconditioned lacks reality; / Not arising, it is like a sky-flower," and so forth: this is one part of the doctrine in the Prajñā and Mādhyamika treatises. The ninth is the tenet of the non-obstruction of the two truths, as in the Vimalakīrti, Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, and so forth, the meaning of which was clarified previously. Now, the ten tenets and the five teachings mutually vary in scope: as for teachings, a single sūtra may contain multiple teachings; as for tenets, a single tenet may encompass multiple sūtras, since any sūtra might belong to this tenet. If one rigidly classifies a single sūtra as one teaching, this diminishes the various Mahāyāna scriptures. Furthermore, establishing a teaching must involve distinctions in stages of abandonment and realization, whereas establishing a tenet merely clarifies differences in what is valued. The prior six tenets differed in their attachment to phenomena and are therefore divided into six tenets; their sequence of abandonment and realization does not depart from the eight classes of holy persons, and thus they are combined into one teaching. The remaining points are as analyzed above in establishing the teachings.